What age do you start reducing naps?

[scucci1979]

I am a little confused at what age nap times should be reduced? I have been reading some posts on reducing nap times from 2 hours to 1 1/2 hour around 8 months to prevent EW. Is this the correct age? Is it better to have one nap in the am or pm long?

thanks

[jordiwes]

Hi there,
It all depends on your LO. I think you start reducing the nap lengths when you start getting EW. I know some parents that still have 2 2 hour naps and 11 hours at night at 12 months.
I think it's generally better to have the longer nap in the PM, although sometimes your little one will do better with longer in the morning. You'll have to experiment a little.
HTH

[becky1969]

I agree with PP -- another thing you can see is NWs if your LO gets too much daytime sleep.  I have a very very sleepy bub who still sleeps 14-15 hours/day at 3 years old.  Yet, at around 12 months we had to really reduce that AM nap because our PM naps went to hell and we had so many NWs.  It really did help!

[scucci1979]

Thanks! My lo is 5 months today and have noticed she likes to take longer naps in the morning.  This may change over time, but if it doesn't, is it better for her to have a longer nap in the pm?

[becky1969]

The last nap of the day is going to be a catnap (30-45 minutes) until 6-7 months old, is that what you're asking?

As for the other naps, at this age I'm not sure it matters as much as long as you keep last A time the right length.  I was thinking more of a toddler who is on 2 naps per day and moving toward 1, adn then you really want that last nap of the day to be longer since they have so few chances to catch up on sleep.

[scucci1979]

That makes sense.