What to Expect During a Nap Transition

You’ve done it – you’ve finally got a perfect schedule! It’s down to a science at this point and it’s working perfectly. Woo!!!

Then all of a sudden, your baby is taking forever to fall asleep. Or they aren’t sleeping for their nap at all. Or they’re waking up several times at night. What is going on?

Turns out, good sleep schedules come to an end at some point and it usually means changing sleep needs and dropping a nap as they get older and start to be able to handle longer stretches of time awake. These transitions can be tricky, so here are some helpful things to keep in mind to get you through those rough patches.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

1.      You will likely need to put them to bed significantly earlier

They are taking less frequent naps throughout the day because their sleep is consolidating, which will mean they need to catch up by going to bed even earlier in the night.

2.      It might be difficult to keep them awake for their new wake windows

Since they are not used to staying awake for longer periods of time, it might be a challenge to keep them up when they’re used to sleeping sooner. Even if they are ultimately ready for it, be prepared for them to get a little crankier!

3.      Finding the groove of a good schedule can take time

To get the schedule just right, it will probably take some trial and error before you get the wake windows just right. The good news is that with each nap transition, they tend to keep the old one for slightly longer each time, so the rate of change won’t be too fast for long!

As always, the most important thing to keep in mind is that while things feel difficult in the moment, they don’t last forever. Everything changes as they grow and what’s working one day might not the next. But keeping your expectations realistic makes all the difference in how you will be able to cope with these challenges.