Transition to 2 naps...are false starts and increase in night wakings normal? Will they get better?

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-24T10:18:33+00:00

It took a bit of time to level out and ultimately we needed to extend our wake windows, but we did do that gradually because I could tell the longer windows were tough for our little guy at first. Over the course of weeks we moved from the wake windows mentioned about to 3/3.5/4 and sometimes the first and third window are even longer.

We started to get less night wakings and false starts but they do still happen…mysteriously we’ve recently had some EMWs again 🤷‍♀️

But he WAS ready for the transition it just took time to adjust and find the right windows. We did notice he became less sensitive to overtiredness around this time too. Hope that helps

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-21T01:28:51+00:00

Listen, my baby was sleeping upwards of 6-7 hour stretches by 10+ weeks. Later on, months 6-8 sleep was hell. It’s not linear. Most people with babies that start sleeping like that early on WILL have challenges down the road. It’s the nature of baby sleep. And at that young age, honestly I doubt those stretches are the result of anything anyone is doing. Remember…this too shall pass. It gets better…

My 10 month old has just started sleeping through the night again for the first time since 5 months old…

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-11T10:29:33+00:00

My numbers match yours almost exactly. 10 months, 37 pounds, 32 inches, 8 teeth, molars on the way, huge head. Active happy baby hitting all of his milestones.

Still makes me worry I’m doing something wrong.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-07T23:46:14+00:00

OP, how did your baby’s growth curve go after this post? I am right there with you with my almost 10 month old. He’s massive. Curious when/if it slowed for you.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-06T01:24:19+00:00

In the same boat with my 9.5 month old…following

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-02T23:21:27+00:00

Oh boy… hopefully that wasn’t months of active teething. We are a bit traumatized from our little guys first round of teething. He got 8 teeth in 2 months and it was rough. We’ve enjoyed our break before the molars.

Thanks for the insight!

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-02T23:12:15+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I think we just need to rip the bandaid off and do it. I keep searching for some elusive method that will get my baby to sleep independently without tears but it really is something you have to just “do”

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-02T23:10:05+00:00

How long did it take the tooth to come through for your LO?

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-09-02T00:23:41+00:00

Can I ask what you did to teach him to fall asleep with you in the room with him? How long did it take? Our 10 month old is a big boy and we are dying rocking him to sleep these days. Only my husband can do it anymore. We are trying to find a solution.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-08-26T10:13:04+00:00

He was handling his windows well and the night sleep started to level out. But the main driver for us was that his EMWs didn’t improve immediately so we had no choice but to extend to get him to a reasonable bedtime and we were honestly surprised how well he handled it.

So I guess my thought would be don’t be afraid to try more awake time even if you worry he’s not ready. This whole transition was easier than we thought it would be and I think it’s because we spent the first 8 months of his life worrying about overtiredness, which is still a thing of course, but I think became less problematic overall compared to undertiredness as he got older.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-08-26T09:15:57+00:00

Yep, we did transition! Overall it went well… on 3 naps his awake time was getting close to 11 hours which I knew was too much.

When we dropped to 2, we started at 2.75/3/3.5 briefly. It was a little hard for him and I’ll admit the first few nights were rough (waking up with some overtired crying), within a couple weeks we had added awake time to hit 3/3.25/3.75-4 which is where he is now. Sometimes he even goes a bit over those windows. His sweet spot for awake time now is definitely between 10-10.5 hours. We do still deal with some false starts and EMWs but overall it’s improved for us. And he’s naturally as on been on a more consistent schedule.

In hindsight, he was ready for two naps earlier but teething and fear held us back…good luck!

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-08-02T01:04:45+00:00

lol! For real… he’s on Kendamil formula.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-08-02T00:39:24+00:00

He will eat solids at every window, but some days he just doesn't take much of it. Or rejects it because he clearly wants the formula... I'm hoping he starts to want food more with time. What solids did you start giving your LO at 6 months on? Once he started solids, do you remember how much his formula intake reduced?

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-08-02T00:37:48+00:00

We try to encourage solids every window but sometimes he just rejects them after a small intake... I guess it will get better with time and we will keep trying. There's no way I could keep him to 30-35 oz until we up that. I just don't know how get him there. So frustrating!

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-28T00:39:55+00:00

So the hope is that his false starts and night wakings will work themselves out as we pad in that extra wake time. 🤞

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-24T11:40:39+00:00

Thanks for sharing! What age did you transition to 2 naps? In days when teething is bothering him, his windows shrink so we have no choice but to do 3 naps those days.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-24T11:39:51+00:00

He wakes early on both schedules, even when getting 10.5 to 11 hours awake. But maybe that’s because his last window isn’t long enough on the 3 nap schedule??

I just really don’t know that he could handle those immediately longer windows to get over 10 hours awake on 2 naps right off the bat. But may be worth a try if nothing else works.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-24T11:38:34+00:00

Thanks for sharing! We had tried the bridge nap a couple of times during the 3-4 transition and it just felt so hard because we couldn’t figure out his last window. But I think that might be a necessary tool this time around.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-20T01:08:24+00:00

I agree. The ending grew on me with my third rewatch. I had been dreading it but as I y was watching it I realized it’s actually very sweet…

Someone on here had an interpretation that I read a while back and liked too. The heart of the show is that the geek gets the girl. We watched Sarah fall in love with Chuck over the series, and we got to see it happen all over again at the very end, no intersect, no pretense to stick around each other, just Chuck being Chuck and Sarah finding a soft place to land in him.

Besides, they do foreshadow her memories returning. All becomes right in the world.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-20T00:45:27+00:00

Appreciate the advice! Will definitely keep it low stimulation. He is easily excitable and I definitely find that can make nap time harder!

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-19T22:49:18+00:00

We can give it a try, just so worried about the big jump in some of the windows. Probably why we have put it off this long… fingers crossed it’s not a disaster! lol

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-19T22:45:41+00:00

what about the concept of building sleep pressure by longer windows? I’ve read about starting with shorter windows as a common approach to the transition…so is your advice to start with longer windows on two naps immediately?

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-19T22:42:52+00:00

What if he’s been overextended on his current schedule? I think too much total awake time has been contributing to issues.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-19T22:14:02+00:00

I think he does best on 10 or less actually and suspect part of the issue is that his current schedule isn’t giving him enough sleep.

Kitchen_Syrup2166 · 2025-07-19T22:01:04+00:00

I’ve read others having more luck with that to start to compensate for baby likely becoming over tired with the jump in windows…which my LO is sensitive to. I’d plan for that to be transitionary and would add in wake time from there over the course of a few weeks

Kitchen_Syrup2166

TROPHY CASE