Posted by
crj
18 yrs ago
What time does your 6 month old nap?
We were doing:
9:00 (or earlier) - 10:00
11:45 - 1:30
4:00 -5:00
He is always tired between 8:30 - 9:00 am for his morning nap to start.
The past few days he has skipped his lunch time nap - he played in his bed quietly for 1 or 2 1/2 hours, then cried at about 1:00 to be fed.
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How old is your baby?
What time do they nap?
Did you notice a change at 6 months?
When did you change from 3 to 2 naps a day?
Any other good information?
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CRJ -
If you like the one longer lunchtime nap (I know I do) perhaps reducing your evening nap by 30 minutes and your morning nap by 15 minutes will help. I'd say 45 minutes for AM nap and 30 for you afternoon. Isabella (5 months - not as old as yours) does that and it keeps her afternoon nap longer. I'm actually in the process of reducing her afternoon 4:00 nap to less than 30 minutes - so it's really just a "refresher" nap so that she will go to sleep well in the evening after her bath.
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crj
18 yrs ago
Thanks, I'll try that.
He is normally soooo tired in the morning, but we can try to keep him up a bit longer and put him down at 9:15.
Today, he just went down at 3:45, so I expect him to sleep straight until 5:00 since he had no lunchtime sleep... If he does have a good lunchtime nap, then we can reduce the afternoon nap too.
Thanks!
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How do you get your baby to sleep 12 hours?!!! My baby is 5 months and sleeps for 10 - 10 1/2 hours at night and naps 9am - 9.45am, 1.30pm - 3pm (not always regular) 5.15pm - 5.45pm sleeps approx 8.30pm - 6.45am She naps about 2 1/2 - 3 hours during the day. When I increase her daytime sleep she will sleep less at night. Have tried to cut out the last nap hoping that she will sleep longer and earlier, but she just falls asleep halfway through her last feed and wakes up half an hour later!
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Mine will be 4 months on Monday.
Naptimes duration are erratic, but there is a pattern of sorts:
between 8.30-9.30am (depending on the time he wakes up in the morning), he naps for about 30-45 mins
between 11.30-12.30pm, he naps for about 45 mins on hiw own but i usually sleep with him so he naps longer, about 1.5 hours.
later afternoon, around 4.15-4.30pm, he naps for about 30 mins.
Overall, he sleeps for at least 2-3hours in the daytime.
Nighttime he sleeps from 7pm to 7am (with a dream feed at 10.30pm). but i put him in bed at 6.30pm to settle so there are times when he sleeps from 6.30pm to 7.30am! I don't know what his system is, to be honest!
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When the late afternoon nap is dropped are the other naps pushed to a later time ie. afternoon nap from 2pm - 4pm instead of 1pm - 3pm?
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crj
18 yrs ago
good question Janey - we were wondering this too. If we should change from 11:30 - 1:30 (current) to 12 -2 or similar...
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I remember that when I dropped the late afternoon I pushed the afternoon forward ahead 30 minutes (12:00 instead of 11:30)and moved bedtime back 15 minutes. (6:30ish instead of 6:45)
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My baby is almost 6 months now. How do you know when she is ready to drop the afternoon nap? What are the signs to look out for?
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crj
18 yrs ago
For us, we stil have it some days, and other days he just does not sleep!
I think another sign is if he is too tired (or overtied, and therefore too awake) at bedtime.
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My LO is 4 months and still a bit erratic when it comes to sleep. Here usual pattern is:
Awake anytime from 6am. Needs to go down for a sleep within 2hrs - ie if awake at 7 then tired between 8:30 and 9:00. She will usually sleep around 40-50 mins.
The lunch time sleep is usually an hour. I dont know how to get her to sleep longer - ie 2hrs. Whats your secret? How do you settle your LO back to sleep?
If the lunchtime sleep has gone wrong ie only 1 hr she will have another hour in the afternoon followed by 30 mins or so around 4pm
Also she is still waking up in the night. I am putting her down at 7pm after a good feed and then trying to do a dreamfeed at 10:30pm. However whether I do this feed or not she still wakes at around 1 or 2am She goes back down ok but will then wake anywhere from 5:30 to 6:30.
Im exhausted!!!
Any advice to get her to sleep 1) 2hrs at lunchtime and 2) through the night?
BTW she is exclusively BF and refuses to take a bottle.
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crj
18 yrs ago
Swaddle - the only way we had our baby take the longer naps was to swaddle at the lunchtime nap and in the evening.
We only stopped at 5.5 months when he effectively rolled and got out of it easily.
I bet you are exhausted doing the 1/2 am feed still... is she really hungry or just wants affection?
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talking about exhaustion.we havent had a good nights sleep since baby is born,now even worst that she has started to want affection of the breast at night for comfort,she couldnt sleep if it falls off her mouth and this cycle is going on to 9 to 20 times per night.she cries ,i wake ,put it in her mouth,then she falls alseep,then wakes again...
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Oh god, my LO isnt that bad but yes the 2 extra wakings at night are very exhausting. I think if you have your sleep in the night you can cope with anything in the day!
My LO is also hard to feed. She will sometimes only take 5 mins or at a push 10 mins and then cry and refuse to feed anymore (Ive discussed this in another thread!). So between the broken nights sleep and the bad feedings during the day I feel like I want to scream. Today for instance she has only allowed me to feed her lying down. Ive got to the point where I am too scared to go out because if she doesnt feed what will I do- cant very well lie down when we are out to get something down her!
I think the night wakings are due to her not getting all her feeding needs during the day. I have tried just comforting but after an hour Im more exhausted and have to feed her. She seems eager and actively sucks for 10 mins.
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going out during the day is very subjective. some parents choose to arrange it so that they are at home during the naptimes so that bubs can sleep well in the cot.
even though my bub was/still is a catnapper, i still try to put him in his cot for naps during the day so i don't go out until he finishes his 2.30pm feed...when we are out after that he will be awake and then might have a power nap in the pram just to keep him going until bedtime.
but come weekends, etc when we meet up with friends for lunch, etc....i try to get him to nap longer in the morning or nap him so that he wakes up just before we go out so that he is more sociable. it is not a perfect solution and yes it messes up whatever routine i might have but we are ok with it.
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Hi Crj
Just wondering if your LO has dropped his late afternoon nap yet? My LO is 6.5 months and dose not show any signs of wanting to drop it yet. Thanks. Problem is if I drop the afternoon nap she will fall asleep during her milk and then wake up 10 mins later refreshed!
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Janey -
sometimes they drop it SUDDENLY. (like my second one.) She was happily napping 30 minutes in the late afternoon, and suddenly, one day, instead of sleeping she just stayed awake the whole nap. I thought it was a fluke, so the next day, put her down again, and it took her 15 minutes to fall asleep and she woke up 15 minutes later. At that point I experimented and cut it out - and since then she hasn't had it. SO just watch for the signs that your LO is in the mood to drop it.
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crj
18 yrs ago
There are some days he misses almost all his naps and just gets an hour.
There are other days he does 1 hour in the morning, 1.5 at lunch and an hour in the afternoon.
So, no, naptime has never really become stable for us...
But he sleeps well at night, and we keep trying to focus on the lunchtime nap.
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we are going to UK tomorrow night.
after 5 months of catnapping, the bub decides in the past 2 weeks that he will like to nap regularly:
1.5 hours in the morning
1.5 hours at lunchtime
about 15-30 mins in the late afternoon.
it's a breakthrough but alas it will be topsy turvy once we reach the UK i am sure! but at least i know he can do it so we will try again when we return. he sleeps well at night so i have stopped stressing about naps but if he can do the above when we are back from UK, will be fantastic (but maybe drop the late pm one since that'll make his daily naps too long and might not sleep through the night)
isn't it funny how they just change all the time?? and who knows what he will have in store for me when we return (he turns 6 months then).
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hi,
just wondering how are your bubs doing for their naps?
ours is 6 months old and after months of catnapping, suddenly sleeps for 1 hour in the am and at least 1.5 hours in the afternoon - can go longer if i don't wake him. i follow quite abit of gina ford who says bubs at 6 months shouldn't sleep more than 3 hours in the day. so when he exceeds the 3 hours mark by lunchtime, i try to keep him awake for until bedtime instead of his usual power nap around 4.30pm. but i find that he really struggles with that and gets grumpy - but at the same time, he really needs his 12 hour sleep too and i worry sleeping too much in the day will affect his nighttime sleep.
any advice? thanks!
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crj
18 yrs ago
We are at 8 months now.
The perfect day would be:
9-10 nap
11:30/12 - 1:30 nap
4-5 nap
The actual day is more like
9-10 - 60% of the time nap
11:45 - 2 (something in between these times) - every day
4-5 - 30% of the time, but maybe only 30 minutes
For the long lunchtime nap, I try not to wake him if I don't have to -as I would really like him to get that 2 hour nap in if possible. But unfortunately, many days I need to wake him as I need to breast feed him before I leave for a work meeting.
He is happier on the days he has his naps, cries less and sleeps better at night.
I think the 2 hour daytime nap is important, just wish we could manage it every day.
The days he misses his late afternoon nap he is a bit more cranky in the evening and we try to get him to bed before 7 as a result.
Night time is still 7pm - 6:30 am.
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thanks for sharing, crj.
yes i agree the baby sleeps better at night when he sleeps well in the day - mine definitely does!
he's still a little jet lag but last night essentially 7-7 again (with a dream feed) - learnt through the hard way in UK about the importance of his 12 hours sleep. there were times when we met people for dinner and i would change him into pjs and feed him at restaurant - he would be happy for awhile but come 9pm and all, he would have a meltdown and when we do get him back in bed, the entire night is upside down with frequent crying and night wakings!
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stb,
yeah i suppose an extra 15-30 mins from the so called 3 hour daily max won't affect nighttime sleep. actually he definitely slept more than 3 hours yesterday - maybe i should just observe and then only cut out the late nap when he is really ready to.
by the way, you are very fortunate (and i am sure you worked v hard at it) to get your girl on the gina ford routine beautifully. i tried it for the 1st 5 months without success and it is now only falling into place!
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received cara although your mailbox is too full for me to send a picture!
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wheelymate,
my LO is 7 months and sounds similar to yours. She sleeps 9-10, then 12-2 and still needs a nap of about 45 mins in the afternoon about 4-4:30ish - though admittedly the lunchtime nap is not always the full 2 hours. I'd also like to try and drop the 10:30pm dreamfeed if poss but she's not taking to solids at all well - and currently has some jet lag too so we'll wait. Bedtime is 7 and she sleeps till 6:30-7ish.
So sorry, no advice but interesting to note that there are a few of us whose babies don't seem prepared to cut down on nap time just yet!!
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spicegal
today was 8.58-9.45am, noon to 1.30, 4-4.30pm..let's see he fares tonight!
will like to drop the dream feed too but because he doesn't take milk well (hence solids at 5 months), i do the dream feed just to get that extra bit of milk in it!
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Wheelymate - all sounds very familiar!! Apart from the solids thing - mine just doesn't seem to like them! hence I'm keeping the dream feed for now.
STB sent you a pm back.
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spicegal
he's been enjoying his solids...until the past few days - hopefully it's just a phase due to his fever over the weekend and jetlag.i fed him at 11.45am just now but after a few mouthful, he got very fussy and then i realised he was just very sleepy...will try to feed him earlier tomorrow.
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my LO refuses to take his late pm naps the last 1 week! he'll scream and crawl all over for 30-45mins in the cot...
but at the same time, he's not quite ready to drop it yet because when he is too tired to stay awake until bedtime and will doze during his bedtime milk!
anyone else experiencing this? is this a transition period?
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crj
18 yrs ago
It seems pretty normal our baby gradually dropped that nap too (with lots of crying and overtiredness in the early evening) - even now though, at 8 months he might have it about once a week, especially if his lunchtime nap was cut short.
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stb: yeah, it's the 4pm-ish naps...
doesn't affect nighttime sleep but it means extra crankiness before bedtime....just like crj has described.
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yep, Mine went through the same thing for a few weeks. Now at nearly 8 months she is finally down to just two naps. (this happened the last 1 - 2 weeks) She now sleeps from around 10.30am - 11.30am and then around 3pm - 4.30-5pm. She goes to sleep around 8.30/9pm - 7am. This seems to be her natural pattern that has developed over the last week or so.
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