Nap transitions can sometimes be tricky sleep territory. They occur at various points in your child’s early lifetime and can have a temporary de-stabilizing effect on their sleep as you navigate through the phases. The most notable are.

• Going from three naps to two
• Two naps to one
• One nap to none.

Three naps to 2

This transition occurs for many children around 8 months of age. We will see some make this move sooner and of course, some later. This transition indicates your child’s capacity to stay awake longer before bedtime. It can happen rapidly, as in one week your child is taking the last nap with ease, and the following week appears wide awake instead. So, for all intents and purposes, it is a natural progression. The only adjustment parents may need to make is potentially moving the first and the second nap to start later in the day so that the awake time before bedtime is not too long and you do not have to have a too early bedtime either. With established sleepers, having naps at fixed times can work very well, with a first nap by 9-10am and a second nap about 1.30/2pm and bedtime between 7-8pm.

2 naps to 1

This is maybe the hardest transition, occurring for many between 15-18months.  The reason that it may be considered more difficult is that it is balancing act as the transition occurs. We see resistance to taking naps one or more commonly, resistance to taking nap two, as the signs that the transition is beginning to bubble under the surface and requires some intervention.

If the resistance is to the first nap, this is the easiest mode.  So, then you skip the first nap, and the second nap becomes the main and only nap of the day.

Resisting the second nap is harder, as we navigate a stage whereby you will still require 2 naps, but you need to figure out how long the first nap can be, whilst still achieving a second.  The second nap is the one that you will retain, later being referred to as the main or single nap.

To understand if your child is ready for one nap, I suggest that if they are tired by 10am, they still need two naps, the key is to restrict the length of nap 1 so that nap 2 is retained.  Meaning if your child is taking 1.5h for nap one and resisting nap 2, then nap one is limited to 1h, thus securing nap 2.  This will work for a while and then the resistance will restart, leaving the first nap to be limited to 45m, then to 30m then to 20m and at this stage then a movement to a single, main nap.

Once, a main nap is showing itself, then having that nap as close to 1pm as possible is suggested to avoid an overtired dynamic at bedtime.  This takes agility too, so you might first have the main nap at 1130am and slowly move to 1pm, and in the meantime, provide either a short afternoon nap or an earlier bedtime until the nap is established in this way.

One to none

Thankfully, we have breathing space again until we begin to observe signs that the main nap is on borrowed time. A significant percentage of children are no longer napping by age 3, with variation on both sides of the spectrum.  Perhaps the first sign of this nap transition occurring is bedtime resistance.  In this case, we keep the nap length and move bedtime later, acknowledge that the nap is still required, but the child can stay awake longer before bedtime now.  Once bedtime is forced later than you would like, so possibly after 8.30pm, then we begin to limit the nap, like the way nap one was curated in response to the 2 nap to one transition phase.

This movement from one nap to none can take many months and then you may start to report that your child does not want, or appear to nap as they did before and you may go through a time, where your child naps some of the week and doesn’t for the rest.  Once the nap is retiring itself, then bedtime benefits from coming earlier again to ensure that your child gets enough sleep now in a single phase.

In the absence of a nap, I propose quiet time as a replacement.  Lying on the couch, reading, or listening to books, rather than TV or screens.

Do not be overly concerned, nap transitions show you themselves as they emerge.  Read the communication and adjust so that your child remains well rested and able to continue to develop and learn at their optimal level.