3 sleeps to 2

[Krisvee]

Hi!

At what age did your bubbas drop their 3rd sleep??? Today it seems that 2 sleeps will be enough for Louis but should he be getting more sleep than that??
Even though he's very unsettled over the night at the moment he usually has 12 hours in his cot.

Thanks!

[LG]

Evan started only sleeping for about 20mins for his last sleep at around 7 months i think. It took me a couple of weeks to catch up with his thinking, and he has settled into a good 2 sleep pattern from around 7.5 months. Now he usually has 2x1-1.5hr sleep. Rarely he'll sleep 2hrs for a day sleep.

[mummy2Kaitlyn]

Kaitlyn dropped her third sleep around the 5month mark as well . She now sleeps 10-12 and then 2-4pm on a good day!. In saying that she only slept 930-1130 today arghhh

[layla]

Sarah is 8 months old and it is a struggle to get her through to bed time without a third sleep.
I really want to get her into a good 2 sleep pattern but it's a challenge to keep her a wake in the early evening. If we let her go to bed too early she is up in the night more often than usual.

[Debbie Lee]

Gosh... I can't remember when Gab dropped down to 2 sleeps. Maybe around 6 months? I know she dropped to 1 sleep at about 10 months so maybe it was before she was 6 months....

Either way, I'd just let Louis guide you. If he's ready to drop a sleep, go for it. Sometimes it can be challenging at jungle-hour (dinnertime) when they have dropped a sleep, but that's normal. Every child is different so you'll probably find that most people here will say different ages for when their child dropped a sleep....

It's certainly handy once they do cut down... you'll find yourself being able to get more done. When Gab dropped to 1 sleep, I didn't know myself!

[Krisvee]

Thanks for your replies!!

Today he needed 3 sleeps as two of them were only 40min, so I'll just play it by ear for now!

[{sarah}]

Is Gabby only on one sleep?? Zander did that for a month or so & then he was getting cranky so he's back on 2 sleeps again.

[christy]

Matilda went back and forth between 3 to 2 sleeps from around 9 months and then when she was 14 months she went to 1 sleep.

[Debbie Lee]

Yep, Sarah. She generally sleeps until about 7:30-8am then goes back down at about 11-11:30 (sometimes I can stretch her to 12pm) and she'll sleep for 2-3 hours (unless she's at childcare where she sleeps for a whole 45 minutes... grrr!). Prob is, she has lunch at like 2pm so I am hoping that she'll push it out until 12:30pm so that I can get lunch in before she goes down. Still.... I am not complaining! She gets pretty grizzly around 6pm but that's dinner time so she's usually distracted. She has a bath at about 7:30, a play then is in bed at 8:30-9pm. Seems to work ok.... for now, LOL.
She does have the odd day where she has 2 naps. It's usually if she goes down early for her morning nap (say, 10am?) and only sleeps for an hour. She's too buggered by 2-3pm so I put her down again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. She usually does this if she's teething or not feeling well.
Having Paige around helps too. They distract eachother enough to push the sleeps out a bit. It's good because they generally sleep at the same time for about the same amount of time (though Paige usually wakes first).

[mama mel]

Ryan never had 3 daytime sleeps, even as a newborn he only had 2 x 30min power naps! :-k So just play it by ear as you said, they're all so different

[{sarah}]

Good thinking Brooke. Zander probably should be on only 1 sleep a day & sometimes he is, but most days he has 2 still.

[Debbie Lee]

I know she is supposed to be down to 3 meals a day and only 2 naps a day

IMO there is no "supposed to" when it comes to babies. There are guidelines, yes, but each child is an individual. Good on you for listening to Charlotte and following her lead!!
Some children follow the "rules" by the book (Gabby has been known to do this, LOL) but others do their own thing. If they are happy, healthy and thriving, what does it matter? Poo to the so-called "experts" I say!! LOL

[Debbie Lee]

After all, I am trained in childcare

Brooke - OMG... as IF being trained in childcare means that you know all there is to know about children. I imagine Nanny work is very different from childcare centre work, imo. When you are with the children in their home and their own environment, it has got to be so much easier to just go with the flow than in a centre. I can understand why they need routines in centres... after all, they have a room full of kids. But what is the harm with listening to the child's cues if you are their Nanny at home? That's my argument, anyway.

At Gabby's childcare centre, they always stress that they like to mimic the home routine as much as possible. When Gab first started, I told them that it was difficult for me to write her routine because it was never really the same from day to day. They said for me just to write a very general idea of how things go but they were more keen to hear about her tired signs etc. I thought that was pretty open-minded of them. They put the children down to sleep when the children want to sleep - not because it's time too. Eating times can be flexible too.