NAP TRANSITIONS: how and when your baby will drop their naps
If you’re wondering when your baby will drop to 2 naps, move to 1 nap, or stop napping altogether, you’re not alone. These nap transitions are some of the most common times sleep suddenly starts to feel unpredictable.
While there are general age ranges for each transition, the exact timing can vary, which is why it can feel hard to know what your baby needs. If you’d like a full overview of how naps work across each stage, see our guide on Baby naps and why daytime sleep matters.
When do babies drop naps? (Quick answers)
- 3 → 2 naps: usually around 6–8 months
- 2 → 1 nap: usually around 12–15 months
- Stop napping: often between 2.5–3.5 years
These age ranges are a helpful guide, but the signs can look very similar to overtiredness or sleep regressions, which is why many parents find this stage confusing.
In this article:
- How nap transitions actually work
- Signs your baby is ready to drop a nap
- Why is my baby suddenly fighting naps?
- What age do babies drop naps?
- When do babies drop to 2 naps?
- When do babies drop to 1 nap?
- When do toddlers stop napping?
- Managing each nap transition
- How long do nap transitions take?
- What happens if you drop a nap too early?
- Key takeaways for nap transitions
Naps can be hard to get right
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How nap transitions actually work
You may have reached a point where your baby is finally napping well in the day or sleeping well at night (or both!). They have consolidated their day sleep into three regular naps and you feel like you’ve nailed this baby sleep game.
BUT, just when you think everything is going well, all of a sudden things go awry. Your baby starts fighting going to bed or they start waking more overnight or they start waking at 5 AM!
What is going on?!
This is where many parents feel stuck, because the signs of a nap transition can look very similar to other sleep issues. Our Little Ones App removes the guesswork by guiding your baby’s schedule day by day.
If you can rule out causes like over or under tiredness, hunger, room conditions or sickness and your baby is in the age brackets specified further down this article, you are left with the likelihood that it might be time to drop a nap.
Dropping a nap is no quick and easy feat, this transition takes time. To ease this transition, babies need to decrease their naps incrementally, but that won’t happen on its own. Your baby or toddler will still need your guidance when it comes to regulating their naps.
It’s also important that you don’t feel pressured to drop a nap at the ‘right’ time - especially when it comes to toddlers dropping their nap altogether. University of Colorado Boulder researcher, Assistant Professor Monique LeBourgeois, says that many young children today are not getting enough sleep. Her research showed that toddlers who miss only a single daily nap show more anxiety, less joy and interest and a poorer understanding of how to solve problems. “For toddlers, daytime naps are one way of making sure their 'sleep tanks' are set to full each day."
However, if you feel it’s definitely time to drop a nap, then one way of helping your little one to do this is by implementing a consistent nap routine - this will help you to know when these nap transitions are due to happen and how to handle them.
Read our article about routines and why they don’t suck.
Signs your baby or toddler is ready to drop a nap
One thing to remember is not all changing sleep cycles or patterns mean it’s time to drop a nap - in fact, it could be a pesky sleep regression that’s disturbing your bubs’ sleep, depending on their age.
A sleep regression is a period when a baby or toddler who has been sleeping well suddenly starts waking at night and/or skipping naps. Babies become harder to settle for naps and at bedtime during this tricky period.
There are a number of distinct regressions that most babies and toddlers experience, the first being as early as eight weeks - it’s a small blip, but it happens. The 4 month sleep regression is next, followed by another one around 8 months, then again between 12-15 months and as if that wasn’t enough, there is another big regression around 2 years old!
But if you do suspect it’s time to drop a nap and can rule out the other causes that we listed above, then the key things you need to look out for (over the course of several days in a row) are:
- Taking a long time to settle at the normal nap time.
- Settling well but waking early from the nap or having a short nap.
- Settling well at one nap but not tired and not sleeping well at the next nap.
- Settling/sleeping well at naps but taking a long time to go to sleep at bedtime in the evening.
- Waking overnight multiple times or waking and staying awake for long periods.
- Waking in the early morning (before 6 AM) and not resettling back to sleep
Even small timing differences can affect sleep, which is why knowing exactly when to adjust naps can be tricky. Our app helps you stay one step ahead of these changes through every nap transition, regression and developmental shift.
Why is my baby suddenly fighting naps?
If your baby has suddenly started resisting naps, it doesn’t always mean it’s time to drop one. Nap refusal can also be caused by overtiredness, undertiredness or sleep regressions, which can look very similar to a nap transition.
This is why it can feel confusing, as the signs often overlap. While the signs can help guide you, most parents want to know exactly when each nap transition happens. Below are the typical age ranges for each stage.
What age do babies drop naps?
So, you’ve gone through the list of key signs and it seems like your wee one is ready to drop a nap. Unfortunately, there is no magical document that will let you know exactly when your little one is due for a nap transition, but we’ve found that there are specific ages that these nap transitions generally occur:
- By 3 months your little one would have hopefully consolidated their day sleep into 3 naps.
- Around 5 months your baby may start to show signs that they are getting ready to drop their third nap of the day, such as night waking or being generally unsettled. This doesn’t necessarily mean it is time to drop that third nap just yet though.
- Between 6 - 8 months your little one should be ready to drop from 3 naps down to 2 naps.
- Around 10 months your baby may again start to show signs that they are coming up to another nap transition, with many resisting or refusing the morning nap. This doesn’t mean it is time to drop the morning nap yet.
- Between 12 - 15 months your little one should be ready to drop the morning nap and just have one long nap in the middle of the day.
- Around 2 years many toddlers will start to resist or refuse their nap but this is usually due to the regression mentioned earlier. Keep offering the nap and they should settle and sleep well again once this regression passes.
- Between 2.5 - 3.5 years most toddlers are ready to drop their nap altogether.
When do babies drop to 2 naps?
While your little one may start showing signs of a nap transition around 5 months, this doesn’t mean it’s time to drop that nap, in fact at 6 months the third nap is essential as it makes sure your wee one isn’t overtired come bedtime. Even just a 10 minute power nap is enough to stave off any residual overtiredness to get your baby through to bedtime.
Somewhere between 6-8 months your baby will go from 3 naps to 2. This transition to 2 naps depends on your baby having consolidated their napping so that they are doing at least one good long nap (over 45 minutes) as well as one shorter nap during the day. We would recommend that the longest nap be in the middle of the day rather than the morning, as a shorter lunchtime nap can cause your little one to become overtired at bedtime and affect their nighttime sleep.
If your baby is still having 3 naps a day at this age, you might notice it starts to impact their bedtime settling and night sleep. That's exactly what was happening for mom Heather and baby Jacob in our case study. The last nap of the day was the thing that was most likely causing this baby's night wakes and early morning wake.
For more information on the 6-8 month transition we have an article on dropping from 3 to 2 naps.
When do babies drop to 1 nap?
Just like in the lead-up to the previous nap transition, as your little one approaches 12 months you may find they start to resist or even refuse the morning nap. If their morning nap is too long, it can also cause them to be hard to settle or wake early from the lunch nap. This doesn’t mean they are ready to drop the morning nap yet though. In fact, that morning nap plays a really crucial role in helping to prevent overtiredness. If your little one is resisting or refusing the morning nap, small adjustments to timing can sometimes help, but finding the right balance can be difficult as sleep needs change quickly at this age.
Dropping down to one nap is a slightly harder and longer transition than dropping the afternoon nap. Again, your baby’s nap structure is going to have a big impact on this transition. If you’ve previously been doing a long morning nap and a shorter midday/afternoon nap, it will be harder for you to merge those into one long midday nap because you’ll effectively be dropping a nap and dramatically changing another nap time all at once. Ideally you want to gradually reduce the morning nap over time, until it finally fades away.
NOTE: There can be a "sleep regression" closer to 15 months, which is mainly caused if your toddler is still having two day sleeps. This regression will mean your toddler starts resisting bedtime in the evening, resisting their second nap, waking again overnight or waking early in the morning. If this is the case with your toddler, it is definitely time to drop to one nap and aim for a good restorative sleep across the middle of the day rather than 2 fragmented naps.
When do toddlers stop napping?
Around 2 years many toddlers will start to resist or refuse their nap but this doesn’t mean they are ready to drop their nap altogether yet. This nap resistance is commonly due to the regression at this age and will pass in time. The best thing you can do is to continue offering the nap each day, even getting it done in the car from time to time if needed - just to help prevent overtiredness building up.
Somwhere between 2.5 and 3.5 years old is the trickiest transition of them all! You’ve had your little one’s napping sorted for ages, they’ve been having a solid 2 hour sleep in the middle of the day, when suddenly they aren’t settling at bedtime anymore. If your toddler is resisting bedtime, waking overnight or waking early in the morning, it may be time to start getting rid of the nap. Ideally you’d do this gradually, reducing the length of the nap first, trialling it every few days against your toddlers settling and/or night waking to find the right balance. You might even reduce the frequency of the nap so it happens every second day.
Eventually though, their nap will get dropped altogether and at that time you might need to introduce a slightly earlier bedtime to avoid too much overtiredness by the end of the day. As your toddler adjusts, you can then start to push bedtime out later again.
Find out more about what your child’s sleep will look like after dropping their nap.
Managing each nap transition
There is a wide range of normal when it comes to nap transitions, and not all babies will follow the same timeline.
The transition periods for all nap changes need to be handled delicately and with some understanding of what your baby is going through. Sometimes it is just trial and error to work out if dropping a nap is the thing that your child needs at that time.
Let’s take a peek at what your little one will experience during these tricky transitions and how you can help manage them.
How long do nap transitions take?
Each transition is different and it purely depends on your little one’s nap structure leading up to the transition, which is made a lot easier if you're using our Little Ones Sleep App. It’s best to take it day by day, as a lot will depend on how your baby has slept for their other naps that day and also how they sleep overnight.
It can take several days or even a couple of weeks to see how your baby responds to a new routine. Remember too that your little one isn’t going to simply just drop the naps on their own, they still need your support. You don’t want to be rushing around the shops or visiting friends when trying to transition naps either, keeping a consistent routine is going to really help your little one through this period. Most importantly, the timing of these nap transitions has to be dictated by your little ones developmental needs.
Because there’s no fixed timeline, many parents find themselves second guessing what to do next. Our app adjusts your baby’s schedule daily, so you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Feeling lost and unsure what to try next with sleep?
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What happens if you drop a nap too early?
The biggest sign that you may have dropped a nap too soon is your little one’s mood, behaviour and sleep has changed. They may be restless and start waking more at night or refusing the remainder of their naps. This happens because your baby can’t tolerate their maximum awake time yet, which then causes them to be overtired. So, if you feel you have dropped the nap too soon, simply re-integrate it back into your routine.
Key Takeaways for nap transitions
- Once you've dropped a nap bring their next nap or bedtime forward a little bit to compensate, while your baby gets used to the longer awake time
- Help your little one to stay rested by not making any huge alterations in the schedule at once.
- You can replace the nap with a period of ‘quiet time’, so they are still resting even if they’re not sleeping.
- Keep a consistent routine, that way you know when a nap transition needs to happen and what to do.
Nap transitions are one of the most common times sleep starts to unravel, because there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
Short or tricky naps, especially during transitions, don’t mean you’re doing it wrong - they mean your baby's sleep balance is simply off. Our sleep app protects naps with age-appropriate timing, calm environments and responsive settling - to ensure the right sleep balance as your baby grows and changes.
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