Wondering if your baby is ready to make the 3 to 2 nap transition? Learn when babies typically drop their third nap and how to smoothly transition to two naps!
Making a schedule change and dealing with nap transitions stress a lot of parents out, but I personally always enjoyed making them!
More awake time and fewer naps meant I had more time to hang out with my baby, instead of watching her sleep all day!
The 3 to 2 nap transition is one of my favorite transitions because once your baby is on a solid two-nap schedule, their sleep schedule is the same everyday!
After you’ve successfully transitioned to two naps, you can move to a set schedule and keep your baby’s naps at the same time each day.
No more counting wake windows or adjusting the next sleep times if your baby took short naps.
Keep reading this blog post to see if your baby is ready to make the 3 to 2 nap transition and how to do it!
To help you better, download my free sleep calculator to see when naptime and bedtime should be based on your baby’s age. Click here to grab it, it’ll be super helpful.
When Do Babies Transition to Two Naps?
The 3 to 2 nap transition typically happens when your baby is in the 6 to 8 months age range. The most common age for babies to start the transition is 7 months old.
Babies who are higher sleep needs or don’t sleep well at night, may hold onto that third nap of the day until closer to 9 months old. While babies who have good over night sleep can typically handle longer wake windows and may be ready to make the transition a little closer to 6 months old.
You can see a sample 6 month old sleep schedule here.
Read on to see the signs your baby is ready to make the 3 to 2 nap transition!
How Do You Know Baby is Ready for 2 Naps?
Wouldn’t it be great if your baby came with an instruction manual? I was obsessed with baby sleep schedules and how to handle nap transitions as a new mom.
Then, when I became a pediatric sleep consultant, I decided to create a guidebook for baby sleep schedules and nap transitions.
Eliminate Short Naps with a Predictable Sleep Routine
Take away the stress of figuring out your baby’s sleep needs. With the Baby Sleep Schedule Binder, you’ll get sleeping and feeding schedules that you can implement for every age, even if you currently have no routine in place. Check out the Baby Sleep Schedule Binder here.
3 to 2 Nap Transition Signs
Your baby will essentially show you signs that he’s ready to drop his third nap and increase his wake windows, which will slowly drop the third nap and is how you’ll make the transition to two naps.
Some common signs include:
- At least 6 months old
- Taking longer than 15 minutes to fall asleep at bedtime or for naps
- Waking up 45 minutes into nap time
- Baby waking too early in the morning / Early morning wakings
- New night wakings when baby was previously sleeping through the night
- The last nap of the day is too late and interfering with bedtime
Keep in mind that the six month sleep regression can also affect your baby’s sleep between 6 and 8 months of age. As your baby learns new skills like crawling and sitting, these developmental milestones can interfere with sleep.
How to Transition from 3 to 2 Naps
Once you’re positive that your baby is ready to transition to two naps, here’s how to do it!
Just like when you made the 4 to 3 nap transition, you’ll gradually increase your baby’s awake times throughout the day.
Slowly increase each of their wake windows to about 2.25 to 3, depending on the time of day and how much your baby is able to handle.
At this age, you don’t have to worry as much (though still be aware of it) about an overtired baby as you did during the newborn days. Sometimes babies need a little nudge and stretch in their wake time to really help them take a good nap!
For example, at 6-months old, you may have been doing wake windows that were 2.25/2.5/2.5/2.25.
Stretch the first morning wake window to 2.5 hours and the second wake window to 3 hours. You can see a sample 7 month old sleep schedule or 8 month old sleep schedule.
If your baby takes two long naps, you’ll automatically have 2 naps that day, with about 3 hours before bedtime.
Example
7:00 am — Wake for the day
9:30 to 11:00 am — Nap 1
2:00 to 3:30 pm — Nap 2
6:30 pm — Bedtime
However, if the morning nap and second nap were short, you’ll try to squeeze in a cat nap around 4 pm, making it a 3-nap day.
Example:
7:00 am — Wake for the day
9:30 to 10:15 am — Nap 1
1:15 to 2:00 pm — Nap 2
4:00 to 4:30 — Nap 3
7:00 — Bedtime
There are no rules for the catnap, and your goal will be to get it in however you can. You can take baby for a walk in a stroller, wear baby, or simply allow him to sleep on your chest.
The 3rd nap helps your baby make it to the end of the day and bridge the time to bedtime, so as long as you’re practicing safe sleep, don’t worry about creating bad sleep habits!
If the catnap doesn’t happen, then don’t be afraid to put your baby to bed up to 90 minutes earlier for an early bedtime.
An earlier bedtime during the transition can help make up for the loss in daytime sleep temporarily.
Around 6 months old, many babies grow out of the 45-minute intruder. If your baby only naps for 30 minutes or 45 minutes, then they may have sleep associations that are inhibiting their ability to connect their sleep cycle.
It’s okay if some days your baby takes two naps and other days, he takes three naps during the transition.
If your baby has a hard time extending their nap length, you can implement a sleep training method or use crib hour to give your baby time and space to fall back asleep to help him take longer naps.
Keep in mind that it takes time to fully make the transition.
What Does A 2-Nap Schedule Look Like?
As your baby’s naps lengthen and he is able to handle a bit more awake time, a 2-nap schedule may look like this:
7:00 am — Wake for the day
9:30 to 11:00 am — Nap 1
2:00 to 3:30 pm — Nap 2
7:00 pm — Bedtime
It includes 3 hours of daytime sleep and 11 to 12-hours of nighttime sleep. This is a great sleep schedule for a 7-month old or 8-month old once they’ve fully transitioned to two naps!
Some babies (like mine) will take a longer morning nap and then an hour nap in the afternoon. As long as they are able to handle the wake windows and getting the appropriate amount of day sleep, I let them do it!
Remember that it takes time to transition to the new schedule. Shorter naps or early wake ups are common during the 3 to 2 nap transition. Stick with it and eventually your baby will be on a nice 2-nap schedule!
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