Is your Baby Ready to Drop a Nap?
Your baby will go through many nap transitions in their first year of life. You may feel like you’ve finally settled into a solid and somewhat predictable routine and then all of a sudden your baby is ready for a switch up. When do these nap transitions happen? How will you know your baby is ready to drop a nap?
There are general ranges for when nap transitions happen, but how do you figure out when the best time is for YOUR baby? We will dive into the signs your baby will show you when they are ready, but first let’s cover the typical age ranges for nap transitions.
Appropriate age ranges to drop a nap.
Your newborn will likely take 4-6 naps a day and will decrease that amount down to two naps by the time they turn one year old. The amount of naps a newborn takes varies because their nap lengths are inconsistent and can change from day to day. Nap one on Tuesday may be 2 hours long, but then nap one on Wednesday is only 30 minutes long.
Things will gradually start to even out a bit more and your 6-10 week old will be on 3-4 naps a day and more consistently on three naps by 4-5 months old. Babies typically take three daily naps until somewhere between 6-8 months of age. You will notice the third nap becoming a cat nap, lasting 30-45 minutes, before they drop it completely.
Your 6-8 month old will then settle into a 2 nap pattern until they drop to one nap sometime around 14-18 months of age (some babies will be ready at 13 months, but this is less common).
Because I am a visual person, here is an easier way to look at it:
0-6 weeks: naps are unpredictable and baby will average 4-6 naps a day
6-10 weeks: wake windows are starting to lengthen, bringing baby to a more consistent 4 naps a day
4-5 months: baby will drop from 4 to 3 naps
6-8 months: baby will drop from 3 to 2 naps
13-18 months: your toddler will drop from 2 to 1 nap
Here are 5 sure-tell signs that your little one is ready to make a change:
As we know, every baby is so different. One six month old may be ready to drop to two naps whereas another may not be ready until closer to 8 months of age. Here are the most common signs your baby is ready for more wake time!
Your baby isn’t tired at their normal nap time. Your baby used to fall asleep relatively quickly for naps, but is now taking 20 minutes or more to fall asleep.
Naps have been getting shorter. You’ve watched your baby’s peaceful 90 minute nap dwindle down to 30-45 minutes. This can be a sign that the wake window before nap time was not long enough to build up the adequate sleep pressure needed for a full nap. Basically, they just were not tired enough when being put down.
Your baby is fighting the last nap. I see this a lot with the 3-2 nap transition. Baby starts fighting the catnap because they are not tired enough. This is already a short nap and you end up spending the entire time trying to get them to sleep with no luck (or they fall asleep five minutes before they should be waking).
The last nap interferes with bedtime. You may notice your little one starting to fight bedtime. They no longer easily settle after the routine is complete. You can start stretching the wake window before bedtime, but there comes a time when bedtime becomes too late and it’s evident that you need to drop a nap in order to bring bedtime back up to a reasonable hour.
Your baby has been having regular early morning wake ups. Early wake ups can be due to too much daytime sleep. Babies have a maximum range of sleep within a 24 hour period. If they are getting too much sleep during the daytime, it can negatively impact their nighttime sleep causing early wake ups. (If early wake ups a common struggle, and you don’t feel they are related to a nap transition, check out my free guide on early morning wake ups!)
How long should your baby be showing these signs for before making a schedule change?
Your baby likely won’t show all of these signs that they are ready to drop a nap. Most likely it will be one or two signs. The main things to look at are: Have you been seeing these signs for about 2 weeks and are they at or near the age range for a nap transition? If you answer yes, then it’s most likely time to drop a nap!
If you’re reading this and struggling with your baby’s sleep, you don’t have to wait until you reach your breaking point with sleep deprivation to ask for help (like myself and so many others have!).
I offer free 30-minute calls to see if working together would be a good fit. I am here to be your go-to person, to answer your questions and support you, making the sleep training process easier on the whole family!
Sleep easy,
Yasmin Johnston
Your Pediatric Sleep Consultant
