Is your little one ready to drop a nap?
Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant
Looking at our little one’s naps can be a huge focus for the first few years, from things such as ‘are their naps too short?’, ‘too long?’, ‘are they napping too much or not enough?’ – it can be all consuming. We then finally feel that we have got the nap timings nailed and it is all going well, and then we start to notice that things are changing again. This is when we have to prepare for what is often referred to as a ‘nap transition’ so this might be going from 3 naps per day down to 2, 2 naps to 1 and then (sadly!) the day when it goes from 1 nap to no nap!
In this blog we are going to look at the nap transitions and how to manage these so that it causes as little disruption to you and your little one as possible.
The importance of naps
Our babies and toddlers are not able to go all day without a nap, although some days it can feel like they give it a good attempt!
This is what typical nap schedules look like according to age (this is average as of course not all babies and children are the same):
At 4-7 months - typically babies have 3 naps (morning, afternoon and late afternoon)
Around 6-8 months - babies tend to have 2 naps per day (morning and afternoon) dropping the last nap of the day
Between 12-18 months - babies might be ready to drop down to 1 nap per day (afternoon)
2.5-3.5 years - toddlers can be looking to drop naps altogether.
(Please remember that this is a rough guide and it is important to be guided by your child and their needs at the time.)
Signs that a baby/child can be ready to drop a nap:
Moving from 3 naps to 2 naps. Signs are that:
You are struggling to get your baby to sleep at the last nap of the day (when previously they have been sleeping at this time).
You have difficulty with settling them for bedtime when previously this has not been a problem.
Your little one starts early morning wakings (pre 6am) when this hasn’t happened before.
Naps are getting consistently shorter (20-30 mins) when previously they were longer.
Moving from 2 naps to 1 nap. Signs are that they:
Are starting early morning wakings (pre 6am) when this hasn’t happened before.
Your baby refuses to go for their first nap of the day / doesn’t sleep when they are put down for this nap or is struggling to settle for a sleep.
Are napping in the morning, but then not settling for their afternoon nap or their afternoon nap becoming much later than it was previously.
Are struggling at bedtime with resistance to go to go into their cot or are going in their cot but staying awake for long periods of time before going to sleep.
Are waking in the night when they haven’t been previously and/or staying awake for long periods in the night.
Are waking early from naps when previously they would have had longer.
Naps are getting consistently shorter (20-30 mins) when previously they were longer.
1 nap to no nap. Signs are that:
They are starting early morning wakings (pre 6am) when this hasn’t happened before.
They are refusing the nap or not sleeping when put for the nap.
Bedtime is becoming tricky as they are not tired because they have napped in the day.
They are waking in the night when they have previously slept through.
Just to note that these signs need to be things that are happening regularly rather than a one off or when they might have been triggered by something else just as illness, teething, change in routine etc. It is important to rule out other factors first before looking to drop a nap. Dropping a nap too early can have a more negative effect if they are not ready and still need the sleep.
How to drop a nap
If you are confident that it is time for your little one to drop a nap then there are several approaches that you can take. This is going to be individual to you, your little one and your personal circumstances as to what might work best for you.
3 naps to 2 naps:
Typically our little ones from around 4 months to 7 months will be looking to nap 3 times a day and there is normally a last nap of the day (around 4.30/5pm) which just sees them through until bedtime. This can be the trickiest of the naps to get your little one to take, but if you are struggling to get them to take it, see if this one can be as a cuddle, on the move in the sling or pram. Having this nap can play a huge part in making bedtimes much more relaxed and settled when your little one one is younger. Around 6-8 months you typically see that they are ready to drop that 3rd nap of the day. If you are seeing the signs (as listed above) then there are a couple of ways to do this.
If your little one is refusing this nap and you are not able to get them to take even 15 mins, then look to stop this nap, but to then bring bedtime forward by 15/30 mins for a week or so just to compensate for the lack of this nap. Then gradually (over a few days) start to push bedtime back by 10 mins until you are back to their normal bedtime.
If your little one is having this nap, but you can see that it is impacting on bedtime or early morning wakings (both of which you did not experience previously) then you can put them down for this nap but then start to reduce the length of time that they might have. So for example, if they are currently having an hour reduce this to 45/50 mins and do this for 2-3 days, then make it 30-40 mins long and do this for a couple of days, then 15-20 mins for a few days and then don’t offer this nap. This should allow your little one the opportunity to adjust to the change and again you may need to adjust bedtime (bringing it a bit earlier) for a week or so whilst your little one adjusts to the dropping of the nap.
2 naps to 1 nap:
Typically our babies need to have 2 naps a day until they are around 12-18 months. Some babies prefer to have two naps per day for longer and some look to drop that first nap of the day closer to 12 months. I usually find that it can be around the 14-16 month mark that babies typically (not all) drop this nap.
If you are confident that your little one is ready to drop the first nap of the day (seeing the signs listed above) then there are a few options that you can follow in order to drop it.
Gradually reduce the length of the morning nap by 5/10 mins every few days. This can help them adjust to having less sleep and as it is a gradual process it isn’t such a shock to the system.
The opposite to this is to put your little one down to for their nap 5-10 mins later every few days and then set a maximum length of time for the nap such as 1 hour, gradually reducing that to 45-50 mins, then 30-40 mins etc., so that you are reducing the nap, but from the opposite direction as detailed above. This might require you to be creative with keeping your little one distracted with something like looking out of the window, playing a game etc in order to gently stretch this wake window by 5-10 mins.
If you have noticed that you have been putting your little one down for their morning nap and they are not sleeping at all then you can stop offering this nap altogether as they have naturally stopped needing this nap themselves.
As with any of the options, the afternoon nap might need to be brought slightly earlier by 15/30 mins to help your little one adjust to having a reduced nap or no nap at all. Bedtime might also need to be adjusted over this time to avoid little one getting overtired whilst they drop this nap. Look to move this back to normal time by 10 mins every few days and it should be absolutely fine.
1 nap to no nap:
This is can often be the hardest nap to drop as your little one might be showing signs that they don’t need a nap, but you know that they can’t really cope all that well without it! It can also be common that around the age of 2 they can resist their afternoon nap, but this can be a phase, so try to keep going with it as it is likely they will still need it for a little longer, often to at least 2.5 years old but sometime longer. However, if you are at the stage where you feel that they are ready to drop this nap then there are a few things to look at trying:
Reducing the length of the nap to start with might help and mean that naps continue for longer. If they are having 2 hours, then look to make it 1.5 hours - leave it at this length for a few days and see if this makes a difference to the issues that you might be facing (early waking/struggles at bedtime etc). If after 3-4 days you can see that there are still some issues, look at making it 1hr 15mins and again keep it at this for 3-4 days and see if there are improvements.
Aim to have them awake by 2.30-3pm depending on the time, how long they have slept and what you have as their nap limit. 3pm is a typical cut off time if you are looking for bedtime to be around 7pm.
Look at offering a nap every other day for a week or so, then every third day – this can help them to gradually wean off this last remaining nap.
Put in ‘quiet time or chill time’ at a similar time of the day to when your little one was napping so that they have some down time during the middle of the day without going for a nap. This can be something that you continue to have as part of your routine. It is important to have time where they can relax, play so that they aren’t on the go all day.
Light and Dark
When you are making changes to sleep it is important to aid the body clock as much as possible. One of the best ways of doing this is to encourage exposure to daylight and light when your little one is awake so that it is giving the body a clear signal that it is daytime and awake time. Then, when encouraging sleep, provide the darkness which helps to trigger Melatonin, the sleep hormone we need in order to have good settled sleep.
Keep consistent
When you are making changes to your routine such as dropping a nap, it is important to keep all other routines as consistent as possible so that there are not too many changes happening all at once. This will also help you to know if the change in nap schedule is helping, or if there are tweaks which are needed in order to get your little one on a nap schedule which works for them.
Having a predictable pre-nap and pre-bed routine is so helpful when helping your little one settle for their naps and bedtime. Keeping this as consistent as possible will also help your little one settle into a new schedule.
Don’t rush it
Don’t be tempted to rush dropping naps, you don’t want an overtired child and you want to make sure that it is a smooth transition, which it will be if they are ready to drop the nap and it is a gradual process. For some children it can happen very quickly as they have got to the stage that they have started the process themselves (refusing naps etc) but for others the naps can be where they catch up on missed sleep at night or in the early morning. It is all about striking a balance.
If you would like support with making these transitions with naps we can offer 1:1 support where we can help to guide you through the process - Get in touch…
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