Okay, so if you’ve read my last blog post “Nap Transitions: When it’s time to drop a nap!” and you've evaluated your situation and decided your baby is really ready to drop that nap. Let’s talk about how to do it!

If you have read this latest blog post and decided it’s not the right time for you THATS OKAY! A lot of parents will drop the nap at the first sign of trouble and before baby is ready, and instead of helping, it creates more sleep problems. All of a sudden baby is overtired and up every hour at night. The good news is you can totally fix that by just re-inserting the nap. Voila!

Now if you read the blog and are still unsure of where you stand..perhaps you’re in my situation.

Isabella - 7 months

My daughter is 7 months old. She is playing in her crib for about 15 minutes before she actually falls asleep and her naps are slightly shorter than before. She’s been doing this for over two weeks. This tells me her wake times are lengthening and she’s almost ready but not quite ready to drop that third nap.

How do I know? Well, because her wake windows are still not long enough, without getting her to bedtime overtired. You want to avoid moving bedtime later (only earlier) and you don’t want to ADD a nap.

Solution: What we have done is given her a 15 minute catnap in between 2nd nap and bedtime. So her 3rd nap used to be 30 minutes now it’s 15 minutes. We’re giving her JUST enough to get her to bedtime which we’ve brought forward from 7pm to 6:30pm to adjust to the change. We’ve also lengthened those wake windows by 15 minutes and her naps are now back on track. Some days she skips that nap and that’s okay, bedtime moves to 6pm. It’s a dance as I always say. Book a call with me and we can troubleshoot your schedule together taking into consideration a variety of personalized factors.

A few rules of thumb:

These are general guidelines and will vary by child

Bedtime should always be in what is called a biological sleep window which just means when their body is primed for sleep. So bedtime between 6:30-7:30pm is ideal. Bedtime later than 8pm might be ideal for parents, but it’s fighting against their natural rhythms and will most likely lead to an overtired baby. You also don’t ever want to trade off nap sleep-which is usually short and not great quality, for night sleep as its more restorative. That’s when all the development happens!

So if you need to adjust bedtime, adjust it earlier. I promise sleep begets sleep and they will sleep longer!

*Having said this is you are happy with a later bedtime, it’s not causing sleep problems or wake ups and it works for YOU. Then you do you! Don’t change a thing if it’s not a problem.

If it is a problem, well then you know what to do.

Here are 7 steps to dropping that nap:

Step 1: Make sure this is the right decision. Take all factors into consideration before deciding to drop the nap, whether you’re going from 3 to 2 naps, 2 to 1 nap or dropping naps all together (gasp). I would also, take a few weeks and evaluate. If baby is still having short naps, not tired for naps and early waking past two weeks, then we have to adjust. If baby has a few days of being unsettled, then it could just be a developmental leap, teething or nutrition. There are many factors that this can be attributed too. I would wait and observe for a few days. There are many times especially at around 12 months that babies go through some major growth developmentally plus separation anxiety and this can be confused with needing to drop the nap. Keep consistent for a few days at least and if it’s long term then yes, consider dropping it.

Step 2: Start stretching wake times slowly. You want to approach this gradually so it’s not too much of a shock to the system. This is when you would stretch that wake time 10 minutes at a time. Each day make it longer. Calculate what your wake window should by for babies age and hit that time.

For example: if you are moving from 2 naps to 1 nap, stretch that morning wake window so morning nap is getting closer to midday (10am, 11am, 11:30am) do this over a week or two, 10 minutes every day. Then bring your bedtime back to be earlier so your afternoon wake windows are not too long. Bedtime will move earlier to meet that wake time. This is to avoid baby becoming overtired. Once they get used to this schedule as you push that wake window, bedtime can gradually go back to it’s regular time.

Step 3: Get creative. You baby will get tired nearing the end of that wake window. However, they won’t be tired enough to get that long restorative nap. So…get creative. Have a dance party, take them outside for some fresh air, distract them with toys. Keep them awake that extra 10 minutes. There is a fine line to pushing that wake window and baby becoming overtired so tread lightly but push it even just 5 minutes more each time.

If your baby is just lying on a mat or in a carseat/stroller, the will be bored and they will get sleepy. Stimulate their little brains, expose them to light, then do a 5 minute wind down before nap. That wind down is also important because once the brain and body are stimulated they can’t go straight to sleep. Everyone needs a bit of a wind down before bed, us adults we do it all the time. Imagine running a marathon and then having to go straight to sleep. Not a chance! You need to relax, sit on the couch, put on comfy clothes and get ready to doze off to sleep. Same thing with babies.

Step 4: Keep all wind down routines consistent. As mentioned in step 3, wind down routines are important. The more consistent you are with implementing these, the easier baby will go down to sleep. A baby can’t tell the time on a clock, BUT they will know sleep is coming by the actions you take each day. For example: putting on a sleep sack and turning on white noise will tell them that it is time for sleep and will help them get prepared. This is how you will communicate with baby and your baby will form that association and actually become sleepy with these cues.

Step 5: Keep routine but be flexible. So here’s the kicker. You want to be consistent and keep a predictable routine but NOT a strict schedule. It’s so important to go with the flow of your day. If baby wake early from a nap and won’t settle back down. That’s OKAY. Just start your wake window from the time they woke up. You might need to throw in a 10-15 minute cat nap, do it! You might need to bring bedtime earlier, do it! Keep it fluid, like a dance! (see how I brought up dance again?! hehe..it’s really like a tango or salsa..you adjust and follow your partners steps, meet them in the middle and it’s about working with natural rhythms not against them).

Step 6: Expect a week (or more) of adjustment. We need to adjust our expectations, some of these transitions will be hard and there will be an adjustment period. Give yourself and baby that grace time. Expect some Overtiredness and possibly some night wakings. Through all of this however, stay consistent. Choose an approach and stick to it. Nothing confuses babies more that doing something different every day, they don’t know what to expect, there is no patters and no predictability. Babies thrive on predictability because its how they understand the world. Give them consistency and predictability.

Step 7: Be patient. Patience will get you there. Ask for support if you need it and know that this too shall pass. You are doing all the right things and with patience and consistency you will get there! Support your baby through this transition, being tired is not a pleasant experience for them, just as it’s not pleasant for us. Patience and persistent, together you will get there and your schedule will be back on track in no time!

As always, I’m here to help guide you through this process. Book a free call with me, a good night sleep is waiting.

If you want to see if you are on track with your key sleep foundations, you can download by sleep success check list here. It will guide you through all the factors that influence great sleep! It’s GOLD.

Happy Napping 2.0!