2-3-4 schedule?

What is this and when do you start it?

 

it's the interval between naps. nap 1 comes 2 hours after the morning wake up. the 2nd nap comes 3 hours after they wake up from nap 1, and bedtime is 4 hours after they wake up from nap 2.

we didn't start doing it until the boys were 7 or 8 months and we did a modified schedule which was 1,2,3,4. meaning we did the 1st nap one hour after wakeup and then started the 2-3-4 schedule. my guys are reluctant to give up naps, though, and i know others have started that schedule earlier and had no problems going down to 2 naps per day.

 

We did this (by accident) at 6 months. It helped us regulate our nap schedule, as my kids were done with three naps a day. 1st nap was 2 hours after waking for the day, 2nd nap 3 hours after waking from the 1st nap, in our case bedtime was 3-4 hours after waking from the 2nd nap.

 

I'm the same as itsnancycozzi. I never knew what it was until I was reading someone explain it one day and realized my boys followed it on their own! Now its easier to put them down for naps bc I know when they really are getting ready to go down. Its very simple...but I think around 6-8 months is easiest to follow it...my boys couldn't really go longer than 3 hours before that age

 

Pretty much ditto this. I found it more useful as a general guideline than as a real rule, and I found out about it after we were already sort of following it.

We didn't really have any kind of a "schedule" (other than a general bedtime, which started around 4 months) until 6-7 months. And I took my cue from daycare -- just followed whatever they were already doing there.

 

Mine didn't start an actual 2-3-4 till about a week before they turned 9 months. Before that they really needed a 3rd nap. They just could not make 4 hours and their earlier naps didn't last long enough to make it to a normal bedtime. I followed HSHHC with the wake between 6-7am, nap around 9am, nap around 1pm, 3rd nap if needed between 3-5pm, and bedtime between 6-8pm (although mine was more like 7-9pm). Since they've turned 9 months we rarely need the 3rd nap and are able to do more of a 2-3-4 and it works out pretty well. I watch their tired signs and that's about when they hit them. They didn't even get on a real "routine" or "schedule" till 6 months. Before that I just hoped they slept!! LOL

 

Mine are over 10 months old and mine are just now ready to be able to try this. They still sometimes need the third catnap.

 

Same here and we found it quite painful for a good couple of months while they got used to not having the 3rd nap. We find it alot more manageable now, we have so much free time now it's great not to be tied.