https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 27 Apr 2026 23:07:15 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1902409 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:44:32 +0000 Meagan2014 1902409@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: We are starting to have the same issue at night (my LO is 3.5months). I found a lot of the info on her blog really helpful, as well as her Facebook page. A lot of people have posted similar question on there that she has answered. Even just knowing others are having the same problems seems to be comforting! </p> <p>Changing sleep environment to be as dark as possible really improved his naps. There aren't longer yet but he does go down ALOT faster. Now we are working on developing a consistent routine with nursing being the first step for bedtimes and when he wakes up for naps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1902390 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:22:28 +0000 Mae 1902390@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Meagan2014: that is really interesting! I think that our problem is almost certainly sleep associations. Once upon a time, I had a baby that I could just set down in her pack n play, pop a paci in, and she'd be asleep in 5 min or less. every time. And she slept great (of course). Now she has to be rocked to sleep and it is definitely an issue of her waking and not going back to sleep. I'm working on nighttime sleep training right now and planning to start with nap training once nighttime is going really well-- so maybe that will fix our nap problem! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1902388 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:16:33 +0000 Orchid 1902388@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: I was determined to put baby down at the first hint of tiredness, just before that first yawn. Ha! Sometimes my little one would yawn 10 minutes after waking up from a 90 minute nap. Then what??? He certainly wouldn't go to sleep so soon after waking up. Now I just wait till he's good and tired to put him down and it seems to be working better for us. Can't give advice since our nap situation is pretty sad, but good luck to you!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1902378 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:01:50 +0000 Meagan2014 1902378@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would recommend checking out this blog!</p> <p><a href="http://www.weebeedreaming.com/my-blog//short-naps-got-you-down" rel="nofollow">http://www.weebeedreaming.com/my-blog//short-naps-got-you-down</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1902295 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:09:48 +0000 Jass 1902295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: right there with you for naps. I thought that I have a baby with high sleep needs. Her naps are 45 mins, so I am holding her for like 2 naps to get longer naps. And I will let her have 2 45 min naps. That works OK for her. I was really frustrated when these short naps started happening box she was a baby who use to take 3+ hour nap before 3 months </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901998 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 12:35:33 +0000 fussygal 1901998@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD was a super crap napper from the get go - 40 minute naps from the beginning, anywhere from 5-6 naps a day. I figured we were doomed for life and those people who said consolidation would happen were crazy. But then, magically, about a month ago (5.5 months) one of her naps started to lengthen and now she's at three-ish predictable naps: one 40 minute nap about 1.5 hours after waking up, one 2 hour-ish nap from 11-1, and another nap that ranges from 40 mins-1 hour in the afternoon. Sometimes we still have to squeeze in that awkward 4th nap (40 mins) just so she isn't melting down too early.</p> <p>Sometimes I follow sleep cues, but usually I know that she won't last much longer than 2.5 hours awake (or 1.5 in the morning) and put her down regardless. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901849 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:31:37 +0000 ShootingStar 1901849@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It sounds like she has a 30 minute sleep cycle. You could try doing the wake to sleep method (try to wake her just a tiny bit or replace paci around 25 minutes), or you could sleep train so that she can learn to self soothe and string her sleep cycles together. Although sleep training at 5m can be kind of a crap shoot. </p> <p>My son always had pretty short wake times as a younger baby. Even now at 11m he does best when I put him down for his first nap after 2 hours of being awake. I've learned with him that sometime the sleep signals mean it's too late or that he's been tired for a while. It was better for him to just go by the clock. </p> <p>And fwiw, we've never tried to push awake times or drop naps. It just kinda happened naturally. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901846 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:29:51 +0000 Foodnerd81 1901846@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Like @adira: I had to go based on time more than cues because I could just never spot or read her sleep cues right. I remember at 5 months it felt like I was just always putting her down for a nap, like my whole day was getting her to sleep. Then sometime between 5 and 6 months she started lengthening the naps and awake time and we were able to move to 2-3-4 (# of hours between wake ups). I do feel like this age is a big turning poit with naps, in my experience and our baby friends. </p> <p>We also sleep trained night before naps. Tried doing them both at once and it was a disaster. </p> <p>I hope it gets easier soon. Love your explanation: babies are fuckin nuts. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901835 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:27:17 +0000 twodoghouse 1901835@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: Ok so I have no idea what I'm doing about naps. To be honest, I barely know what I'm doing for nighttime. I got to chapter 2 of the Ferber book, then it was bedtime. So I just looked up a cliffs notes version online and went for it. And it worked? Then the next day for naptime I had no additional information and just tried it for naps too? Except when they wake up they are just up? I just make them fuss it out for the beginning of the nap. This worked yesterday by not today so far. Blake pretty much goes right down - a couple fusses, flips I to his belly (this is new!) and then is asleep. Alice is a hot mess but I knew she would be (high maintenance drama girl!). They both only slept 30 minutes for their first nap. I'm going to read more about it, but I might give up nap training. I really need it though because it's so hard to get two babies down for naps at the same time when they need a long nap routine, nursing, rocking, etc. by the time one is good to go, the other is way overtired. Sigh.</p> <p>As far as awake time - it varies? When they take a good long nap (one hour +) without waking and needing to be nursed in the middle, they hit two hour awake time on the head. When they nap less than 45 minutes their awake time is more like 1.5 hours. Sometimes as little as 1 hr 15 minutes. The transition to a longer awake time was really tough though. I was either misreading cues or they could not handle being awake longer and being happy at the same time. So they'd get super cranky and I'd think nap time! And they'd be like nope, I want to be awake for another 45 minutes but I'm going to grump about I the whole time. Luckily we just waited that or and we made it through that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901799 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:11:29 +0000 hilsy85 1901799@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were at 4-5 (!) naps a day until about 7 months, when they FINALLY consolidated into 2 naps. The cat nap thing is really really really normal. My LO also had limited awake times until about 7 months, so it necessitated many short naps a day. Those were some tough times, but really all I could do was wait it out--even after we nap trained at 5 months, he just developmentally couldn't transfer to the next sleep cycle, and so would wake up after 30-40 minutes. It was tough!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901798 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:10:36 +0000 LovelyPlum 1901798@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: just wanted to send you some patience and hugs. We have not figured out anything consistent for naps other than that her Zippy seems to help. They're not predictably timed, a predictable length, or a set number, no matter what we do. Girlfriend just doesny like sleep, it seems. The only thing that is consistent for us is that she sleeps better with her Zippy than without. Has the Merlin helped Fia at all? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901786 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:01:56 +0000 Mae 1901786@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@twodoghouse: its not that i need more time without her (although getting a little time off is nice!) its that she is such a bear when she sleeps for just 30 or 60 or even 90 minutes! Like I just dread it because I KNOW when she wakes up from that nap that she's going to be freaking out in under an hour. sigh. I guess more than longer naps what I REALLY want is longer periods of happy awake-ness. How long do yours go between naps before they need to go down again? Also-- are you sleep training for naps? We are doing nights but not naps because I heard that is really hard at this age so I thought we'd get nights under control first for a while. If you're doing naps, HOW?? lol </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901562 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 09:03:44 +0000 twodoghouse 1901562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're right there with you! During our golden sleep period at 3.5 months, they were sleeping through the night and getting 2 two hour naps and a couple cat naps. Damn I was getting so much rest! Anyway, 4 months hit and it all went to shit. Four 45 minutes is average these days and if they hit one hour I consider that a success. For a while I was doing everything I could to keep the naps going - holding them both for an hour, nursing one then the other for the whole nap, putting them down for naps in the swing and RNP, etc. I was spending my whole day in the dark nursery in a battle of wills, fighting them to sleep. Then I read that some babies don't consolidate naps until 6 months, so I've just given in to the 45 minute naps. We started sleep training a couple days ago (whattt? I know!) and naps have significantly improved. Blake slept 5.5 hours during the day yesterday! :shocked: Also we only got 3 naps yesterday so maybe that will be the new norm? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901540 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:55:16 +0000 Mamasig 1901540@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My older son only took 30 naps at that age so he took about 4-5 naps a day. He didn't lengthen until about 8-9 months. And he wasn't consistent with nap times until he went to one nap a day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901475 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:29:41 +0000 Mae 1901475@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: yea its just hard because it isn't consistent. Like I can't just say 75 min because sometimes its 45! lol. </p> <p>It's just frustrating on bad nap days because I feel like I spend all day putting her down because it takes so long then she's up again in a minute and then we're starting again an hour later! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901463 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:22:47 +0000 Smurfette 1901463@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At 5 months, I think R was still taking 4 cat naps a day. Her naps didn't get longer till 9 months, when she moved to 2 at day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901457 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:20:45 +0000 Adira 1901457@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly, for us, we never figured out Xander's sleep signs. We just figured out how long (roughly) he could stay awake, and regardless of whether he seemed tired or not, put him down for a nap!! Nothing else worked except just being all "Okay, it's been &lt;insert length of time&gt;! Time for a nap!" And he was a serious cat-napper - his naps were anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, but mostly they were on the shorter end, so I think he still did about 4 naps a day at 5 months.</p> <p>I know with Xander, if you missed his window, he'd get overtired (i.e. refuse to sleep). I'm guessing that's what's happening half the time with your LO too. I don't have a lot of advice on how to figure out when to put her down though since I never could figure out Xander's tired cues!</p> <p>I hope things get better for you soon. &lt;3 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-mo-naps-thoughts#post-1901448 Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:09:54 +0000 Mae 1901448@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So I assume the answer is---- babies are weird and it will get better. Maybe. </p> <p>But who knows maybe someone has a brilliant suggestions so why not ask! </p> <p>My 5mo used to be a great sleeper, great napper... not so much anymore. I think that she has sort of high sleep needs.. which she used to just go down easily for naps and sleep a lot. But now she NEEDS sleep but FIGHTS it. And it's frustrating. </p> <p>Basically she can't ever be awake (happily) for more than 1.5 hours. Max. After waking up in the morning she has 45-60 minutes before she starts getting really cranky and rubbing her eyes. After good naps (good nap = 2 hours) she can be awake 1.5 hrs before getting cranky and rubbing her eyes. We've tried to catch her at all levels of tiredness and what works BEST is if she's just started rubbing her eyes, we take her up to nap. (if you make her wait even 10 min after she starts rubbing her eyes you're in for a meltdown, if your take her up before she starts rubbing at all she just gets extra wiggly and doesn't seem to want to get tired). </p> <p>But even if we take her up right at that good window, it is a total crapshoot of whether or not she will sleep well. Usually she still fights it a bit, usually (but not always) I can get her to sleep. About 75% of the time I can transfer her to the pack n play successfully, whereas the other 25% of the time she decides she can ONLY sleep on me and wakes up angry every time I stand up. But the thing is-- her naps are still so inconsistent. Even if I get her asleep and down in her pack n play--- she wakes up after 30 minutes every single time. EVERY time. And a lot of times I can put her paci back in and rub her head and she goes back to sleep, or I can pick her up and rock her and she goes back to sleep-- but sometimes she just refuses and has a terrible 30 min nap which leaves her just horribly cranky after. And then wants to go back down 45-60 min later and we have to start the whole process over again. </p> <p>It seems like at 5mo a lot of people are working on moving to 3 naps and we're still pretty solidly at 4 naps because her awake time is so short and she rarely has a day with 3 good naps to fill enough time until bedtime, so we almost always have to shove that awkward 4th nap in there. </p> <p>Sigh. I know it's ridiculous to say "she's clearly tired so WHY WON'T SHE SLEEP" because the answer is "she's a baby and babies are fucking nuts"... but still. </p> <p>Any thoughts on how to get more successful naps? Or even just "yea my kid too but by __ months it was better"? If it never got better don't tell me because I'm having a frustrated morning and I don't need to hear it :) </p>