3-2 Nap Transition and Syncing Baby & Toddler Nap Times

[SofisMom]

Hi All,

My baby just turned 6 months old yesterday. She is currently on the 4 hour routine with 2 naps + a catnap (and 2 hour awake times, or a bit more). Right now, her 2nd nap (~2pm) coincides perfectly with my toddler's daily nap and this is much needed for my own down time/nap time! But baby will be going through the 3-2 nap transition soon, and I'm wondering how I can still sync their naps together. Any ideas??

My baby's current schedule:

E 8am
A
S 10am-12pm

E 12pm
A
S 2pm-4pm (my toddler naps from 2pm-4:30pm, and this works out perfectly for me)

E 4pm
A
S 6pm-6:30pm

E 7pm
A
S 8pm Bedtime

From what I remember with my first daughter, switching from 3-2 naps means awake times increase from 2 hours to 3 hours.  If I do that, their nap schedules will conflict, because my baby will then be napping from 11am-1pm and then 4pm-6pm (her awake time will be from 1pm to 4pm). My toddler currently naps from around 1:30-2pm till about 4:30pm.  Is there anyway to figure out a different schedule for the baby, like instead of awake times being 3hr, 3hr, 3hr, could it be 2hr 2hr 4hr? Or would that not work?

Please let me know your thoughts! What do others do?

[creations]

I'm not convinced I could come up with an idea that will work or you'd be happy with but one idea is to shoft LOs whole day so it looks something like this:

WU 6
A 3
S 9-11
A 3
S 2-4 (same time as toddler nap)
A 3
BT 7

Thing is, LOs are all so different so usually I don't see perfect 3hr A times and 2hr naps for a 6 month old anyway.  Some like shorter first A times some like shorter last A times before BT...and some would pay a lot of money to have the lovely routine you are currently on!!

Maybe what you could do is continue with the 2 - 4 nap and just move everything around it. So rather than dropping the CN you wait for UT at the 2pm nap (nap refusal or short nap) and then respond by either capping nap 1 15 mins earlier (reducing nap to 1hr 45 instead of 2hr) or by making it earlier 9.45 - 11.45 (which will likely also require WU to be 15 min earlier, 7.45).

If you really don't like the idea of the earlier WU maybe you could go for two CNs and a long nap instead of moving to 2 naps?  It may help you keep the 2-4 Y time.

The other thing to take into account though is your toddler age and routine - depending how old she is her nap is going to need capping or dropping at some point too.

[SofisMom]

Thank you! I really appreciate your thoroughness and feedback. I'm going to look at the ways I can tweak the schedules.

[creations]

You're welcome. I hope you work out a routine which can accommodate everyone and get you a little bit of Y time too