How do you help your child adjust from Three Naps to Two?

As babies grow, their sleep patterns naturally evolve, often leading to periods of unpredictable sleep. If you’re noticing that your baby’s once-reliable nap schedule is becoming erratic, it might be time to consider a nap transition. Shifting from three naps to two is a significant change, and understanding the science behind it can help you guide your baby through this phase smoothly.

The Science

Most babies transition from three naps to two between 6 and 9 months. This change is primarily driven by a baby’s increasing ability to stay awake longer and tolerate higher levels of homeostatic sleep pressure. As daytime wakefulness periods (aka wake windows) extend and a baby's sleep need decreases, the third nap pushes late into the day until it's no longer easy to maintain three naps.

As the third nap purshes later, it will begin to overlap with the wake maintenance zone (aka the "forbidden zone" for sleep). The wake maintenance zone happens in the 2-3 hours just before your child normally goes to bed and it is a time when your child's circadian rhythm is strongly promoting wakefulness. It can be difficult to impossible to get a baby to fall asleep during the wake maintenace zone, which leads to fighting the third nap.

The strange paradox of the wake maintenance zone is that your child may be sleepy due to having been awake for a few hours, but not able to fall asleep due to the circadian drive to be awake. This can result in a tired baby who can't fall asleep without a lot of effort. This is also a sign that your child may be nearing readiness to drop the third nap.

How Do I Know If My Child Is Ready to Drop a Nap?

The signs that your baby is ready to transition from three naps to two can vary, but some common indicators include:

• Lengthening the first or second naps: Some babies will start to take longer first and/or second naps, leading to difficulty fitting in a third nap.

• Fighting the third nap: Your baby may start skipping the third nap, fighting it, or taking a shorter, more restless nap.

• Content extended wakefulness: If your baby is staying awake for longer periods between naps and doesn't seem sleepy, it might be a sign to shift to two naps.

• Long sleep latency: If your baby starts taking > 20 minutes to fall asleep for any daytime naps, it may be a sign your baby is ready for longer wake windows and two naps.

• Your baby is 9+ Months: It’s important to note that age alone isn’t the sole indicator of readiness, but most babies over 9 months can make the leap to two naps without much struggle. If your baby is still taking three naps and things are going well, there's no need to force the change.

When should I consider transitioning my baby to two naps?

We recommend waiting to shift to two naps until it's not easy/possible to maintain three naps. It helps to walk through a few examples to understand why:

Scenario 1:

Your baby is 6 months old, starting to take a longer morning nap, and will only take a 20-minute third nap in a carrier. You can never make the third nap happen in the crib.

Do you drop the third nap? No. We'd actually recommend that you continue to do the carrier nap until your baby is unable to take an assisted nap. If that's not practical, taking a nap in a stroller or in a car while running an errand is also fine (as long as it's safe, of course).

Why? Dropping the third nap in this case might result in too much awake time between the end of the second nap and bedtime. Putting your child down for bedtime too early could lead to a cycle of early waking or split nights. It's possible your child could handle it, but it is a risky experiment.

Scenario 2:

Your baby is 7 months old and taking three consistent naps of 1.5 h, 1.5 h, and 45 minutes, but is taking 30-40 minutes to fall asleep at bedtime.

Do you drop the third nap? No. We'd recommend pushing bedtime a little later temporarily so that your child can develop the capacity to have longer wake windows between naps.

Why? Dropping the third nap in this case might also result in needing to pull bedtime too early. This could lead to a cycle of early waking or split nights. Pushing bedtime a little later for a few weeks/months will allow you to pull bedtime back to a normal time once you switch to two naps.

Scenario 3:

Your baby is 8 months old, taking two solid naps, and taking a while to fall asleep for each of them. You try to offer an assisted third nap but it only works a few days a week. On days when your baby doesn't take a third nap, it's challenging but not impossible to make it to bedtime.

Do you drop the third nap? Probably. In this scenario, your child is showing many signs of readiness and shifting to two naps is unlikely to result in negative consequences.

Why? Spacing the first two naps out a bit should reduce the extra awake time between the end of the second nap and bedtime, making your child's daily schedule easier to manage. If either nap is short, you can always offer a third nap as needed.

What is a typical Two-Nap schedule?

It can vary from baby to baby, but most babies will settle into a pattern like this:

Awake ~2.5-3 hours

Nap ~1-2 hours

Awake ~3-3.5 hours

Nap 1-2 hours

Awake ~3-4 hours before bed.

Bedtime

Putting that in clock-time terms for long and short nappers, it might look something like this:

Long Napper Example (10.5 h night, 3.5 h naps, 14 h total sleep)

Awake 6:00 am

Nap 9:00-11:00 am

Awake until 2:30 pm

Nap 2:30-4:00 pm

Bedtime 7:30 pm

Short Napper Example (12 h night, 2 h naps, 14 h total sleep)

Awake 7:00 am

Nap 9:30-10:30

Awake until 2:00 pm

Nap 2:00-3:00 pm

Bedtime 7:00 pm

As you'll note from the examples above, babies with longer nights often take shorter naps and vice versa. Also, some babies simply will not sleep for 14 hours a day. If your baby is happy, healthy, and developing well, don't stress about numbers. Just follow your baby's lead to find the right schedule.

How can I Help My Child Adapt to Two Naps?

When transitioning from three naps to two, there two primary approaches you can use. The best approach depends on how your child responds to change and what works best for you as a parent.

1) Gradual Extension Method

Gradually increase the amount of time your baby is awake between naps over time.

• How to do it: 

  • Slowly extend the time before your baby's first nap and between your baby’s first and second nap by 10-15 minutes every few days. If your baby doesn't seem able to stretch very well, hang on to the shorter wake window for a week or two before trying to extend again.

  • You may need to temporarily push bedtime temporarily later in order to allow your baby to keep taking the third nap until you've stretched his/her wake windows long enough to drop the third nap.

  • Once your baby is comfortably staying awake for longer stretches, you can drop the third nap and pull bedtime earlier again.

  • If your baby has a short nap day, it's fine to offer a third nap or occasional early bedtime to compensate.

2) Alternate between 2 and 3 naps

If your baby varies in nap duration or seems able to handle two naps on some days but not every day, alternating between two and three naps is a good option.

• How to do it: 

  • Pick 1-2 days to offer your child two naps in the first week. You'll offer your child three naps on the other days. The way you decide which days to offer two can be based on:

    • Days when it would be more convenient to offer two naps (like days when you have a class that overlaps with the three-nap schedule).

    • Days when your child wakes on the late side of normal (e.g., if your child wakes between 6:30-7:00 am, offer two naps on days when your child wakes at 7:00 am).

    • Days when your child takes a longer first nap (e.g., if your child sometimes takes naps < 1 hour and sometimes takes naps > 1 hour, offer two naps when the first nap is longer because it would be hard to manage with just two naps if one is very short).

  • Push wake windows longer on days you plan to offer two naps. Keep them shorter on days you plan to offer three naps.

  • Increase the number of two-nap days you offer each week, until your child is taking two naps every day. This might take several weeks.

A Few tips and tricks for both approaches

• Use early bedtimes strategically. If everything falls apart on a given day, it's ok to offer an early bedtime. Just don't rely on an early bedtime every day or you'll end up with early waking or split nights.

• Be flexible. There is no harm in offering a third nap as needed during this process, even if you hoped to offer two naps on a given day.

• Assisted naps are ok! Sometimes your baby will just need a little help to take a third nap. It's always ok to let that nap happen in a carrier or stroller.

Need More Help?

If you need a little help to figure this out or if you are facing other challenges, then please check out our other blogs, our newborn class, and sleep training class. We have other blogs on schedules, naps, travel, toddler issues, and more! If you just need to talk to someone who can help you devise a sleep plan, then feel free to book a one-on-one consultation with us. We are moms with advanced degrees in sleep, nursing, and behavior analysis. We are always happy to help!

References

Staton, S., Rankin, P.S., Harding, M., Smith, S.S., Westwood, E., LeBourgeois, M.K. and Thorpe, K.J., 2020. Many naps, one nap, none: A systematic review and meta-analysis of napping patterns in children 0–12 years. Sleep medicine reviews, 50, p.101247.

Kurth, S., Lassonde, J.M., Pierpoint, L.A., Rusterholz, T., Jenni, O.G., McClain, I.J., Achermann, P. and LeBourgeois, M.K., 2016. Development of nap neurophysiology: preliminary insights into sleep regulation in early childhood. Journal of sleep research, 25(6), pp.646-654.

Siren-Tiusanen, H. and Robinson, H.A., 2001. Nap schedules and sleep practices in infant-toddler groups. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 16(4), pp.453-474.

Mason, G.M., Kurdziel, L.B. and Spencer, R.M., 2021. The memory benefits of two naps per day during infancy: A pilot investigation. Infant Behavior and Development, 65, p.101647.