Do they need them and how often? When your baby is first born, they need at least 15 to plus hours of sleep per day. As your child gets closer to 4 or 5 months old, they need a little less sleep overall closer to 14 hours and will be sleeping longer at night. So, three to four naps during the day will be a more common schedule.
Their day may follow a pattern: a minute to 2-hour awake window, followed by a nap, then repeat. However, this can vary depending on what developmental milestones your little one is reaching and their ability to self-soothe , among other things. Babies who take shorter naps will need them more frequently! By 9 months old, you baby is most likely getting 10 to 12 hours of sleep at night and 3 to 4 hours of daytime sleep split between two naps.
They may sometimes try to skip a nap as they hit various milestones — crawling or pulling up around their crib is much more fun than sleeping! Many toddlers will begin to move toward one nap between 14 and 18 months; however, this is very personal. Some children will drop naps completely before they hit the preschool years, while others will continue napping through kindergarten.
These include:. It may be time to consider dropping a nap if your little one is taking longer to fall asleep at nap time and frequently skips at least one of their daily naps. Falling asleep on their own is an indicator that your child needs the rest.
So as you switch to one nap, try to ease their morning crankiness by establishing "quiet time," during which you read or listen to soft music, says George J.
Cohen, M. Consider moving their dinner and bedtime earlier to make up for the reduced daytime sleep. You should also be open to an occasional two-nap day when your child seems to need it.
If your child's sleep schedule at daycare doesn't align with the routine that works at home, talk with the staff about coming up with a plan, suggests West. You might even ask whether it's possible to move your child to a different room at the center during rest time. But don't stress out too much if the director is unable to accommodate you: Lots of children do perfectly fine following one sleep pattern during the week and a contrasting one on weekends. Gradually, the two will be in sync and you won't need to worry about their napping routine again How to Transition from Two Naps to One.
Save Pin FB More. Your child is under 12 months old When you put your child down for a nap, they play, resist, or fuss for a while—but they always ends up sleeping for at least an hour Your child usually falls asleep during daytime car rides Your child is fussy or acts tired if they miss a nap Your child is dealing with a change in their life such as a new sibling , sickness, or starting day care that disrupts their nap schedule Your child misses naps when you're on the go, but takes two good naps when you're at home.
When you put your child down for a nap, they play or fuss, then take only a short nap or never fall asleep at all Your child can go for car rides early in the day and not fall asleep When your child misses a nap, they're cheerful and energetic until the next nap or bedtime Your child naps well for one of their naps but resists the other nap.
No matter how well your baby sleeps at night naps are still very important. The older your child is, the longer he can go between sleep breaks without getting cranky. The biology behind this reason dictates that young babies need to divide their day up with two naps, but older babies can handle a full day with only one nap. Use the following lists as a guide.
She is refusing her second nap and keeps waking up really early. Can you please advise what to do until what time shall i keep moving the first nap before trying one nap and how long should her 1 nap be.
Hi Sumiya! Those early wake ups are likely a result of overtiredness from the transition and refusing her second nap. Ideally, about hours at this age.
It can take a few weeks to get things back to normal with wake time and get her solidly on one nap. Feel free to reach out to chat more if you are still struggling in a week or so! Hi there! This is super helpful. He is now getting to and will not sleep more than an hour. Is this something that will correct itself with time or should I push the nap a little later in a few days to help this? He is SO cranky all afternoon, goes to bed around , and is waking early. Hi Lakita! Typically at this age I keep nap somewhere between and so I would stay at and give him a few weeks to start extending his nap.
Should I move it back to ? Thanks so much! It takes some time. Hi, this is such a helpful post which has come just at the right time as our little man has refused and protested his morning nap for a good few days now, but consistently has been taking a good 1. I have always capped his morning nap at half an hour to ensure a good afternoon sleep. The last few days where he has protested, I have given up and put him down for his lunch nap earlier at Is this just a blip?
He does not seem tired at all for a morning nap at 10am, or am I beginning the transition? Letting him nap in the morning any later than 10am throws our whole day out of sorts. Hi Sophie! It is possible that your son is ready to transition to one nap with him needing more awake time in the morning to not protest his nap.
However, I would give it another week or so before really starting the transition. If he continues to protest his morning nap for the rest of the week and into next week, resulting in an earlier afternoon nap around , I would stop putting him down for the morning nap and move to one nap at at that point. It would definitely be in the range of normal to transition at this age, so give it some time and it will likely become clear if it is a blip or if he is ready to transition.
If you need any more support, please do reach out! My daughter is 14 months and we are trying to transition to 1 nap. Right now she is at 4. She is really tired around 4. Which would be around 4pm.
Is it okay to give her a cat nap at ? To make it to bedtime If so — if she does only have a 15 min nap how long should her wake windows be after that? Hi Ashley! Until you are able to push that first nap out a bit farther to bridge the gap to bedtime, doing a cat nap of 15 minutes or so is great if she will take the nap.
Then you want to do a normal bedtime to align with her natural body clock as long as it is at least If it is less than that I recommend doing an early bedtime of up to 1 hour earlier than normal. Feel free to reach out if you want to chat or troubleshoot some more.
My 11 month old sleeps hours at night with no wake ups requiring me to go to her. About 40 minutes max and wakes up crying. Should I be waking her up in the morning after a certain amount of night time sleep? Or should I be trying to transition her to one nap? Hi Christina! With your little one sleeping so well at night, she may be ready to transition to one nap. She is definitely on the early end age-wise but it is not unheard of. The main thing to look at to determine if she is ready to transition is can she handle longer periods of awake time during the day 4.
Hope that helps. Feel free to reach out if you want to chat or troubleshoot some more! Such useful post!!!! My little one is 12 months and 1 week old, is it too early to transition to 1 nap?
The last 3 weeks I have to wake him up during am nap otherwise he will sleep for 1. He started daycare during this time so I m wondering if he s really ready for the transition or he s just upset with this change…? Thanks a lot. Hi Maria! Your little one is definitely in the range of transitioning to one nap.
However, with the transition to daycare, there is a lot more stimulation and excitement so he may still be trying to adjust. Feel free to reach out if you want to chat more or do some more troubleshooting since you have a few moving parts. My 13 month old will only have his second nap if I cap his first nap at 1hr. Hi Sarah-Jayne! Depending on how long this all has been going on, it sounds like your son is ready to transition to one nap since he can extend his first nap so well and it takes him so long to fall asleep after having a second nap.
With those early wake ups, I recommend taking the slow approach for moving nap minutes every few days and then try to do a car or stroller cat nap to get him through to bedtime without getting too much more overtired.
Feel free to reach out if you want to chat or troubleshoot more to get him sleeping well for nights and naps! SO much great advise on here, thank you. Sure helps to navigate a tricky sleepless time.
My little guy just turned 15 months and we are six days into transitioning from two to one naps a day. Since we transitioned he has been waking up in the night, probably 4 out of the last seven nights and is also crying 15 mins before going to sleep for the night which is not like him!
His first wake window is 5 hours which he handles well. Goes down for a nap. Should I continue this or let him sleep for three hours then wake if need be? Then his next wake window is 4. Hi Lindsey!
Sounds like your little guy has gotten overtired with those longer wake windows as he adjusts to 1 nap. This is tough nap transition because what was his awake time is now his sleep time so it takes time for his body to adjust. Remember to respond consistently with how you have in the past to night wake ups to not reinforce them.
It can take weeks to feel like you are back on track after this transition so hang in there and he should be back on track soon! Hope this helps.
Feel free to reach out if you want to chat more or troubleshoot more in-depth! Hi Bonnie. Bedtime is at 7pm. Since she dropped to 1 nap she has started waking at , then , now in the last week 5am. Can you offer any advice? Hi Georgia! Sounds like she has gotten a bit overtired with the transition to one nap. With the early wake ups, I recommend keeping her in her crib until at least AM to help encourage longer sleep being in the dark, cool, calm environment until that time.
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