Hi @Lynn – Thanks for writing and sorry that you’re struggling with those night wakings! I think you are on the right track in reducing the last nap of the day, as this can often be a short nap just to make it to bedtime! You might want to play around with which nap can be reduced a little, and be sure that the naps and bedtimes are at good times for him! Our free sample schedules can help! Here is a link:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/
If things don’t smooth out, please contact us for more info on our products and services that can further help you! Hang in there Lynn!

He was a very tired newborn, always sleeping lots during the day and having very small wake times. In fact he was 6 months old before he went from 4 naps to 3, and that was because I forced him to rather than because he began fighting the final nap.

Anyway, when he was on 4 naps a day he had 3.5 hrs of naps a day (3 x 1hr and 1 half hr nap) and I had to wake him from all his naps. When he first went down to 3 naps he was having 4hrs of naps a day (1hr, 2hrs, 1hr) and again I had to wake him from all his naps. The reason I let him have so much is that his wake times were only 2 hrs and any more he got overtired and grumpy.

I’ve been working on stretching his wake times and managed now to reduce his final nap to half an hr, so he’s back to having 3.5hrs of naps. He would still go to sleep after 2 hrs if I let him but he can now go 2.25 hrs between naps and still nap properly without waking from overtiredness (though bedtime is only 2 hrs after the third nap and he often cries during the bedtime routine because he’s tired).

I know I need to continue stretching his wake times to allow me to reduce his nap times during the day. My question is which of his naps should I focus on reducing? I’ve read different things about whether the first nap or the lunchtime nap is most important and I’ve tried reducing both before and whichever one I reduce he gets grumpy in the period after it and the wake time to his next nap reduces.

Thanks!

Hi @Vnini – Thanks for writing, and congrats on having a baby that is a great sleeper! Yay! Sleep needs can vary widely, so if your worried that she may be napping too much or sleeping too much, it may just be her normal! If she is growing and developing well, and has plenty of playtime when awake, this is likely her typical sleep pattern! If you’re concerned, you can always ask her pediatrician to weigh in too. Thanks again for writing!

@Jamie – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us. Knowing when to wake your toddler can be a bit confusing especially if you’re finding yourself having to wake him on a regular basis. You could review his schedule to make sure his sleep and wake times are the best for him to be sleeping. If so, and he’s sleeping well, there’s no real reason to change his schedule or how he sleeps until it presents itself as a problem. If you find you need further support in developing his sleep schedule, please consider our e-Book Mastering Naps and Schedules and/or reaching out to one of our lovely sleep consultants who would welcome the opportunity to serve your family. You can read more about them here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/about Hang in there, Jamie!

Hi @Brigitte, thanks for writing to us. I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with few hours of night time sleep. Have you tried (just to see) what would happen if you let him wake up naturally from his naps? He may sometimes need a longer, more restorative naps which MIGHT (note: MIGHT) help his night time sleep improve. Crazily enough, if a child is not getting enough sleep during the day it can often make night time sleep less restorative too. Here is a link to a sample schedule for an 11 month old’s schedule that may help as well: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/11-month-old-schedule/
If you need more help with figuring this out, I’m confident our sleep consultants can look into this further and give you more specific advise on your situation. Here is a link to read more about working with one of our consultants: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
I hope this helps give you a good starting point and things begin to improve soon!

Hi @Eva, thanks for getting back to me! I’m part of our Client Relations Team, and not a sleep consultant, so I do want to be upfront about that. 😉 I personally would let the naps go and see what happened since he is such a great napper (I would wake him up if the last nap went too long and would mess up bed time). He may be trying to jump to just 3 naps a day which would probably be nice for you! I would advise making sure you cap the wake time at some point so he doesn’t become overtired, and usually that’s around 1.5/2 hours as we both (I think) mentioned in our previous comments. If you want more specific advise than what I can provide, I think you’d probably really enjoy joining our Members Area. It will give you access to exclusive articles as well as access to all of our ebooks and tele-seminars. We also have a weekly chat there where you can log in and chat live with a sleep consultant and they would for sure be able to answer these scheduling questions with more knowledge than I am able. Here is a link to read more about our Members Area subscription if you’re interested in using that as a deeper resource: https://www.babysleepsite.com/diy/
Hope this helps!

Thanks for your response. My concern isn’t about capping wake time but rather capping his naps. I am already capping his naps at 2 hours. I’m unsure if I should be capping it now at 1.5 hours to allow him to have more wake time and to allow him to continue feeding every 3 hours? Or do I just let him nap as long as he wish and give him a longer wake time making it so his bed time is much later? Thanks!