2-1 Nap Transitions
This one can be tough! Is my baby ready to drop their naps to only one nap? How can I manage the day with only one nap? This doesn’t fit with my daily routine/schedule. These are all great questions and yes, its another sleep “milestone” your child will go through. So how do you know if your child is truly ready to make the transition? Developmentally speaking, if they aren’t ready, it won’t be an easy transition and you may want to wait until they are showing signs of readiness.
If your child is showing signs of actual readiness this blog post is for you. Read through to help you get through this transition as seamlessly as possible.
The 2-1 nap transition is the hardest nap transition in my opinion because the wake windows expand drastically. The biggest difference is now your child is going from 2-3 hours of awake time now to 5-6 hours.
The are a couple of effective ways to make this transition and I’ll break those down for you below.
If your child is showing signs of actual readiness this blog post is for you. Read through to help you get through this transition as seamlessly as possible.
Weaning the Nap –
Weaning the nap is a great way that is effective, this approach is slow and steady and requires you to stay consistent. Weaning the naps slowly helps your child adjust to longer wake windows over time. You can start by every 2-3 days making your child’s morning (or first nap) shorter by 10-15 minutes, remember this is a weaning approach, I do not recommend shortening anything more. At the same time, while shortening the first nap, every 2-3 days you will move the second nap until the morning nap is essentially gone. I know this is confusing, so let me break down an example for you to follow.
Day 1 -
Nap 1: 10:30-12 pm
Nap 2: 2:30-4 pm
Day 3 -
Nap 1: 10:30-11:45 pm
Nap 2: 2:15-3:45 pm
Day 6 -
Nap 1: 10:30 – 11:30 pm
Nap 2: 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Day 9 -
Nap 1: 10:30 – 11:15 pm
Nap 2: 1:45 – 3:15 pm
Day 12 -
Nap 1: 10:30 – 11:00 pm
Nap 2: 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Day 15-
Nap 1: 12:00 – 3:00 pm
As you can see, the key here is time and consistency. I recommend this method if your child has a hard time with change or their sleep in general. In no way do you have to follow this method to a tee, you can always adjust for what works best for you and your child. If you feel like this is too much of a lengthy process, you can absolutely try 30-minute increments as well, you know your child the best. Surprisingly, weaning to a 2-1 nap schedule can work in your favor if you have an upcoming vacation, change in a morning class or just a jammed packed schedule in general. These are all great ways to help distract your child from adjusting to longer wake windows, rather than just being at home, cooped up. Again, your child may not need the full 15 days to adjust, take it day by day.
Weaning Cold Turkey –
It’s exactly how it sounds. Pick a day and go for it! Once you commit and are ready to drop to one nap, you will only offer one nap, in this case, try to offer the nap somewhere in between the first and second nap. If you have a week with a busy schedule, this usually works best, rather than just being at home because your child is more likely to be more stimulated and focused on other activities outside the home, rather than their nap schedule.
Give yourself some grace and your child too. This is a big transition, and your child may be a little more tired and irritable the first few days, but I promise they will get back on track and so will you.
When my son was ready to drop to 1 nap, I did it cold turkey. I made sure that week, I planned outings with friends and family to help with the first mid-morning nap and to keep him up essentially. I remember it took about 3 days to get back into our routine and to land on one set nap time.
Don’t forget – you may now need to adjust your child’s bedtime. If their nap ended at 3:30 pm, they may be ready for bed at 7 pm instead of perhaps 8/8:30. Remember an overly tired child is harder to get down at bedtime and usually causes early morning wakings. Putting your child to sleep early does not mean they will wake up earlier, it is usually the opposite!
To Summarize –
Ensure your child is truly ready, just because they are at a certain age range or milestone, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are ready. They should be showing signs of readiness. If you start too early, it may set you back.
Your approach is your best approach, there’s not right or wrong, choose a method that works best for you and your child, the result is always the same.
Your child will be more irritable and tired, especially in the mid-morning mark. Stimulate and do as many outings or activities as possible.
Your child most likely won’t be sleeping 3 hour stretches the first few days your transition to one nap, they may be short. You can extend naps by not intervening right away if they are safe and comfortable. Often a child may wake up after an hour and sit up or just lay there. This is totally fine and allows them their time.
Cap naps to a maximum of 3 hours to ensure nighttime sleep isn’t impacted.
Once you commit, go for it! If you are tempted to offer a mid-morning nap or another nap, refrain as this will truly set back your child.
Naps will get better, and you will get back on schedule, once this happens your child will manage larger wake windows overall. Hang in there!
Stacie Sansone Founder, Sleep Purely Baby LLC.
