https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 13 Jun 2026 05:01:17 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1162176 Sun, 20 Oct 2013 18:49:59 +0000 birdofafeather 1162176@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>yeah, DD didn't drop her third nap for good until 7.5 months. she just did it on her own though and i realized after about a week that she didn't need it anymore! but she was also sleeping about 12 hours overnight with 1 wake up at that point.</p> <p>we always tried to get her down for at least a cat nap, even if it took a couple tries. even if he fights it, i would try again after an hour/45 minutes awake. good luck! those first two naps sound heavenly though! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1162029 Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:43:40 +0000 AprilFool 1162029@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Musicmomma82:We were really struggling at 5.5 months with naps. Now at 6 months we seem to have hit some kind of groove. Exactly like you I was finding it really hard to get her to take that last nap and some days she wouldn't and she was just feral. It also meant early to bed and early to rise. What I did was extend her awake time to between 2 and 2.5 hours to get her to go to bed later. Our days look like this atm</p> <p>6am - wake up<br /> 8:15/8:30 - 10:30 - nap<br /> 1pm - 2pm - nap<br /> 4pm - 5pm - nap (sometimes this nap is only 30 mins, I always wake her for 5)<br /> 7pm - bed</p> <p>Some days we are out in the am so she has a shorter nap then but will have a 2hr one in the afternoon. I moved her bedtime from 6/6:30 till 7 and it took about a week. I found this chart really helpful when setting the routine. <a href="http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/2013/02/average-sleep-charts-by-age.html</a></p> <p>Also when the 2nd nap would run over I would wake her at the time she needed to be able to go back down. If your LO is having 2 2 hour naps he may not need anymore day sleep. So either increase the awake time between those naps so it's closer to bed time when he wakes or wake him from the nap so he can get the third in. I chose the later because my LO was a proper grouch on 2 naps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1161962 Sun, 20 Oct 2013 16:02:30 +0000 Musicmomma82 1161962@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Update! </p> <p>DS's first and second naps have been nice and long the past couple of days (1.5-2 hours), which is fantastic! But Nap #3 is not really getting any easier. Unfortunately, he's completely skipped it the last two days, resulting in a super early bedtime (5:20 and 5:40). He is already an early waker, so this is not really helping anything!!</p> <p>I don't THINK he's actually ready to go to two naps as he still seems awfully tired in the late afternoon and his wake times are still pretty short.</p> <p>Also, it's not like he's getting tons of night time sleep. He never sleeps more than 10 hours at night!</p> <p>Thoughts? I am really trying to do my best for him, but this sleep stuff is tough!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151799 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 19:59:22 +0000 Musicmomma82 1151799@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387 I've tried keeping him up longer but he just gets overtired. If I'm getting cues shouldn't I put him down? I suspect he's tired because he's not getting enough night sleep. So that first nap is sort of a continuation of night sleep. </p> <p>@heartonastring I totally agree that he needs more night sleep. He was getting 11-12 until about a month ago when he had a major regression. His night wakings are unfortunately kind of long. He puts himself back to sleep after feedings but sometimes it takes him a while. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151774 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 19:43:15 +0000 Kemma 1151774@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Can you plan an energetic activity between the 2nd and 3rd nap so LO is really tired? Otherwise I'd try pushing out the first nap to maybe eliminate the third nap, I know that as long as my LO was still sleeping at 2pm-ish she could hold it together until bedtime without melting down! </p> <p>If he's up at six, maybe try for the first nap between 0800 and 0830 then the second nap between 1230 and 1330? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151757 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 19:31:19 +0000 heartonastring 1151757@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: agree with the 234 schedule. It's been magical for us.</p> <p>Also, 9-10 hours of nighttime sleep is probably not enough. At 5.5 months you should be aiming for 11-12. Maybe he's OT during the day and it's making naps hard?</p> <p>We pretty much don't do a third nap anymore since we started 234 (DD will be 6 months in a week), but when we did it was the toughest one. I've read that that's the one nap for which you should do anything you can to achieve a nap. We went for a lot of walks and drives to get her to sleep for a third nap! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151706 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:55:27 +0000 Foodnerd81 1151706@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: Oh really? Good to know-- I was wondering how anyone ever does anything in the morning! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151705 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:55:19 +0000 Mrs. Polish 1151705@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: huh. That's naturally what he's been doing. Interesting. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151704 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:55:04 +0000 .twist. 1151704@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've read quite a few places that the 3rd nap is kind of optional. Some babes need it and some don't.</p> <p>Have you tried eliminating it and bumping bedtime a little? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151698 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:52:03 +0000 immabeetoo 1151698@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Musicmomma82: have you ever tried keeping him up longer? It might get you a longer first nap and eliminate the need for a third nap.</p> <p>@Foodnerd81: I think that is normal for a younger baby!</p> <p>@Mrs. Polish: first nap 2 hours after wake, second nap 3 hours after waking from first nap, bedtime 4 hours after waking from second nap </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151690 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:41:21 +0000 Foodnerd81 1151690@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: My LO is a lot younger (2.5 months) but her first nap is an hour after she wakes up. I start seeing her sleepy cues around 45 minutes after she wakes up. </p> <p>@Musicmomma82: I wish I could help you-- I have a progressively harder time to get LO to sleep throughout the day too. I hate when I try to get her to sleep for so long and just have to give up. It's so frustrating. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151659 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:20:21 +0000 Mrs. Polish 1151659@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@scg00387: what's a 2 3 4? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151620 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:04:29 +0000 Musicmomma82 1151620@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>He starts rubbing his eyes like 45 minutes after he wakes up. I've tried putting him RIGHT back down after a feeding at that time, to continue his night sleep, but it never works! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151616 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 18:00:11 +0000 immabeetoo 1151616@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Musicmomma82: wow that's a super short awake time for the first nap? That's about the age my LO started refusing his third nap so we went to a 2 3 4 schedule. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3rd-nap-help#post-1151611 Tue, 15 Oct 2013 17:57:48 +0000 Musicmomma82 1151611@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have started to work on nap training with my 5.5 month old and I'm having SO much trouble with nap #3. I need advice!!</p> <p>I'm doing CIO w/out checks unless he is REALLY freaking out (we did it with checks for night-time and it worked well, but for naps it seems to just disrupt things.</p> <p>Here's how today went:<br /> 6:00 wake-up<br /> 7:08 Put Down for Nap #1 - fussed for 40 minutes, slept for 40 minutes<br /> 8:35 Wake Up<br /> 10:30 Put Down for Nap #2 - cried for 20 minutes, slept for 90 minutes<br /> 12:23 Wake Up<br /> 2:25 Put Down for Nap #3 - Laid quietly for 10 minutes, then started crying. Cried for 45 minutes. Nap Fail.<br /> 3:30 Got him up. Played quietly for a few minutes, changed diaper, topped him off.<br /> 4:00 Put Down for 2nd attempt at Nap #3 - cried 30 minutes, slept 30 minutes.<br /> 5:00 Wake Up<br /> 6:45 Bedtime - went right to sleep</p> <p>He still wakes up twice for night feedings and is an early riser - usually around 5:00 am. He's getting 9.5-10 hours of night time sleep. Because he is an early riser and his naps are short, I would think that he DEFINITELY still needs 3 naps, but that third nap is SOOOO hard. Would you do anything differently? </p>