https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:26:00 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1888663 Sat, 04 Oct 2014 14:15:37 +0000 BabyTsMom 1888663@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gilmoregirl: exactly this! I'm terrified of putting him to bed too early. 30 minutes earlier seems reasonable. Maybe I'll try that! Because that last nap is getting harder and harder to squeeze out of him! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1887995 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 15:04:36 +0000 gilmoregirl 1887995@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Partly just dealt with it and partly moved bedtime up to try to get another 30 mins or so of sleep. I started out trying to force the nap, but it got to the point where he just would.not.sleep no matter what I did. </p> <p>I have a really hard time doing early bedtime because I'm so scared he's going to wake crazy early...this has never happened though. And yet I'm worried about it every time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1887624 Fri, 03 Oct 2014 12:07:51 +0000 BabyTsMom 1887624@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gilmoregirl: so I've been thinking more about the transition from 4 to 3 naps, and it makes sense but at the same time his naps are so short that I think he needs that extra 30-40 min, even though he fights it! What did you do when your LO was ding short naps but also transitioned from 4-3? Just deal with the lack of overall sleep?<br /> At this point, LO is getting about 2.5 hrs of nap time. If I drop the 4th, it's down to about 2hrs.... Worries me that he's not napping enough! But then he does fight the last nap so I'd gladly not fight him anymore too!!! Sigh. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1884986 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 20:24:42 +0000 ctownmacaron 1884986@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wouldn't worry about it at this time. My pedi told me most babies don't start napping well until at least six months. My DS (15 weeks) naps in a swing at home and they are only 25-40 minutes. He is in daycare five days a week and naps terribly there, but he sleeps pretty well at night because I think he is so tired. He gets 12 hours of sleep at night, so I don't feel so bad. I used to really stress out about naps and try and force it on my DS, but I decided to just let it go and not worry about it. I feel so much better. Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1884229 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:36:32 +0000 JoJoGirl 1884229@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: Some people say when they drop a nap and put LO to bed earlier, they wake up *later*. My LO has never slept past around 5:30am consistently, regardless of when we put her down! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1884220 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:32:39 +0000 BabyTsMom 1884220@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ScarletBegonia: @JoJoGirl: What you are saying makes a lot of sense- maybe he is ready to drop the 4th nap? But then again, it's not like he used to be easy and then all of a sudden started resisting. It's like he's never wanted to go down after about 3-4pm..... Also, if you moved bedtime up early to 6pm, what time did your LO wake up? My LO goes down at 7:30ish and gets up around 6:30am. I don't think I could handle an earlier wakeup than that! :/ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883848 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:59:14 +0000 JoJoGirl 1883848@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gilmoregirl: Yeah, I went back and read the blog post after I linked it, and she actually recommends the same thing - if they are really fighting that nap and can't handle dropping it yet, then do what you need to do - stroller, car, wearing, etc - just for the couple of weeks during the transition. You'll sort of know when they need to drop it because they won't sleep no matter what, won't even seem tired etc, and won't nap even under those circumstances. This too shall pass :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883833 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:54:22 +0000 gilmoregirl 1883833@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: thanks, I appreciate it. I think the 28-minute napper was my LO. You could have a set a timer by it. It's only recently that he's started napping well, so the transition is a little fuzzy to me. I've been forcing the third nap because he can't handle that long stretch to bedtime and just will not go down before 6:30 no matter what I do. So I think I might need to wait it out a little. Maybe I'll try wearing him like you mention; I could see that being helpful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883787 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:23:58 +0000 JoJoGirl 1883787@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gilmoregirl: Haha no problem!!</p> <p>This blog was super helpful for me when it came to naps and sleep in general: </p> <p><a href="http://www.troublesometots.com/baby-drop-naps/" rel="nofollow">http://www.troublesometots.com/baby-drop-naps/</a></p> <p>I'm trying to remember since LO is 17 months now... she was in daycare already so I think was taking a shortish morning nap (9-10) and a longer afternoon nap (12:30-2?) then a catnap around 5 when we got home from daycare. 1-1.5 hours is really good (OP posted that hers are 28 mins!). We only ever got longer naps than that when she dropped to 1 nap/day, and even now they're sometimes still only an hour (the whole day!). I remember just experimenting keeping her up from that 3rd nap and she did great. I think i started just wearing her around the house when we got home and she could sleep if she wanted to, or not. Once she skipped it a couple of times, she never went back and just went from 2 or 3 til 7pm bedtime with no problem. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883764 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 07:12:53 +0000 gilmoregirl 1883764@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: sorry to hijack this thread, but this is relevant to my current dilemma :) my LO seems to be close to dropping his thrd nap and he is almost six months so I have been thinking it's too early. Probably not then. Were her naps long when she dropped to two? I'm getting 1-1.5 hours and he can't quite handle the awake time. I'm wondering if keeping him up for a few extra mins at a time might help lengthen the naps? Eh. It's probably just going to be a long transition haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883740 Wed, 01 Oct 2014 06:50:15 +0000 JoJoGirl 1883740@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: Agree with the others - they usually drop their late afternoon nap first, so if he is fighting it, I'd try dropping it and see how he does. You could put him to bed a bit earlier that day if he's really struggling. I think my LO dropped her 3rd nap around 5 months? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883418 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:58:50 +0000 gilmoregirl 1883418@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: I will second what m@ScarletBegonia: wrote about the nap transition. If the late afternoon nap is what he's fighting, it could be that he's ready or close to ready to drop that nap. Our bedtime kept moving forward as my son's naps and schedule changed from four naps to three, and now that he's on a solid three-nap schedule, he is either fighting that third nap or going to bed pretty late, so I think we're getting close to transitioning to two naps. The transition is definitely a pain. Every time I feel like I have a routine going, he fights naps for a week and we have to do something different. argh :)</p> <p>If the nap training doesn't work for that late afternoon nap, you could play around with dropping it and moving bedtime way up. I've also been playing with his awake time -- seeing if I can stretch any of his intervals by 15 mins or so. It almost never works first thing in the morning, but sometimes it works in the afternoons.</p> <p>This is all very relevant to me, because I'm trying to figure it out myself. He naps pretty well so we probably won't nap train, but ugh, the nap fighting and the inconsistency. It can be really frustrating. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883332 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 18:33:04 +0000 ScarletBegonia 1883332@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: I just reread your post again and although I stick with my original comment (that you have to just wait until naps naturally lengthen/consolidate), I ended up shuffling his bedtime around quite a bit when he was struggling between 3 and 4 naps (around 3/4 months)...if he really fought the last nap hard, I'd get him back up for some quiet time, an extra feed, some cuddles, and then put him down for an early bedtime (sometimes as early as 6pm). If he did take a catnap in the afternoon, I would keep him up later, sometimes as late as 8pm. It was frustrating to have that inconsistency, but I think it was the best thing for him. He's now transitionning from 3 naps to 2 and we are kind of in the same boat, although bedtime varies between 7 and 8, because he can now handle up to 3 hours awake time. The transition period sucks balls, but hopefully is reasonably short? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1883322 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 18:24:30 +0000 BabyTsMom 1883322@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gilmoregirl: @JoJoGirl: yeah I am waiting until that day my guy takes longish naps regularly. I know I need patience for that.... I'm more concerned that he refuses to go down at all for his late afternoon naps. That's my reason for wanting to nap train. Not to lengthen them... But yeah not looking forward to it and not even sure it'll work. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882581 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 10:51:05 +0000 gilmoregirl 1882581@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: I don't have any advice to offer because I got lucky and my kid took to the crib really well once he could roll over (and therefore sleep on his side/stomach) but at 4ish months he was only taking a good morning nap. He'd go down easily and sleep a decent stretch (which for him was then 40-50 minutes). Naps got progressively more difficult to get him down as the day went on. As his naps lengthened and his sleep schedule naturally changed, his afternoon nap has become less of a battle. </p> <p>My LO surprised me with the lengthening of his naps because I seriously didn't expect it to happen. He was a 28-minute napper for MONTHS, so even getting to 40 felt like a victory. Now he regularly will nap for 1.5 hours. I think it really is developmental, and it sounds like you are doing a great job. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882486 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 10:06:02 +0000 JoJoGirl 1882486@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree with a PP - 4.5 months is a bit young for nap training. We sleep trained around then, but my Isis sleep consultant said naps don't really consolidate until closer to 6-7 months, so waited a bit longer to nap train. But every kid is different so if he takes to it, great! If no, don't fret - give it some more time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882479 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 10:01:44 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1882479@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: We bounce him on the exercise ball. It's gotten better in terms of time and effort bouncing. One thing that helped us was keeping him awake longer (1.5-2 hours, past the point of him rubbing eyes) which is know is the opposite of typical advice.</p> <p>I think my plan is to wait until what we are doing no longer works, or he starts to show signs of consolidating on his own and then train him to nudge him int he right direction. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882119 Tue, 30 Sep 2014 05:03:53 +0000 Orchid 1882119@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: I'm still holding him. Yikes! Sometimes I can put him down after about an hour and he'll keep on sleeping. He still ends up having four naps because he wakes up around 5am and the last one can be pretty difficult. I've found that if I give him a bit more time awake before that one, he goes to sleep a lot faster. Maybe try that? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882075 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 22:15:46 +0000 BabyTsMom 1882075@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Leah: thanks! I'm very nervous though. Way more than when we night trained! I'm just scared of him getting way overtired and missing too many naps. Are you still holding LO for naps? I was doing that for a while and getting great naps that way, but then one week he just started taking shorter and shorter naps, even when I was holding him. Ugh! That's why I started training the first two naps.... But so far have been unsuccessful with the last two...... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882073 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 22:12:24 +0000 BabyTsMom 1882073@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ScarletBegonia: yeah I've pretty much accepted that my little guy doesn't want to nap longer than 40 min. I doubt he'll do it at 6 months either..but maybe by 8-9 months??? But what I do need is for him to nap in his crib for the afternoon (3rd) and late afternoon (4th) naps.... The 3rd one is hit or miss in the crib, and never the 4th one- I end up putting him in the carrier for that one. So I'm hoping nap training will allow him to nap for all naps, regardless of how short they are........ And hopefully he'll naturally lengthen his naps at some point......... :bummed: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882071 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 22:07:26 +0000 BabyTsMom 1882071@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Little Misters Mom: ugh, sorry you're in the same boat! So what do you do now to get him to nap? I'm sad that I haven't received any nuggets of wisdom here yet! Lol. I read that post by Sandy but honestly I think it will backfire spectacularly on my little guy. I'll do ferber checks at most. I'm planning to start at the end of the week. I hope we make progress quickly but everything I read (which isn't much) tells me that nap training takes much longer. :sad: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882011 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:23:10 +0000 Little Misters Mom 1882011@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Following this. Our guy is sleep trained but naps are still a disaster. Exact same story as you, 40 minute naps, etc, except napping in my arms has stopped working as well. I'm not sure when we will nap train but there is so little information and resources out there. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.</p> <p>Sandy has great advice in this thread on her method, which I know other Bees have used with success. <a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-to-do-before-sleep-training" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-to-do-before-sleep-training</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882009 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:19:06 +0000 MamaChin 1882009@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Good luck!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1882002 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:07:15 +0000 ScarletBegonia 1882002@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly, i think naps just start working at a certain age. We sleep trained for nighttime around 3.5 months and it worked pretty well, but naps stayed 45 minutes (NEVER longer) until he was 5.5 or maybe even 6 months. Then all of a sudden, he started sleeping 1.5 to 2 hrs per nap, with me doing absolutely nothing. I let him fuss a couple of times just cause I was desperate to go to the bathroom and couldn't hold him, but other than that it seemed like he just figured it out on his own. He also started rarely taking his late afternoon nap at this point, since he was racking up 3 to 4 hours of sleep over 2 naps during the day. </p> <p>So basically I have no advice about nap training...I am totally NOT a wait-it-outer - but for naps things just kinda clicked after 5 months. Good luck!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1881517 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:27:19 +0000 Orchid 1881517@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyTsMom: we haven't nap trained yet so no advice! Just wanted to wish you good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-starts-this-week#post-1881477 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:02:32 +0000 BabyTsMom 1881477@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>OK moms. 99% of my posts on HB are about sleep...sigh... My 4.5 month old has been night trained for about a month and it's going well. I'm now ready to tackle naps this week. </p> <p>A week into night training, I started nap training him a little, focusing more on the first 2 naps of the day. I've gone from holding him for almost every nap, where he would sleep for 1-2 hours to being able to put him in his crib for the first 2 naps, but he only sleeps for 40 minutes on average. I'm ok with this, since at least he's sleeping in his crib now. </p> <p>However, the one time I tried training him for the late afternoon nap, it was a disaster. He cried hard for 40 minutes until I rescued him. I really want him to be able to take his last 2 naps in his crib (he needs 4!! naps a day, since they are all 40 minutes long!), so I think I still need to train him for those naps....</p> <p>If you nap trained, how successful were you in getting your LO to nap for the late afternoon naps? I plan to start with checks, but may quickly go to extinction if necessary. If he cries for the entire 1 hour time limit, do I get him up, play with him a bit and try again within the hour? Or do I keep him up until the next nap?</p> <p>I'm so nervous to start! But it has to happen. Please share your advice and success stories! </p>