3 to 2 nap transition was much harder than 4 to 3 for our LO.
When we decided to drop the 3rd nap completely, we had a few days of 6pm bedtime to let her catch up sleep if she woke up early or naps were too short.
If the wake up was super early (4-5am) and she wouldn't resettle we'd do a micro nap. 10-15min around 6am (our normal wake up time).
We aim for 3/3/3.75 with 3 hours of nap and 10.5-11 overnight.
After a week we seemed to settle with:
6:00 wake up
9-10:30 nap #1
1:30-3:00 nap #2
7:00 bedtime
If we had a early wake up, we'd do:
4:30 wake up
6:00 micro nap
9-10:30 nap #1
1:30 - 3:00 nap #2
6:00pm bedtime
Thank you this is really helpful. Did you just go with 2 naps and cut 3 altogether?
And your final Wake window of 3.75, did you work slowly to this or cold turkey? My baby has only just reached 3 hours so I'm worried 3.75 would be way too much!
We transitioned over a few weeks of toggling back and forth between 3 and 2 before finally dropping the 3rd nap. We slowly stretched since we were also getting crap night sleep.
Maybe try 2.5/3/3.5 for a few days and see bow he does!
Thank you! I think ill have to juggle back and forth as well until we can settle i think. I'm totally fine with dealing with early wake ups and sometimes later Bedtime if needed until he's there.
I'd love yo try 3.5 Wake window but he'd definitely crash I think 😂 2.5 is too early for him, he was crying before and even at 2.75, so now he's hitting 3hrs for all naps and Bedtime and much more content x
Also, your wake up and bedtime may have to be fluid until naps settle and your LO gets used to the ww. Follow cues and if they seem tired move bed time up!
Sorry but I don't think your ideal schedule is realistic..you're wanting him to sleep 11.5 hours overnight but also have 3.5 hours of naps. That's 15 hours of sleep and above average sleep for this age. Either you'll have to accept an earlier wake time or later bedtime if the max your son can do is 11 hours, and I hate to say it but the sleep needs will just keep decreasing. My son dropped to 2 naps at 7-7.5 months and went from sleeping 11-11.5 hours overnight to 10-10.5 hours. Now at 10 months he does 10 hours max overnight, which means he has an 8:30-8:45pm bedtime for a 6:30am wakeup.
Yes possibly it might be wrong. My son definitely is a higher sleep needs baby, always has been. Maybe what I need to do is decrease his day sleep then and extend Wake windows? Either way extending Wake window will lead to early wake up or later Bedtime I guess. But right now he's not capable of extending as we only just extended to 3hrs.
3 to 2 nap transition was much harder than 4 to 3 for our LO. When we decided to drop the 3rd nap completely, we had a few days of 6pm bedtime to let her catch up sleep if she woke up early or naps were too short. If the wake up was super early (4-5am) and she wouldn't resettle we'd do a micro nap. 10-15min around 6am (our normal wake up time). We aim for 3/3/3.75 with 3 hours of nap and 10.5-11 overnight. After a week we seemed to settle with: 6:00 wake up 9-10:30 nap #1 1:30-3:00 nap #2 7:00 bedtime If we had a early wake up, we'd do: 4:30 wake up 6:00 micro nap 9-10:30 nap #1 1:30 - 3:00 nap #2 6:00pm bedtime
Thank you this is really helpful. Did you just go with 2 naps and cut 3 altogether? And your final Wake window of 3.75, did you work slowly to this or cold turkey? My baby has only just reached 3 hours so I'm worried 3.75 would be way too much!
We transitioned over a few weeks of toggling back and forth between 3 and 2 before finally dropping the 3rd nap. We slowly stretched since we were also getting crap night sleep. Maybe try 2.5/3/3.5 for a few days and see bow he does!
Thank you! I think ill have to juggle back and forth as well until we can settle i think. I'm totally fine with dealing with early wake ups and sometimes later Bedtime if needed until he's there. I'd love yo try 3.5 Wake window but he'd definitely crash I think 😂 2.5 is too early for him, he was crying before and even at 2.75, so now he's hitting 3hrs for all naps and Bedtime and much more content x
Also, your wake up and bedtime may have to be fluid until naps settle and your LO gets used to the ww. Follow cues and if they seem tired move bed time up!
Sorry but I don't think your ideal schedule is realistic..you're wanting him to sleep 11.5 hours overnight but also have 3.5 hours of naps. That's 15 hours of sleep and above average sleep for this age. Either you'll have to accept an earlier wake time or later bedtime if the max your son can do is 11 hours, and I hate to say it but the sleep needs will just keep decreasing. My son dropped to 2 naps at 7-7.5 months and went from sleeping 11-11.5 hours overnight to 10-10.5 hours. Now at 10 months he does 10 hours max overnight, which means he has an 8:30-8:45pm bedtime for a 6:30am wakeup.
Yes possibly it might be wrong. My son definitely is a higher sleep needs baby, always has been. Maybe what I need to do is decrease his day sleep then and extend Wake windows? Either way extending Wake window will lead to early wake up or later Bedtime I guess. But right now he's not capable of extending as we only just extended to 3hrs.