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Dropping Naps?

Hi Ladies,

Just wondered at what age did you LO's transition from 3 naps to 2?

My DS is almost 8 months (in 11 days) and is starting to fight almost all his naps. When he does nod off he'll wake up happy after 30 -45 mins. He sleeps through the night from 7pm - 6.30am.

He generally naps at 9.30 then 12.30am the 4pm......I'm wondering if I should keep him up later so that he naps for longer at 2 naps rather than catnaps at 3.

Many thanks
xx

Replies

  • my son is 8months and for the last month he has been having 2 naps, he wakes at around 7am and then has a nap of 45mins at 9.30 he will then have another nap at 1pm-2.45ish! He is then fine until bedtime at 6.30! if he wakes earlier than 2.30 then i normally bring bedtime forward by 15mins as he is shattered, he still wakes up at the same time in the morning even if he goes to bed a bit early! By spacing his naps out (he used to nap after 2 hours of being awake) he is now happy to go 3 or 4 hours between naps which means he is more tired and doesnt fight it

  • I think it sounds like your LO is ready to move towards 2 naps a day! I would try to keep him up for longer (maybe give him some quiet/cuddle time when he is getting tired - to try and stretch it out a bit) and then put him down when he is really shattered.

    You should hopefully find that he sleeps for longer, and like you say, have proper sleeps rather than little naps, but if it doesn't work (give it a week or so, before making a decision) you can always swap back - no harm done.

    If you delay his morning nap (maybe try and keep him up until 10:30) you MIGHT find that he starts to sleep in later in the morning (sounds crazy - but I know of a few babies who have started to have longer lie-ins after their morning nap was pushed back! My Abby included! Yay!) then if he can have and hour and a half ish, and wake up at 12.00, you could try to keep him up until 3.00 (and hopefully he'd sleep until 4:30) then hopefully he should be OK until bedtime. (I think that's what we did at that age).

    You might need to put him to bed earlier for a few weeks while he gets used to the new routine, but then you can push that back a little, and then bring it forward again, when he goes down to just 1 nap!)

    Hope the helps and wasn't just a big load of waffle! image
    Nx
  • Thanks ladies, think I'll delay his morning nap as today although he was eye rubbing, took me a while to settle him when normally I can put him down awake and off he goes! He was put down at 9.30am and slept only 30 mins! His 2nd nap I put him down at 1pm and he only had 30 mins again, I then had to put him down at 4pm in which he had 30 mins also. He settled fine for bed tonight at 7pm but feel he would benefit better from 2 proper sleeps than 3 catnaps xxx
  • Hi Gichu, my LO has been fighting naps too the last few days, isn't it funny how they hit the same phase at the same time! We have all the signs he's tired so we try to put him down and the last couple of days, it has taken over an hour for him to settle and like you, we used to put him down awake and he'd settle himself quite quickly. Having read the replies I think I'll try and keep him up a bit longer in the hope that he'll go down easier. He is generally only having 2 naps a day now. His morning one is generally a longer one although he does often wake after 30-40 minutes and I quickly go back in and resettle him, so he ends up having 1-1.5 hours. In the afternoon it's generally 40 mins around 3pm. HTH and good luck xx
  • My LO is also a Dec baby and is now down to 2 naps a day. He usually wakes at around 6.45/7 am and then goes down for his first nap at 9.15/30 which is usually about an hour, although sometimes a bit longer. He then has his second nap at about 1.30/2 which is usually for about 1 1/2 hours. He then goes down for bed at 7pm. (However if he only has a shorter nap say 35-40 mins in the afternoon, he will sometimes have a late afternoon nap still).
    Hope that helps
    CG xxx
  • Hello my fellow Dec ladies.......yes Lawso, it is funny the timing of these phases!!! The resistence to napping happened overnight! We always manage to get him off in the end but they''re just catnaps. He may be a little tired today as he is full of cold and a bad cough bless him......think it's down to 2 new top teeth coming through as last night he woke at 4am and wouldn't re-settle for an hour or so and then was crying for me at 6am. His nappies are pretty bad too!

    Gonna see how we go today with 2 naps (if he'll allow it).....my only concern is that he normally has his afternoon bottle at 2.30pm and worried he may nap beyond that. I guess I could give his bottle before nap. Thanks ladies xxx
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