Nap Consolidation Questions

Drea926 · July 2013

Hi ladies,

I posted this on my BMB, but figured I would try here since many of your LOs have probably done this. When they go down to 2 naps, does it happen gradually or just happen one day on its own?And did you do anything to facilitate the consolidation or does it occur naturally? My DS is 5 months today and currently takes 3 or 4 naps depending on if one of them is long. I don't expect him to go down to 2 naps until 6 months, I just wanted to know what it looked like! Also, does their wake time increase?

TIA! I appreciate advice from you expert Mamas! :-)

minervacullen · July 2013

Dd turned 7 months yesterday, she's in the process, but will still need 3 some days.

Litgirl77 · July 2013

We're at 6.5 months, and I'm noticing his 3rd nap is shrinking down to about 30 min. He still takes it everyday, but I'm assuming it will continue to shrink until some days he'll stop taking it altogether.

MrsT0514 · July 2013

My son is almost 6 1/2 months now and is still cat napping. There a few days here abd there that he'll take a longer afternoon nap, but that isn't consistent yet. Hoping he starts taking longer naps soon!

pb_bride · July 2013

DS dropped to 2 naps about 1week before he turned 8m. It "sort of" happened overnight. In hindsight, I think DS was ready to drop his 3rd nap for at least a few weeks, but I was too scared of the change so I kind of kept him on a 3-nap schedule for as long as I could.

At 3 naps, he was taking 1.5 hr naps for his 1st & 2nd naps. His awake time was about 2.5 hours between naps. However, sometimes his 3rd nap would start too late (because his first 2 naps ran long, or if he stayed awake longer than usual) so I'd have to wake him up early in order not to interfere with bedtime.

The day "it" happened was when DS woke up 30 minutes later than usual. As a result, I helped him stay awake longer between naps (up to 3 hours or more). His first nap ended up running longer, and so did his 2nd nap.

The result is that he still naps about the same # of hours (3.5-4hrs) but divided into 2 naps instead of 3.

I watched a webinar on nap consolidation. Basically, 3->2 happens btw 6-9 months. They said that once the first 2 naps add up to 3hrs of nap time, that's a sign your LO is ready to drop his/her 3rd nap.

BabyMakes 3 · July 2013

I don't really remember. Ha! I would say he's been down to 2 naps since about 6 months.

Drea926 · July 2013

pb_bride:
DS dropped to 2 naps about 1week before he turned 8m. It "sort of" happened overnight. In hindsight, I think DS was ready to drop his 3rd nap for at least a few weeks, but I was too scared of the change so I kind of kept him on a 3-nap schedule for as long as I could.
At 3 naps, he was taking 1.5 hr naps for his 1st & 2nd naps. His awake time was about 2.5 hours between naps. However, sometimes his 3rd nap would start too late (because his first 2 naps ran long, or if he stayed awake longer than usual) so I'd have to wake him up early in order not to interfere with bedtime.
The day "it" happened was when DS woke up 30 minutes later than usual. As a result, I helped him stay awake longer between naps (up to 3 hours or more). His first nap ended up running longer, and so did his 2nd nap.
The result is that he still naps about the same # of hours (3.5-4hrs) but divided into 2 naps instead of 3.
I watched a webinar on nap consolidation. Basically, 3->2 happens btw 6-9 months. They said that once the first 2 naps add up to 3hrs of nap time, that's a sign your LO is ready to drop his/her 3rd nap.

That's interesting! Thank you for sharing that piece of information!

And thanks to all you ladies who responded! I am desperately looking forward to longer naps - though I've definitely become great at getting a lot accomplished in a 30-45 minute span! :P

vettymama · July 2013

DS started 2 naps at about 6 months. It basically happened in one day. Somedays he sneaks in a short third nap.

BBhopes15 · July 2013

For us what I noticed was a struggle to fall asleep. He would scream his head off so one day I divided to keep him up longer and then that solved the problem. This happened again now at 7 mo he is extending his awake time. If I try putting him down for a nap after being up for two hours he screams, if I lay him down after 2.5 he's calm and ready for bed. After the first nap he is up 3 hours and bedtime is after 3.5.

Want a personalized experience?

Nap Consolidation Questions

Re: Nap Consolidation Questions

Choose Another Board

Search Boards