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We’ve written quite a bit about baby and toddler naps here on the blog, so if you’ve been following our site for a while, you’ve had the chance to read a lot of baby and toddler nap tips and tidbits. But, some of you are new moms or new to The Baby Sleep Site® and we strive to educate all of our parents on the importance of good sleep and how to achieve it!
Today, we’re presenting you with 5 must-know facts about your baby’s or toddler’s naps. Think of it as your nap “cheat sheet”. 😉 And we’re not stopping here. Look for another post in the near future with 5 additional baby and toddler nap tips.
5 Things You Need To Know About Baby and Toddler Naps
- The first nap of the day is the most important. This isn’t to say that other naps aren’t also important. But the first nap of the day tends to be the most restorative, setting the tone for the day, and it’s generally the one that produces the best sleep for babies and young toddlers. (Note the generally there — this isn’t true for everyone!) So, make that first nap a priority. If you have errands to run, run them in the afternoon, if possible. Schedule appointments for the afternoon, if you can.
- Most babies don’t transition to one nap at 12 months. Most transition to one nap between 15-18 months. There seems to be a prevailing opinion out there that at the one year mark, babies should suddenly transition from two naps to one. And some will, with no problem. But we’re here to tell you that making the 2-to-1 nap transition at 12 months isn’t the norm for most babies. In fact, most babies aren’t ready to move to one nap a day until 15-18 months. While it’s possible that your baby will be ready to make the transition at 12 months, we usually urge families to wait until closer to the 15-18 month window before making this shift.
- Most 6 month old babies aren’t ready for just 2 naps per day. Most still need 3 (or even 4). Just as there’s a misconception that all 12 month old babies are ready to transition to one nap per day, there’s also a misconception that 6 month old babies are ready to transition to just 2 naps each day. We think this misconception is at least party due to a recommendation that Weissbluth makes in his book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. In the book, Weissbluth states that only 16% of babies need a third nap after 5 months. Keep in mind this statistic came from a study of a limited number of children.
We are not discounting Weissbluth’s studies. But we do take it with a grain of salt, since all babies vary in their ability (particularly mood-wise) to stay awake for long periods of time. In our extensive work with families, we’ve found that far more than 16% of babies appear to need 3 naps at 6, 7, even 8 months of age. Therefore, we usually tell parents not to rush into a 2 nap schedule with their 6 month old babies. Doing that increases the chances that their 6 month olds will become overtired, which will in turn affect their night sleep. We’ve found it’s better to stick to a 3 nap schedule (or even a 4 nap schedule) and then gradually transition to a 2 nap schedule around 8 months.
- Your child’s nap needs will change greatly between birth and 18 months. Greatly. This just makes sense if you think about it! Newborns nap pretty much constantly during the day, while an 18 month old needs just 1 nap. That’s a lot of change during a relatively short period of time!
So, how many naps does your baby or toddler need in the first 18 months of life? You can read this article for detailed information, but here’s the short version:
*1-3 MONTHS — 4-5 naps per day, depending on how long his naps are and how long he can stay up between naps.
*3-4 MONTHS — 4 naps.
*5-8 MONTHS — probably 3 naps (though some will need 4 until after 7 months). A few babies will only have 2 naps at a very young age, but those naps are usually long.
*9-15 MONTHS — 2 naps. Some babies will transition to 1 nap at 12 months, but that’s not common.
*15-18 MONTHS — 1-2 naps. A transition from 2 naps to 1 usually happens in this window of time.
*18 MONTHS-4 YEARS — 1 nap. The age to transition away from all napping varies a lot, from 2 to 5+ years old, but the average age is between 3 and 4 years old.
- If your baby or toddler sleeps well at night, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll nap well during the day. Remember, nap sleep is different than night sleep. Naps happen during daylight hours, when the sun’s up and when it tends to be noisy and busy. External factors like that can make it hard for a baby or toddler to nap well. And many families struggle with keeping a consistent daily nap routine in place. Life tends to get in the way! That, too, can make it hard for a baby or toddler to nap consistently. Contrast that with nights — it’s dark, it’s (usually) quiet, and everyone is (usually) at home. That at least partly explains why many babies and toddlers who sleep just fine at night struggle with their naps.
Nicole’s Note:
“But, of course, my son was very NON-textbook. He had 4 naps until 7 months old, because he simply could not stay awake longer than 1 hour 15 to 30 minutes without turning into Mister Cranky Pants! It was simply NOT fun to even try. So, I rolled with it and he stayed home all day pretty much until he seemed to change overnight, taking 3 naps at 7 1/2 months old. He then dropped to two naps a short month later at 8 1/2 months. It happened so fast! He also transitioned to one nap early and away from napping early. I would never have guessed that based on our first 7 months. So, if your baby is struggling with staying awake for long periods, he’s not alone and it could change fast for you, too! :)”
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Special VIP Members-Only Nap Resources
Mastering Naps & Schedules — For starters, all Baby Sleep Site® members receive unlimited access to all our e-Books. That’s right – for the price of your membership, you can read all our e-Books at no additional cost! That includes Mastering Naps & Schedules. With over 45 sample schedules (all available for you to view in the VIP Members Area), Mastering Naps & Schedules is THE e-Book for tired parents of non-napping kiddos! We tackle all your top napping issues, including how to get your baby or toddler to take longer naps, how to get your child’s naps to be more consistent and predictable, how to manage nap transitions, how to encourage good napping while traveling – and more! Become a VIP member today, and access the e-Book instantly – no download necessary!
Nap Tele-Seminars — Another great VIP members-only resource? Our tele-seminars. Hosted by Nicole herself, these awesome audio tele-seminars offer you insider-information and our trademark sleep coaching methods and techniques. We have several awesome nap-focused tele-seminars, including one on managing nap transitions, and one on lengthening short naps! Listening to these seminars is like getting a coaching session from Nicole! She’ll walk you through the basics of dealing with common nap problems and give you tried-and-true strategies you can implement at home.
VIP Members-Only Nap Articles — And now, we’ve recently added a special members-only article on the hot topic of nap transitions: 5 Practical, Hands-On Tips For Managing Common Nap Transitions. Learn our 5 top secrets for how to gently and painlessly navigate nap transitions, and help them happen in a way that preserves your child’s sleep while also preserving your own sanity! 😉
For more details about all our VIP member benefits (including weekly chats with a trained sleep consultant and our “Ask the Author” feature), visit our membership page, and consider becoming a VIP member today!
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Don’t feel up to working on your baby or toddler’s nap challenges on your own? While our Members Area is great for DIY moms who prefer to tackle sleep challenges on their own, we know that other moms much prefer to go straight to one-on-one help. Well, good news! We offer that, and you can start getting the personal help you need TODAY!
Browse our list of consultation package options here.
Once you make your choice and purchase, you will immediately receive an e-mail with your Helpdesk login information. You’ll be able to login and start your Family Sleep History form right away – it’s that simple!
Which of these 5 things are you currently working through in your house? Any nap-related info you’d like to contribute to our “cheat sheet”? Add your voice to the conversation by commenting below!
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Trish says
My baby is now 22 months she has just one nap during the day which last for about 2 and a half hours she will go to bed at night around 08:30 in my husband and my bed and then we move her to her crib only to wake up at about 01:30 for a bottle and will not go ack to sleep in her crib so we co sleep. Please help on how to get her to sleep through the night in her crib. What am i doing wrong.
Emily DeJeu says
@ Jordan — so, so glad to hear that things are going more smoothly now! Yay!! I’ve had similar experiences with sleep training all three of my kids; I always wanted to do gentler, no-cry methods (for my own sake), but then I quickly figured out that all my checking and consoling was only making it worse for my kids. They’d get all riled up every time they saw me.
In terms of moving bedtime earlier — have you tried an earlier bedtime, and she’s just not having it? Or is this something you’re gradually working on?
Jordan says
@Emily: thanks for your response! We’re doing better! We were doing a no-cry/intermittent reassurance method at first, but after a few days we realized that us going back in was only upsetting g her more. The last 48 hours we’ve gone to regular CIO and she’s doing much better. Taking 10-30 minutes to settle and she’s now getting 2 1-1.5 hour naps and last night she slept for 9 hours straight without waking!
Her bedtime is still later than I’d like, we’ve gone from 10pm to 8:45, but I would like to get it moved up to around 7-7:30. We’re keeping her pack and play in our room and that’s where she’s sleeping with a white noise machine in the room too.
Emily DeJeu says
@ Jordan — First, you should know that what you’re experiencing is totally normal. TOTALLY normal. Weaning an older baby from co-sleeping can be rough. So even though this is (understandably) frustrating, rest assured that you haven’t done, and aren’t doing, anything “wrong”.
In terms of how to make this transition — what is your approach now? Knowing that would probably help some of us offer tips/insights.
Jordan says
We have a 9month old, our first, and we’ve been struggling with sleep. We resorted to co-sleeping just to get some sleep in the beginning and it kind of stuck. Now that she’s so mobile, it was making both night time sleep and nap sleep a nightmare. We recently started transitioning her to a pack and play in our room, but I’m having a hard time getting her down! Once she falls asleep at night (usually takes close to an hour after the bedtime routine) then things are fine and she is sleeping better than before. Naps however, are another issue. Again, taking her close to an hour to settle before she finally falls asleep. Today I tried putting her down earlier, after only 1.5 hours of being awake, and still not any better. I know it’s only been a few days, but needing some advice/encouragement from other mamas who’ve been here :/
Emily DeJeu says
@ KBevis — I’m so sorry your toddler’s sleep has proven difficult lately! With a new baby in the house, things can’t be easy for you right now.
A personalized sleep plan may be just what you need (especially if you feel like you’re too overwhelmed to try and tackle this on your own. And with a 4 month old to care for, it’s perfectly understandable that you’d be feeling that way!) You can see a listing of all our personalized consultation packages here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/ The Deluxe e-mail package tends to be our most popular.
I don’t know enough about your particular situation to offer detailed, in-depth observations, but I will say that having been through the toddler phase twice (and I’m about to enter it again — my daughter will be 2 in a few weeks), this sounds like such typical 2 year old behavior to me. That’s what makes the 2 year sleep regression tough; it’s as much about your toddler’s growing sense of independence and strong will as it is about actual developmental milestones and changing sleep patterns. Not easy to deal with!
Best of luck to you! I hope a personalized sleep plan proves just the thing you need to help you navigate this stage. Do keep us posted on what happens! And thanks for commenting. 🙂
KBevis says
My 2yo has struggled with naps and bedtime since about 9 months old! He started out singing and shaking his crib and has graduated to asking for water and complaining of hurt toes/hands/eyes/ears/knees… and having to use the bathroom (we are potty training so it is hard not to rush him to the bathroom when the urge arises). I have tried waking him up earlier and putting him down for a nap earlier, putting him down later- he still will cry and fuss for at least an hour. I have tried “quiet time”, staying in the room with him, rocking, stories, songs…it feels like I have tried everything. When he does settle down for a nap (always after a fight and at least an hour) he has to be woken up and is very groggy. We have a new baby now (4mo old) She has displayed normal sleep patterns, I would like to keep her on track, but desperately need help with my toddler. We are going to try transitioning to a toddler bed and see how that goes but I think a personalized sleep plan through the sleep site, might be our next step. Any ideas on what has been helpful for you?
Melissa says
My son has is 13 months, naps twice a day for an hour to hour and a half each. Only thing is I have always laid with him for naps. At night he sleeps in his crib but I am not sure how to make this transition at his age for napping.
Emily DeJeu says
@ Melissa — you could do it gradually, by slowly spending less and less time lying with him at nap time, until you’ve finally weaned him off of needing you around. This kind of “fading” approach tends to be gentler and kinder than “cold-turkey” methods. Of course, it also takes more time on your part. But if you’re concerned about how your son will react to this change, then fading may be a good idea.
Hope this helps, Melissa! And thanks for commenting.
Emily DeJeu says
@ Kate — I think your plan sounds good. Just remember to keep any schedule really, really flexible for at least the next month or so, and you should be fine. 🙂
Also, it might be helpful for you to think about your son’s sleep in terms of overall amounts, instead of the length of each nap. Some babies break up their daily allotment of sleep into lots of little naps and shorter nighttime sleeping; other babies tend to be more “efficient” and take longer naps and/or sleep longer at night, so those more efficient babies don’t need as many naps during the day. At 4.5 months, your son needs 13-15 total hours of sleep during the day, and 2-4 of those hours will probably be naps.
Hope this helps, Kate! And thanks for your words of encouragement for other parents; for many of our readers, encouragement like that is really, really helpful!
Kate says
Emily, thanks for the feedback. I feel like I knew deep down that it was normal, but it’s so hard to read material put forth by other sleep “experts” and see it not match up at all with my baby and our experiences.
I think what we’ll do is work hard on the first nap of the day being regular (not only is it the most important, it also happens to be the busiest time of day for the three girls that I watch as a nanny!) and continue to let the other 2-3 naps fall where they may for now.
If you have time, could you address a follow-up question? I know that Nicole generally recommends keeping as many naps as possible for as long as possible, but I’m not sure if that applies to lots of short naps like my son tends to take. I think my plan is to continue offering the fourth nap (unless he wakes from his last nap after 5pm) until he skips it regularly. Is that a plan that you would recommend?
Also, for anyone out there reading this, I have compassion for you. Remember that you’re doing your child a great service by helping him or her get the sleep that he or she needs!