If your baby’s sleep has suddenly changed - maybe they’re waking more often, waking earlier, or taking shorter naps during the day - there may be a very specific reason why.

Baby sleep patterns change as they get older.

Often just as we feel like our baby has a good sleep routine that’s actually predictable, they go ahead and change it.

One of the most common reasons for a change in your baby’s naps or their sleep schedule is because they are ready to drop one of their naps.

But here’s the thing… If you try to drop a nap before your baby is ready, it can completely throw their sleep schedule out of rhythm.

And when that happens it’s hard to get back on track.

So you want to make sure that when you do drop that nap, your baby is actually ready for it.

But how do you know when your baby is ready to remove one of their naps from their sleep schedule? That’s exactly what you’ll learn in this article! You’ll learn 5 key signs that will help you identify whether your baby’s sleep is changing in a way that means they no longer need one of their naps.

If you’re struggling getting your baby to sleep like they used to, check out this article and see if it’s because they are ready to drop a nap.

The Right (and Wrong) Time To Drop a Nap

When it comes to your baby dropping a nap, timing is everything.

If you do it too early, it can lead to your baby's sleep routine becoming disrupted.

And by the time that you figure out that they're not yet ready, it can be really hard to get them back on track.

Or if you do it too late, then your baby's automatically gonna try and do it themselves, which can lead to a change in their sleep patterns and routine, and this will cause you a whole lot of frustration and confusion.

So, it's important to get the timing right, which is exactly what I'm gonna help you with in this article.

The good news is there are some telltale signs that you can look for to help you identify if it is actually time to drop a nap.

So, let's talk about what those signs are.

1st Sign

The first sign you wanna look for is your baby's age.

Generally, babies go through nap transitions around the same time.

So, typically, what you will see is zero to four-month-olds will have five to four naps in a day and they have them on demand.

Then, between four to six months of age, they move to have from four naps a day to three naps a day.

And then at six to nine months of age, they go from having three naps a day down to two.

Now, this is the most common nap transition that parents first start to notice because it's a bit tricky and generally, the baby is dropping that final nap of the day, which is an afternoon nap.

And it's typically a catnap.

Then, between 12 to 18 months of age, you will notice that your baby is going to go from having two naps a day down to one nap a day.

Typically, the average age they drop this nap is around 15 months, but they can drop it earlier or need to have that second nap for a few months to come.

Then, they will have their final nap transition between the age of two and a half to six years of age, where they go from having one nap a day to no naps a day.

If your little one falls between these age ranges and you notice one of the following changes in their sleep, then it does indicate that they might need to drop a nap.

But what's important to note is that these changes in their sleep need to happen for a minimum of two weeks.

We want it to become more of a trend rather than just a small blip in their sleep.

If it is just a small change in their sleep patterns that resolves after a few days or up to a week, it's more likely that your baby is going through a sleep regression, or becoming sick, or going through a developmental leap.

Now, it is important to know what developmental milestones that you can expect along their first year of life.

So, do check out the free developmental checklist in the description box below.

2nd Sign

So, one sign that you might notice is that your little one starts to find it difficult to fall asleep at a usual nap time.

Now, this is the most common and obvious sign that babies use to indicate that they need to drop a nap.

And what parents typically notice is that when they place their baby down for a usual nap, where they previously fell asleep really easily, the baby starts to bite that sleep.

So, they might take longer to fall asleep or they skip that sleep completely no matter what the parent does to try and get them to go to sleep.

Now, typically, this happens with the afternoon nap and it's generally happening because the baby does not yet have enough sleep pressure to fall asleep.

So, basically, they're not tired enough.

Their wake windows have expanded and they no longer need that nap.

3rd Sign

Or you might notice that your little one is finding it difficult to fall asleep at their usual bedtime.

So, they're starting to push their bedtime later and later into the evening.

So, they're starting to either play in the cart for a long period of time before they fall asleep or they're starting to protest.

Now, this isn't maybe an indication that your little one needs to drop a nap and that's purely because that last nap that they're having in the day is simply too close to their bedtime.

So, it's not allowing them enough wake time to build up that sleep pressure required to fall asleep at night.

4th Sign

Or you might notice that your little one is starting to wake up earlier in the day.

So, previously you might've had a little one who would sleep until 6:30 in the morning, but is now waking at 5:00 in the morning, ready to start the day.

Now, this is happening because as your little one gets older, the amount of sleep that they need in a 24-hour period reduces.

But if they are retaining a daytime sleep, then it's taking away from the nighttime sleep.

So, for example, if your little one only needs 14 hours of sleep over a 24-hour period, but they're having two lots of two-hour sleeps in the day, so they're having four hours of naps.

Then, basically, they only need 10 hours of sleep in the night to get this sleep requirement.

So, this means that they are going to start to wake earlier because basically, they don't need to sleep anymore.

5th Sign

Or you might notice that your little one is starting to have shorter naps than usual.

So, some babies who need to drop a nap may actually keep that nap, but start to shorten their nap as a result.

So, they might wake after 30 to 45 minutes when they typically had one and a half hour naps.

And this is because they have enough sleep pressure to fall asleep, but they don't have enough sleep pressure so they haven't been awake long enough to join two sleep cycles.

So, they're not tired enough to stay asleep.

So, this indicates that they need a longer wake period and they need to drop that nap.

Baby Development