3 to 2 nap transition

honeydew01 · November 2013

DD is 8 months old and has refused the 3rd nap for 2+ weeks so I am certain that the 3rd nap is dropped. The problem is that she takes 1 hour naps and is done with her naps by 2 pm! Her bed time is not until 6:30-7. She's obviously very expired and cranky to be awake for 4 hours. I've been giving it time and hoping that she'd take longer naps soon or be able to stay awake longer in between the two naps so we don't end up being done with naps by 2 pm but I'm not seeing any progress.

I've done some research and read that putting her to bed earlier (as early at 5:30) might be a good idea during this transition time and it doesn't mean that she'll get up earlier in the morning if she goes to bed earlier. We tried it but she doesn't sleep in, she wakes up at 5:30 am if she goes to bed at 5:30 pm.

Any advice? Or just chill and give it time?

ps. She is not sleeping good at night either because she's so tired when she goes to bed (being awake for 4 hours!!). When she used to take 3 naps, she'd go to bed at 6:30 to 7:30 after being awake for 2.5 to 3 hours and slept better.

rdbanks · November 2013

This sounds like us exactly! Down to 2 naps a day, each only about an hour and done by about 2:30pm. Is now getting grouchy by about 5:30, but his bedtime had always been 7. We also tried the earlier bedtime, but he didn't sleep longer either. It was a 5am wakeup call. Hate to keep up a tired baby, but also do not love 5am mornings. Hoping someone can offer some good advice!

jannv11 · November 2013

Same here and with daylight savings she is out by 6pm!! I was I had advise but thinking with DS I just waited it out. DD does ok with being up 4 hours and I just make sure she is in bed when the clock hits the 4 hour mark.

pinkpinot · November 2013

I might try and get a 10 minute car or stroller nap around 3:30-4 so bedtime could be 7ish. I think we're down to two naps as well but only because he's been taking such a long afternoon nap that usually ends around 3:45-4PM and that makes bedtime 7ish.

honeydew01 · November 2013

My DD used to be able to nap in the car or stroller if you kept up for 45 minutes, she'd eventually fall sleep for half an hour but now she's too busy taking everything in that she gets extremely overtired but does not fall sleep. We've tried for a desperate 20-30 min nap and it didn't work.

SLGILL1978 · November 2013

I would say just chill and give it some time. My daughter is 9 months today and we dropped the 3rd nap when she was 8 months. Sometimes she would fall asleep but even if I let sleep for 20-30 mins she wouldn't go to bed at 8 or 9. I just keep her up playing until at least 7pm then she has her last bottle and she's down for the rest of the night by 7:30 pm.

VPGIRL06 · November 2013

we've been at mostly 2 naps since 4.5 months, with some regressions around 6 months back to 3 nap land.

Not sure what your nap schedule looks like but our schedule (since the time change-kinda threw her off by a hour) has been

6 am-up

9 am-down for a nap

10/10:30-up

1:30/2-nap

3:00/4:00-up

7:00/7:30-bed

today it was 6:30 though so i think we'll be back at a 7 am wake up, 930/10 first nap and 2 second nap

jllmb79 · November 2013

DD#2 is 8 months old as well and recently dropped her 3rd nap in the last few weeks.

She wakes around 730am

cat nap 10-1030a

nap 130p-330p....not always that long

in bed by 8pm

I think she can stay up so long now because she is very distracted by her 2 yr old sister.

Does pushing back her afternoon nap a bit help at all? Our afternoon nap was at 1pm but 130pm is working better for her.

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