Naps | Imamother

luppamom

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 2:21 am

I want my 6 mo. old to take 2-3 solid naps. I am a WAHM and it is helpful when I can get a little bit of work work and housework done while she is asleep. She wakes up between 7:30-8:00. Bedtime is 7:45 PM. I am aiming for naps at 9 am, 1 pm and 4 pm, but she often gets tired before this. Now, I am trying to push her to stay up and hold her, give her a paci etc. until it's time, but it doesn't always work and she often just cat naps which results in more tiredness. When I started pushing her, naps started to last an hr. instead of a half an hr., but still w/ tiredness. S/t she will nap 2 hrs., but this is rare.

Any advice? (she's my first Smile

) Should I just put her for a nap when she starts rubbing her eyes or getting cranky or is having a schedule more important?

Last edited by luppamom on Wed, Jan 21 2015, 4:30 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 5:10 am

My baby is the same age as yours. We just did major research all over the internet to try and get a schedule that works. Based on everything I've read, I would say you need an earlier bed time, wake up at 7 and nap at 9.

It sounds like your baby is overtired in general. Cat naps, getting tired before time, not napping well etc.

You're first nap sounds too early, it actually looks like it's night sleep still. That might be unbalancing everything.

Babies this age should have about 11-12 hours night sleep, but don't include time awake during the night in this. And babies are designed to go to bed 6:30-7 really, it's best for their body clocks.

Times between naps should be at the least 2 hours, maximum 2 1/2 hours at this age.

Ideally second nap should end around 3-3:30pm and no naps after 4pm for sure. Bed between 6:30 and 7. Make earlier bed time to compensate for night waking if needed.

I've just stopped the 3rd nap. It's around 7 months that that starts to happen anyway. After 3pm, baby is awake until 6.30. Things might get rough around 5ish, but we try to get activities quiet and feed at 6, then bed at 6:30. So far, bli ayin hara, our night waking have gone from every hour to 2x (a 5 min waking to insert paci at 11pm, then one feed at 4:30am)...

smss

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 12:03 pm

here are the guidelines I use for how much awake time a baby can handle before being ready for sleep. I got these from thebabysleepsite.com

they've been on the mark for both my kids, so far.

Newborns: 45 minutes to 1 hour
3-5 Months: 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes
5-6 Months: 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes
6-7 Months: 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours
7-9 Months: 2 to 3 hours
9-12 Months: 3 hours
12-18 Months: 3-5 hours, depending if they are on one nap or two
18-36 Months: 5 hours if they are still napping

luppamom

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 12:11 pm

amother wrote:

Thank you! This is very helpful. I don't know what you mean by first nap. I think I wrote the same thing as you. First nap should begin at 9. Am I missing s/t? Do you think I need to wake her up at 7 am? It's hard for me to roll out of bed that early. I am a SAHM so I don't have any pressure to get up earlier.

Wow! I love the early bedtime. She is so crabby at night. You're making me want to slowly start lowering her bedtime.

Interesting about the wakings. I found that DD started to wake up more when I lowered her bedtime from 9:15 til 7:30 but it's hard to know what's schedule based and what's just developmental, if you get my drift.

amother

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 12:17 pm

My 7 month old baby put himself on this schedule:

Wakes up at 6:30-7, I feed him, then he sleeps until 8-9 (I consider this to still be part of night sleeping, not its own nap). Then his first nap is between 10:30-11. His second nap is anywhere between 1-3. His two naps are between 20 min to an hour long, depending on the surrounding environment (noise, weather etc). He does not nap in his crib, he refuses to, so I let him nap in his car seat.
Once he wakes up from his second nap, at around 3, I keep him awake until bedtime- around 6:30 or 7. I bathe him, feed him and put him to bed by 6:30 or 7. I did the controlled crying method to get him to agree to this, and now it's almost as easy as 1-2-3.

I am also a WAHM. And this schedule is not easy for me Sad

but as long as he is happy, I am.

luppamom

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 12:54 pm

smss wrote:

I think I also saw this. But when I did this, I found that my baby was catnapping a lot so I wanted to make more set times. But, maybe I'll go back to this as she starts getting tired before the set times. But, on the upside, she does nap a little bit better.

amother

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 1:21 pm

luppamom wrote:

Yeah, nap at 9am after wake up at 8am sounds too soon, I was saying nap at 9am after wake up at 7am... and I'm also a wahm... I used to get up at 11am before my DS was born Wink

Some times I just feed him and sit him up next to me in bed while I doze for an hour or so... (safely... I add hastily... I'm not asleep and he can't go anywhere!)

And I was so surprised that the early bed time worked. He used to always go to bed at 12 until he was 4 months, then we slowly got it to 8, then to 7, and now 6.30 works for us. It's amazing. I have time to make DH and I a nice supper, spend time together and get some sleep too!

Right, they change all the time, who knows why they wake up 5x one night and 2x the next... Also, when I did move the bedtime back, we had some bad nights. It had to be gradual and until the body clock settles into the new routine it won't be great. But after, say, 2 weeks of 7pm bed time, he knew 7pm was bed time! Make sure whatever you're doing for a bed time routine now you carry one doing early. I think that helped my DS. We have a certain picture book we look at, and he wears his sleeping bag, gets his teeth brushed etc. so he knows that means night, not nap.

luppamom

Wed, Jan 21 2015, 1:29 pm

amother wrote:

but as long as he is happy, I am.

He sounds similar to my baby was. She used to wake up early and be up for a half an hr. and then go back to sleep for another half an hr. or hr. and take very short naps not at predictable times. (Now the naps sometimes are longer, but still not so predictable) but I'm not such a good sport and she was (and still is but less so) waking up crabby. The combo. of the short nap and then taking care of a crabby baby is hard.
My baby also went through phases where she wouldn't nap in her bed and other phases where she would ONLY nap in her crib. Not sure if you've tried switching him back, but might be worth a shot if it means s/t to you. (I think my baby sleeps better in her crib.)
I really like the sound of 6:30... DH could use a nice supper every once in awhile and I also could use more time to work...