Babies: 9 - 12 Months

Switching to 2 naps a day

Anyone else's baby become a complete mess when switching to two naps a day? My DCP suggested it last week because she has been sleeping horribly at night lately. She said that a lot of babies go to two naps at her age. I think condensing naps around 7 months when babies don't sleep well at night is mentioned in the Healthy Sleep Habits book as well; too many naps during the day taking away from a full night's sleep. So we changed her schedule three days ago and she has been completely fussy and exhausted. And sleeping at night hasn't gotten any better at all. 

So my question is, is this normal? Maybe it's just part of the adjustment period. And if you changed your baby to 2 naps a day, how did you know it was the right time to do it? I'm thinking maybe we did this too soon.

Thanks! 

Re: Switching to 2 naps a day

  • J has been on 2 naps for quite some time now. He gets up around 5-6am and goes back down about 2-3 hours after getting up. The second nap is usually 3 hours after waking from the first nap, and is usually over by 3p, 4 at the latest.

    Jacob Alexander 7/23/09
    Allergic to Dairy, Eggs and Peanuts Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
    Jameson Adam 6/1/11
    Allergic to Peas...so far Lilypie Second Birthday tickers
  • imageExpectantSteelerFan:

    I think the 2 naps a day only works if your LO takes good naps (1 hour or longer each time). 

    My ds started taking good naps around 5 months and dropped his 3rd nap most of the time.  No matter what time he gets up, he gets his first nap around 9.  His 2nd nap is still about 2 hours after he wakes up from his first nap.  If his naps are not long enough and he wakes up from his 2nd nap before 1:30, he'll still take a 3rd nap around 3:30.  If his naps are good he'll wake up from his 2nd nap around 2/2:30 and be up until bedtime at 6:30 (he's asleep at 6:30, we start the routine at 6).

    What time is your bedtime?  You might need to move bedtime up to accommodate not getting the 3rd nap. 

    Thanks. This is exactly what I suspected. Her naps are usually between 40 minutes to 1 hour. Occasionally she'll get a longer nap in, but it's not consistent. She's not sleeping any longer though, even though we took out the third nap. 

    We start the bedtime routine at 6:30. She's generally asleep by 7. I can't make it earlier due to work. I don't pick her up from daycare early enough. But a problem arose because she started taking her 3rd nap later and later in the day, around 4:30 or 5. So when I would go pick her up at 5:30 she would still be asleep, but not have slept long enough to refresh her. She was also getting her last daycare bottle too late. So between being too full and too tired,  she wouldn't eat dinner or take all of her bedtime bottle. Then her whole nighttime routine and sleeping has been off. I think I just need to tell the DCP that we need to move all of the naps and bottle earlier. (That's what I told them in the first place, but I figured they're with her all day so maybe they see something I don't about how much sleep she needs). I should trust my mother's instinct, I guess!

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