Anyone want to talk about the 3-2 Nap transition? Part 2

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

I can't believe I'm joining this thread already!  Medi's not four and a half months yet but she's been having long nw's around 3 am. I'm still feeding her twice in the night and about 1/3 nights she'll not settle at 3 am. I'm so not ready for this!!!!

[Sarah-mom of 3]

Hi all!
I need a little bit of advice here too!  My little man is almost 5 months and he has HORRIBLE NW (up every hour).  And now he wants to start in on EW too!  He currently is on a 4 hr EASY and has 3 naps (naps 1 and 2 are 40 min to 1 hr and 30 min, but nap 3 is usually 40 min at most).  His 3rd nap usually falls at 5 or 5:15 and then bedtime is at 8.  Should we take away that 3rd nap?  He seems so miserably tired if we try!   

[TB9]

Welcome ladies!

I think you will have to increase his other As to get his other 2 naps longer before you drop that last cn.  As the other naps get longer you can shorten the cn to keep his day around the same length

[Sarah-mom of 3]

Thank you!

[Clairemary]

Just curious...reading this and very helpful, but wondering why are you transitioning baby to 2 naps and not 3...unless I missed something?  Just a new mommy and any advice is great! Thanks!  ( is because of frequent night wakeings or not able to take naps?) curious...

[Layla]

Hi Clairemary,

I've attached a link which should hopefully explain when one should start the transition from 3 to 2 naps. Let me know if you have any questions once you've read the link

All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

So once they're on two naps, how long should the naps be?  I'd been waking Medi at 1.5 hours when she was having three, but I think she'd nap longer if I let her. (She's always preferred napping to sleeping at night unfortunately).

[Layla]

Mine used to do 1.5 in the morning and between 1.5-2 (and longer if I'd let her too) in the afternoon.

[lauradj]

Hi ladies,

  I'm in the process of doing the 3-2 transition completely (omitting the cat nap) but I'm getting all confused.  DS is 6.5 months and I'm working him up to 2hr and 30 minutes of A time but for the next two weeks our goal is 2 hrs and 15 minutes.  He has high sleep needs, hence the slow going. 
Right now this is our day:

WU/Eat: 7:00
A: 7:15-8:55
S:9:10
WU:11:15
A: solids, play, breast feed
S:1:30 (this will be a new time today, not sure how he'll do)
WU: 3:30
A: Bottle and play
CN: 5:00-5:30 ?
WU: Solids
A: Small amount of play, bath and bottle
S: 7pm

I don't think it's possible to ask my LO to stay up for more than 2 hours after 3:30, he just can't take it.  However, when I do the cat nap at 5, usually when I go in he's just quietly sucking his thumb.  Should I just try putting him to bed at 5:45 or keep a 30 minute cat nap until he's up for 2.5 hrs?  This is such a weird in between place to be! 

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Thanks Layla. Can I ask you, was it you that had a dd that went to two naps quite young as well?  And you did set nap times?  I'm considering it for Medi because were still getting early wake ups.

[Layla]

Sarah, she started the transition at 5 months and by 5.5 months we were on 2 naps. Yes, I did set naps. I did a set nap at 9am for 1st nap and then 2nd nap set at 1.30pm. Her 2 nap schedule was pretty textbook: 2x1.5hr naps. If she would wake earlier than 6am, I still held her off to 9am (partly because I had no other choice due to school drop off) but she took really well to that and for some reason it never really affected the length of her morning nap (some babies start doing 30min overtired naps). What's Medi doing now? Does she still wake really early in the morning?

Hi Laura - during the transition period (any transition really), you are likely to have longer days but you might find even giving him more A before catnap will still not work and if that's the case, I would do an earlier bedtime. Or if he does happen to fall asleep and its quiet late in the evening, you could shorten the nap to 30mins?

[lauradj]

Thanks Layla!  I wasn't sure if I should just let the day run a bit longer or shorten so I'll just keep the cat nap for now and bed will be a smidge later than usual.  I guess once he's achieved the 2.5hrs awake time I'll just drop the nap all together and put him to bed earlier?  I love that T is not phased by any of this but it's totally stressing me out!

[Layla]

Haha, dd3 is the same... really relaxed and such a laid back baby whereas transitions totally freak me out!!!

Let us know how you get on

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Yes, she's still waking early. Before 5 some days. She's 80% on two naps but some days one of her naps is short so she'll have a sneaky 20 minutes cat nap. Your suggestion would work ok with our school run times. 

[ISALoz]

Hi I'm new to this thread. Have a 6.5 mo who I thought was ready to transition   She wouldn't lengthen her first nap beyond 30 mins and started waking at 11-1(never did this) and waking early. So I stretched her morning A and for one week she slept 1.5. Second nap was still short and I've been stretching WAketime and only got two long naps. Bc she fought third nap(and I didn't have time to keep trying because have a 2 yo) I put her to bed early. Seems like things have gotten worse since I did this  and she's back to two 30 min naps but now I'm in a cycle I can't get out of because she still wakes at same time and I've been stretching her awake time  (15 mins every few days) and if I were to do a CN it would push her BT so late she would get OT
Here's schedule now. Wake ~7, nap 1 930 -~10(sometimes takes her 15 to fall asleep)
Nap 2 just increases to 3 hrs waketime and she slept one hour. BT 6-630
My question is. Should I push morning WAketime? Or is it too soon for 3-2?