When do you go from 3 naps to 2???

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Hi there,

My DS is 4 months now and has been doing pretty well on EASY although we have some ups and downs with snuffles etc. What I am trying to work out is when I need to reduce him to 2 naps. Will he tell me that he doesn't want it anymore by staying awake, will it take him longer to settle at bedtime, can it start causing night wakings?? His day looks something like this:

7am Eat
710 to 830 Activity (normally only awake 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 after waking up)
830/845 Sleep
1045 / 11ish East
11-1245 Activity
1pm Sleep
3pm Feed
310 to 430ish Activity
430 Sleep
515 Feed
530 Activity
630 Bath time and wind down
7pm Feed and bed.

Obviously his day and the times can change but the rhythm stays the same if it's going smoothly and he is able to feed well.

Cheers

J

[HeatherC]

Hi, J.  Based on my experiences and those of others I know, your lo may start to resist going to sleep at all for the catnap.  That was the case for my dd.  She would just cry and cry and never get settled.  Although it was tough for her in the beginning to happily make it through until bedtime without the catnap, she eventually adjusted.  That was around 5 mos for her, but many keep the catnap for much longer.  Also, like you said, a 3rd nap may start to interfere with going to sleep for bedtime.  At that point you could try a few days without the catnap and see if that was the culprit.  It's trial and error with lo's.  Best wishes!

[*Natasha*]

We dropped the catnap at 5 months when DD started protesting at nap and bedtimes and taking longer to fall asleep. Also her naps started to get shorter. So we slowly increased her awake time by 15mins at a time over a few day and what a difference this made. We are now in the process of extending her awake time again it is never ending.

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Ok Thanks to you both. That seems to make sense.

Hopefully it will be a smooth transition. I might have to wait until I can get him to stay up the full 2 hours of the 4 hour routine before I try anything.

Best Wishes

J

[corrina01]

My DD dropped the catnap at 8 months, but she still has it if she hasn't slept well in the morning.

From advice of another nap moderator they usually start to drop the catnap when their A times are heading towards the 3hr mark.

HTH