Spinoff to Nap Post...

I actually had no idea that I should have dropped the 3rd nap awhile ago and it makes sense now that I've read what all the other ladies have to say. My guys are napping 3x's/day - 30 mins per nap. I've sketched out a new schedule which would only include 2 naps but I'm really nervous because they only nap for 30 mins and by breaking it down to 2 naps, that's only 1 hr of naptime/day.

Does anyone have extremely short nappers like I do and have successfully dropped a 3rd nap and subsequently increased nap lengths? How long before they adjust to the new schedule? Will I have cranky babies until they do? How do I keep them awake for 3.5 hours before their second nap? Should they be going that long between naps at 10 months?

I could really use some encouragement!


My Ideal New Schedule:

5:30-6 - awake
6:30 - 7oz. bottle
8:30 - nap
9:30 - awake (they are only napping 30 mins so this is ideal that they'd sleep an hour)
9:45 - breakfast
12:00 - lunch
1:00 - nap
2:30 - awake (again, I'd like them to sleep 1.5 hrs but they are only napping for 30 mins now)
3:00 - heavy snack
4:30 - dinner
6:20 - 9oz. bottle
6:45 - bed

 

We made the switch about a month ago (right around 10 months) and found that naps definately became longer. My girls were taking three 45 minute naps and now they take two 1.5 hour naps. They have actually increased the amount of total naptime! It took about two weeks for the new schedule to iron itself out. Sometimes they were a bit crabby, but the major thing I noticed it that they were very tired by bedtime.

Here's our typical schedule in case it helps:

6:00 awake
6:30 bottle
7:30 breakfast
8:30 nap
10:00 wake up
10:30 bottle
12:00 lunch
1:00 nap
2:30 wake up
2:45 bottle
4:30 dinner
5:30 bottle
6:15 bed

 

I think every kid is different. Mine still occassionally take a third nap, but their other naps aren't super short so its not a problem. I think your new schedule looks good... be prepared for it to take some time for those naps to lengthen and you may have to put them down earlier than normal. GL!!!!

 

We still sometimes have 3 naps/day! I tried going down to 2, but it just did not work. They didn't sleep enough. The remaining naps did NOT get longer. Everyone was cranky and miserable.

There's nothing wrong with giving it a try - that's the only way to find out! But you may actually wind up staying at 3 naps, and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

I am also trying to drop 3rd nap but my girls are a lot younger than yours. Like pp said every baby is different though.
I just wanted to wish you luck!! And hopefully their naps get longer! That is exactly what happened when I dropped their 4th nap so I am hopeful on dropping their 3rd and the other 2 getting longer... AGAIN!

Good luck!!!

 

I dropped to 2 naps before 6 mo proabbaly about the same time as cohlee. IT worked much better for us. Our long awake time was/still is from 3 to 7. Until this week I still only went 2 hours of awake time with 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps.

 

I had babies just like yours! Three short cat naps a day. I just finished the transition to two. It took about a month! But i think that was only because they got really bad colds in the middle of it. The thing that made a big difference for me was to give them their solid breakfast first thing in the morning. That way their tummies are nice and full (and it is extra distraction so they stay up a little longer). So we do: solid breakfast, play, sip of water, nap, bottle snack, solid lunch, play, nap, bottle snack, play, dinner, play, bottle snack, bedtime. Their naps are AROUND 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. and usually they sleep around 30-60 minutes in the morning and at least 60 minutes in the afternoon. Good Luck!