The third nap in an infant’s schedule is a short, late-afternoon cat nap designed to prevent the baby from becoming overtired before bedtime. This nap acts as a bridge, sustaining a comfortable wake period between the final longer nap of the day and the start of the night. Dropping a nap is a significant developmental milestone, marking a phase where a baby’s physiological need for sleep begins to consolidate. This transition requires fewer periods of rest but longer stretches of wakefulness, moving them toward a more stable, predictable daily pattern.
The Typical Timeline for Dropping the Third Nap
The developmental window for transitioning from three naps down to two typically falls between six and nine months of age. The average age for this shift is around eight months, though individual variation is common. Some infants with high sleep needs may hold onto the third nap longer, while others may drop it closer to six months.
The physiological driver behind this change is the baby’s rapidly increasing maximum wake window capacity. An infant on a three-nap schedule usually tolerates being awake for about 2 to 2.75 hours at a time. To successfully move to a two-nap schedule, the baby must be able to manage awake periods that are consistently 3 to 3.5 hours long. When the baby can handle this extended wakefulness, the late-afternoon bridge nap is no longer necessary.
Key Indicators Your Baby is Ready for the Change
Age serves only as a guideline; behavioral cues are far more reliable indicators that a baby is ready to drop the third nap. These patterns should be observed consistently over at least a week before assuming the transition is necessary.
The primary indicators include:
- Consistent refusal of the late-afternoon rest, even when the baby has previously taken it without issue.
- Taking an unusually long time (15 to 20 minutes or more) to settle for the third nap, suggesting insufficient sleep pressure.
- Interference with nighttime sleep, which can manifest as the nap pushing bedtime too late or causing disturbances like night wakings or very early morning wake-ups.
- The third nap is consistently short (less than 20 minutes), or the first two naps are robust but the third is a battle.
Strategies for Managing the Transition Period
The most effective strategy for managing this transition involves gradually increasing the baby’s wake windows throughout the day. Parents should slowly stretch the wake period leading up to the second nap by about 10 to 15 minutes every few days. This helps build the necessary sleep pressure for a longer, more restorative second nap, which naturally eliminates the need for a third.
Moving bedtime earlier is the most important action during this adjustment phase to prevent overtiredness. Since the baby is missing a period of rest in the late afternoon, their total time awake before night sleep increases significantly. To compensate, bedtime should be temporarily moved up, sometimes as early as 6:00 or 6:30 PM, to ensure the baby achieves their required total sleep.
There will be days when the baby becomes fussy and overtired in the late afternoon, often called a “crash.” On these days, a brief “bridge nap” of 10 to 15 minutes, often achieved in a car seat or stroller, can be offered to take the edge off. The transition is rarely linear, and some days may still require a short third nap while others can manage the two-nap schedule.
Structuring the Stable Two-Nap Schedule
Once the transition is complete, the baby settles into a predictable two-nap schedule characterized by significantly longer wake windows and more restorative sleep periods. A baby on this schedule manages awake times of 3 to 3.5 hours between sleep periods. The goal is two substantial naps, each ideally lasting 1.5 to 2 hours, resulting in a total of about two to three hours of day sleep.
The new schedule typically anchors the first nap in the mid-morning (around 9:00 to 9:30 AM) and the second nap in the early afternoon (between 1:00 and 2:00 PM). This structure focuses on clock-based predictability. The earlier bedtime established during the transition often becomes the new norm, allowing for a longer continuous stretch of night sleep to balance the reduced number of naps.