4 Critical Changes in the first few years
Our babies snooze best during the day when they take optimal amounts of sleep during the day based on their age and sleep structure
A nap transition happens when out babies grow and drop off one of those naps being able to comfortably stay awake a little longer in between snoozes.
 4-3 Nap Transition
 3-2 Nap Transition
 2-1 Nap Transition
 1-0 Nap Transition (Dropping the day sleep completely)
Don't Rush a Nap Transition
A nap transition can take weeks as our little one's adjust to the new routine and staying awake that little bit longer. Rather than dropping the nap cold turkey i like to take a more gradual approach of toggling in between the two routines for a week or so
Example 7m old currently on 3 day naps - starting the transition to 2. Bebe starts to resist the third nap quite a bit, but might take it once or twice a week. This back and forth between two & three nap days may happen until your little one is ready to fully drop the nap a week or two later.
Signs your little one might be ready to drop a nap
- Resisting that Nap
- Gymnastics in the cot instead of falling asleep?
- As your little one grows their awake window extends so they may not be tired at their usual nap time.
- Catnapping You've just sat down to some Trashy TV and a hot cuppa & then.... BAM Eyes open staring at you through the monitor! catnapping can result in insufficient sleep pressure, or the actual opposite an overtired child — both are potential causes of short naps.
- Â Early Morning rise /Split Nights
When our babies day routine or awake windows are slightly off this tends to result in insufficient sleep pressure before bed. Our little ones can go through a phase of having split nights (awake for hours in the middle of the night)
To complicate matters, overtiredness from skipping naps can also contribute to early waking. If this seems confusing, we get it.