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With development happening so rapidly in your baby or toddler's early years, their sleep needs are constantly changing. Sometimes it probably feels like just when you have your baby's sleep all figured out, a new sleep struggle seems to arise.
If your baby starts to have what seems to be a regression, it may be because it's time to drop a nap, especially if they fall within the common ages for a nap drop.
When your baby is ready to drop a nap, you're likely to see signs such as your child:
having difficulty falling asleep for naps or bedtime
fighting naps
short naps
having night wakings again after sleeping through the nights, or more frequent and longer night wakings
early morning wake-ups
Know that the transition will take a few days if you jump right into it, and a couple of weeks if you choose to do the transition slowly, by stretching wake windows, or gradually bumping the first nap of the day to 15 minutes later until you've reached the new desired nap time. Taking a little time to adjust is a typical part of dropping a nap, so if things are a little rough, give it at least a week before changing things up again. This will give you the chance to truly know if it was the right time to drop the nap or if your wake windows or schedule need to be tweaked.
If you're looking for a little guidance on what appropriate wake windows or an appropriate schedule would be for your child at each age, download my free Ultimate Schedule Guide and check out my blog post on how much sleep your child needs at every age.
If your child's sleep struggles are about so much more than dropping a nap, book a free 20 minute sleep consultation with me to learn more about what is likely to be causing your child's sleep struggles and how I can support you with totally transforming your child's sleep. Your child can be a good sleeper. I'll show you how to get there!
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