Baby and Toddler nap routines

The first nap transition will happen at around 7–9 months old when your baby will begin to drop their final late afternoon nap of the day, often referred to as a cat nap because it tends to be the shortest nap lasting around 20–30 minutes. This nap tends to drop fairy naturally and you will know your baby is ready when they simply will not settle for it no matter what they do, or you find you cannot fit a third nap in without it affecting bedtime.

One important thing to know about this late afternoon nap is that it is notoriously tricky to settle for. This is because it falls outside of biological sleep windows which are 9–10am, 12–2pm and 6–8pm. However, younger babies still need a third nap to see them through to bedtime, so I would always recommend helping them achieve this cat nap through motion or contact naps. You will notice that somewhere between 6–9 months, even with lots of help, your baby starts to refuse the nap some days – this is the start of the transition!

Your baby may also have started to take longer and more consistent naps for their first two naps of the day, which is great because they will need these in order to get through to bedtime. You will however need to bring bedtime a little earlier for a while on days the 3rd nap is skipped whilst your baby adjusts. Take your time with the transition, some days your baby will take a third nap and some days they won’t and this is perfectly normal. Once you find yourself in a consistent two nap routine you can start to nudge bedtime back gradually.

Your baby will have two naps a day for a good few months and sometime between 15–18 months may begin to drop their morning nap, leaving just the last nap in the middle of the day. There are a few signs your child could be ready , including; : difficulty settling for the morning nap, settling well for the morning nap but then struggling to settle at lunchtime and/or not napping as long, difficulty falling asleep at night, challenges with their sleep at night, or early morning waking. This transition can take around 4–6 weeks so don’t rush it.

Your toddler will need to start reducing their morning nap gradually until it sits at around 20-30 minutes and then you can begin offering the nap every other day and then every few days until they are able to go every day without it. On days your child is not having a morning nap you will need to bring the lunch nap and bedtime earlier for a while before gradually pushing to 12–12:30 nap again. This could mean that nap time is happening slap bang over lunch, so try offering a split lunch with half offered before the nap and the rest once they wake.

Sometime around their child’s third birthday children may stop napping altogether. Younger toddlers will still likely need at least 2 hours nap during the day, so if your child is closer to two – persist! They can go through a phase of nap refusal, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually ready to stop napping!

From around 2.5 years your toddler may need to start reducing their lunchtime nap. You will know it’s time to do this when bedtime suddenly become drawn out or night are more disturbed with possible early rising, too. At this point start gradually waking your toddler 10–15 minutes earlier from their nap to allow for extra wake time before bed. You will find a sweet spot for your toddler and can stay at that point from here. For example, you may gradually reduce the nap to 90 minutes and find that works well for your toddler for now. There is no need to continue to reduce the nap again until your child shows more signs of their sleep needs changing.

Over the next few months you may find that your toddler has slowly reduced their nap to around 30 minutes and now there are some days where they just don’t fall asleep for it at all. On days they skip the nap, watch their mood carefully. If they are able to last into the afternoon without becoming grumpy, fractious or extra silly as the afternoon wears on, they may be ready. If not, it’s likely they are becoming overtired and a sleep debt is forming. In which case, continue to offer the nap and offer them support to fall asleep and take the nap.

Once you are confident your child can cope well without a nap you can offer the nap just every other day for a while and then every few days until they can consistently go without it. On days your toddler has not taken a nap they will need a much earlier bedtime, ; it’s absolutely fine for your child to go to bed as early as 6pm if they need to! This is only temporary as they adjust to the loss of daytime naps.

Consider bringing in quiet time in lieu of a nap during this transition period. This is a time during the middle of the day your child can take to decompress and reenergise. Offer your child some special non- screen activities that are saved for this time; ideally they will be able to do these independently. Some great options are books, colouring, jigsaws or audio books. You may need to build up how long your child can spend participating in quiet time. Use a timer and start as small as 2 minutes, building up to longer and offering lots of praise to your child.