When do you drop the third nap?

Just curious? How do you go about dropping naps? Mine still get sleepy after 2 hours of wakefulness. When will they be able to stay awake longer?

 

Just curious? How do you go about dropping naps? Mine still get sleepy after 2 hours of wakefulness. When will they be able to stay awake longer?

 

We dropped the 3rd nap at about 10.5 months. I think we were on the late side, but mine were still needing it. Sometimes I will still put them down for a quick (30-45 min) 3rd nap if they got up from the second one early.

 

mine are still taking a 3rd nap, although it is brief...I was wondering the same question just the other day...

 

Up until about 9 months we were napping at 9, 1, and 4;45(for about 25 minutes), then at 9 months we dropped the last one.

 

My oldest drop the 3d nap at 6 months. I am aiming for the same with my twins, in combination with an early bed time (6 pm). She would do up 7 am - 9 am, nap 9 am - 10 am, up 10 am - 1 pm, nap 1 pm - 3 pm, up 3 pm - 6 pm. She did this until 18 months when she dropped the morning nap.

 

You can start moving things back about 10-15 minutes a day and eventually they will be on a longer between nap and feeding time schedule. Usually the two naps become longer.

 

We just recently dropped the third nap. So they now get one at 9.30am for 1 - 1 1/2 and the same at 2pm. x

 

We dropped the third nap at 10 months. It was only about 45 min. (but I usually had to wake them up then), but it just got too hard to put them down while I was trying to get dinner ready and they started taking longer to go down so it wasn't worth it anymore. They were cranky for a few days, but then got used to the longer stretch of time.

 

Sometimes mine still take the third nap, and sometimes they don't. It all depends on what time they got up for the day (sometimes 6am, sometimes 7am), how long and well they took the first two naps, and if we're going out in the evening. My oldest has Girl Scouts on Wednesday evening and we leave about the time that the babies would take their third nap (4:30), so I just keep them up. Now that they're so used to their cribs, they usually won't sleep anywhere else.

 

We moved to 2 naps at about 7.5 months, but didn't complete the transition until about 8 months. Now, 3 months later, the boys are wanting 3-3.5 hours of awake time.

For us, it was time to junk a nap when we started running out of time in the day (last nap starts interfering with being able to go to bed on time).

To initiate the transition, just bump the morning nap in whatever increments (15 min?) your kids can handle. Once they've done that for a few days, bump it again until you reach your goal. As pp said, bedtime can be adjusted earlier during the transition. Don't be surprised if you have a night waking (or 2) as you transition.

Good luck and remember all babies are different, so even if the books say 2 naps at 6 months you don't have to force your kids into it before they're ready.

 

I never really gave them a 3rd nap. After their 3:30pm bottle, I let them watch sesame street and they usually fall asleep in their bouncy seat and swing.

 

My kiddos dropped the third nap at 7 months. It was only then that we actually finally got into a predictable routine.

6:30 wake
8: breakfast
9: nap- usually 1.5-2 hours
12: Lunch
1: nap (usually 2 hours)
5: dinner
6:30: bath/bottle/bed

They have 4 bottles throughout the day including bedtime.

Mine are still showing sleepy signs in the late afternoon(5 pm) but I can't put them down because it totally interferes with bedtime and sleeping all night. Mia is still wakes occasionally at night around 1 and wants to play. They aren't too fussy until right before bed when I am dressing them.
HTH
Melissa

PS I think the third nap depends too on bedtime. If we were putting our kids down at 8, they would get a third nap still. But we need them up at 6:30 a.m., so earlier to bed is necessary.

 

We are trying to drop the 3rd nap now. Like PPs have said, it depends on how the day went if I let them have a little snooze around 5pm. If they nap well during the day, they don't need it. If they don't nap well, they are cranky so we give them that little boost to make it until bedtime.