when you LO transitioned from 3 to 2 naps

crystaleyes39 · July 2012

My girls are 6 1/2 months and still are napping 3 naps a day. They nap about an hour tops each nap, sometimes they get so tired before bedtime they'll even take an additional 30 min power nap. I would LOVE for them to just take 2 LONGER (2 hr naps) instead of 3-4 small naps each day.

The question is...how did you transition your LO to 2 naps? How old were they and what's your daily nap schedule like?

jesselayne8 · July 2012

DD started doing 2(2hr) naps/day about a week ago. It happened after I kept her up longer for the first stretch of awake time.

She used to get up at 7am and go down for her 1st nap at 8 or 830am (only awake for 1-1.5hrs).

Now she gets up at 630ish and goes down for her nap at 9am (awake for 2-3hrs).Then her 2nd nap is around 2 or 3pm (awake for 3-4hrs inbetween naps).

crystaleyes39 · July 2012

jesselayne8:

DD started doing 2(2hr) naps/day about a week ago. It happened after I kept her up longer for the first stretch of awake time.

She used to get up at 7am and go down for her 1st nap at 8 or 830am (only awake for 1-1.5hrs).

Now she gets up at 630ish and goes down for her nap at 9am (awake for 2-3hrs).Then her 2nd nap is around 2 or 3pm (awake for 3-4hrs inbetween naps).

I'm going to try this tomorrow. They get up around 6-630am so I'm going to try keeping them up until after their 2nd bottle at 9/930am and then put them down. Hopefully it works better that way I'm also thinking I should start feeding them less bottles a day (w/ more in them). Right now they get 5 bottles 6 ounces each (7 at bedtime). I'm thinking I should do 4 7-8 ounce bottles a day instead. that way naps aren't interrupted but bottles every 3 hours

crystaleyes39 · July 2012

I forgot to ask if you feed her right before her nap?

mben1119 · July 2012

DS put himself on the 2 nap a day schedule, about 1 1/2 months ago. He just stopped taking a later afternoon nap, and started going to sleep for the night earlier.

brewcitybride · July 2012

I don't....DS (8 months) just naturally transitioned on his own. He is down now to one nap from like 9-11 a.m. and one nap from about 12:30 -2:30. He somtimes does need a power nap around 5:00, but I wouldn't prevent him from taking that nap.

With DD (who is now 3) she did three naps until she was 12 months, and then was down to two naps until 18 months, then one nap until 3 years. Now, no nap:)

Chargersgrl33 · July 2012

LO still takes 3-4 naps. He will nap from anywhere from 30 min to 3 hours, it's constantly changing. Today he's only had 3 naps but one was 30 min after he woke up.

meg_2006 · July 2012

Oh my, DS still takes 4 naps sometimes!! I've just been following his cues for when he's tired. Should I be trying to stretch him out longer? He's just so crabby after 2 hrs!

He takes a 45-min. nap in the morning, 1 2-hr. nap at lunch time, 1 45-min. late afternoon, and 1 45-min. evening. He wakes around 7, goes to bed around 8:30.

I was just considering trying to spread out the late afternoon nap and cut out the evening one.

FirstTimeMom2012 · July 2012

My daughter takes FIVE naps a day, about 45 min long. She's up for an hour, down 45 min. Craziness! I'd kill for 2 long naps lol!

meg_2006 · July 2012

FirstTimeMom2012:
My daughter takes FIVE naps a day, about 45 min long. She's up for an hour, down 45 min. Craziness! I'd kill for 2 long naps lol!

Oh, good. This makes me feel better

livinirie84 · July 2012

Bottle/feeding frequency changed when the naps changed. There were a few days of snacking but I just stuck with feeding him when he woke up from sleeping and he pretty much dropped a feeding and just upped his intake on the other feedings.

As for naps changing, that happened when he start resisting/refusing his third nap which was pretty consistently only 30 mins anyway. Also, it was getting kinda hard to squeeze it in anyways since he likes an early bedtime.

They'll tell you when they're ready. It sounds like you've gotta up the awake time in the morning and focus on only needing 3 naps consistently first for a while. Then 2 naps will probably come quickly after that.

livinirie84 · July 2012

meg_2006:
Oh my, DS still takes 4 naps sometimes!! I've just been following his cues for when he's tired. Should I be trying to stretch him out longer? He's just so crabby after 2 hrs!
He takes a 45-min. nap in the morning, 1 2-hr. nap at lunch time, 1 45-min. late afternoon, and 1 45-min. evening. He wakes around 7, goes to bed around 8:30.
I was just considering trying to spread out the late afternoon nap and cut out the evening one.

If night time sleep is ok, then don't worry about pushing him too much. However, after a particularly well rested night and morning nap, you might wanna try and cut out the next nap and take the last one a littler earlier and see how he does.

livinirie84 · July 2012

FirstTimeMom2012:
My daughter takes FIVE naps a day, about 45 min long. She's up for an hour, down 45 min. Craziness! I'd kill for 2 long naps lol!

This was us for a few weeks straight and I wanted to die so I feel for ya.

For us, it was a stupid cycle of under tired vs. overtired. When I pushed him to stay awake longer for the first wake time of the day, his first nap started getting longer and then overall sleep improved greatly. What happens when he goes longer than an hour?

JEliseS · July 2012

My girls are about the same age as yours and are still taking 3 naps a day. Have you heard of the EASY 2-3-4 schedule? First nap is 2 hours after waking up for the day, second nap 3 hours after waking from the first nap, and bedtime 4 hours after waking from the second nap. At this age though, my girls just aren't ready for this, but I plan to try again as their wake times stretch. I usually go off sleepy cues and try my best to keep them up 15 minutes longer every few days.

They really can't stay up for longer than 2.5 hours during the day without getting crazy, which keeps us on a 3 nap schedule because naps are usually 1 hour, 1.5 hours, and 1 hour. Sometimes wake time right before bedtime can increase to 3 hours, but not always.

I have noticed over the past few weeks that their naps are getting longer though! They used to be seriously 1 hour TOPS, but sometimes they will nap 2 hours, just depends how tired they are. I'm trying to just let them naturally transition to 2 naps because that's what happened when they went 4-3.

crystaleyes39 · July 2012

JEliseS:

My girls are about the same age as yours and are still taking 3 naps a day. Have you heard of the EASY 2-3-4 schedule? First nap is 2 hours after waking up for the day, second nap 3 hours after waking from the first nap, and bedtime 4 hours after waking from the second nap. At this age though, my girls just aren't ready for this, but I plan to try again as their wake times stretch. I usually go off sleepy cues and try my best to keep them up 15 minutes longer every few days.

They really can't stay up for longer than 2.5 hours during the day without getting crazy, which keeps us on a 3 nap schedule because naps are usually 1 hour, 1.5 hours, and 1 hour. Sometimes wake time right before bedtime can increase to 3 hours, but not always.

I have noticed over the past few weeks that their naps are getting longer though! They used to be seriously 1 hour TOPS, but sometimes they will nap 2 hours, just depends how tired they are. I'm trying to just let them naturally transition to 2 naps because that's what happened when they went 4-3.

Thank you, all of these posts make me feel much better that we're not doing anything wrong. I think i'll just let them naturally start to show me signs that they're ready to stay up for longer stretches. Our one daughter probably could but our other daughter is still not quite ready. I'm definitely excited though to get more than just a quick 30-45 min break at a time.

luv2play · July 2012

This, exactly!

VeilSdeGTO · July 2012

DD just started doing 2 naps in the last couple of days. She is 9 months today.

She started on her own. Her first two naps were usually 30 minutes, with the third one on me anywhere from 60-90 minutes. She started out stretching her second nap to 60-75 minutes, and then her first nap to 60 minutes.

Her naps used to be at 10:30-11:00, 2:30-3:00, and 5:00-6:00, with bed at 9:30. Now, her first nap is at 10:15-11:30 and 2:45-4:15, with bed at 8:30. Wake time is about 7:30am.

We are still trying to figure out her new schedule, but it hasn't been too bad.

Cebs222 · July 2012

brewcitybride:
I don't....DS (8 months) just naturally transitioned on his own. He is down now to one nap from like 9-11 a.m. and one nap from about 12:30 -2:30. He somtimes does need a power nap around 5:00, but I wouldn't prevent him from taking that nap.

With DD (who is now 3) she did three naps until she was 12 months, and then was down to two naps until 18 months, then one nap until 3 years. Now, no nap:)

my DD is like her DS. She did it all on her own. She started fighting naps and becoming miserabl so i took 3-4 days and just let her sort it out herself.. and she actually did. She gets up around 7 then usually falls asleep before 10 for her first nap lasting at least a hour. then her second is around 2. She still will power nap ( like 10 minutes here or there) she just isn't a huge nap taker to be honest.. but yah she did it herself.

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