https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:22:10 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-400149 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:10:45 +0000 loveisstrange 400149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: If he's waking up happy... then he probably just doesn't need a longer nap. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-400101 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 16:01:55 +0000 winniebee 400101@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: We've tried. He just keeps crying. Though, lately it's been more of a 45 minute nap and he wakes up cooing, not upset..... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-400070 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:55:33 +0000 loveisstrange 400070@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: We did 30 minute naps for a loooong time. The bite the big one. Have you tried leaving him to fall back asleep? This was another thing we did. She would wake up screaming after 30 minutes and I would go up and resettle her and then let her cry/whine/fuss for a little bit to see if she would fall back asleep. Eventually, she started sleeping longer. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-400060 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:52:05 +0000 winniebee 400060@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: It SOUNDS regular but sometimes he naps an hour, sometimes it's 30 minutes, so I feel like things are always in flux. The 30 minute nap just SUCKS. I am hopeful, too : ) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-400014 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:39:36 +0000 loveisstrange 400014@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: If his schedule is regular enough on it's own, which is sounds like it is, I would say that giving him set times would be fine. C's nap times have about a half an hour of leeway. Like... her morning nap starts between 10 and 10:30. </p> <p>I hope he gets better with age like she did. I've been in your shoes, so I totally empathize. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-400001 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:35:08 +0000 winniebee 400001@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: I do pretty strictly follow the 2/2.5 hour rule.....and he has a strict bedtime routine and naptime routine when at home. It's just at daycare things are kind of wonky so I am wondering if set times for naps would be better? I'm glad she is a better napper now! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399967 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:22:49 +0000 loveisstrange 399967@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: C was a very poor napper and her sleep drastically inproved when naptime got more structured.</p> <p>To get her to sleep-in longer, I just started leaving her in the crib until I absolutely had to go get here. Normally, she wakes up babbling and happy and she's content to lay in her crib for about an hour usually. I will not get her out of her crib until 8am. She usually sleeps until then, so it's no big deal, but when she does wake up earlier she stays put until then. I don't want to reinforce that getting up early means that I will come get her. </p> <p>As for the schedule, I never really put her on one. I waited until she started to normalize into one on her own and that became our schedule. It's not even a super strict schedule. We just put her down 2-2.5 hours after she wakes up. She has distinct sleepy cues, so we follow her lead. </p> <p>What really worked for us was a strict nap and bedtime routine so she would learn that those things mean it's time to sleep. As she has gotten older and become a better sleeper, we have been able to relax it. At first, it was diaper change, swaddle, bottle, nap. Now, I can just throw her in the sleepsack and put her in the crib. </p> <p>I think her getting older really had a lot to do with it as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399864 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:02:45 +0000 winniebee 399864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Honeybee: Intersting point. I'm thinking my son might need a set schedule in order to start napping longer. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399807 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:49:26 +0000 Weagle 399807@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Honeybee: That's very true. And we had great success with following DDs cues for 4.5-5 months. Then it became...not so successful. It's a good (and frustrating) thing that there's no "one size fits all" approach for parenting :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399769 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:40:54 +0000 Honeybee 399769@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@c.sassy: I also think different kids respond better to different methods. We 100% followed DD's cues, and she was always a very happy baby that way. I'm learning that DS just doesn't have the same built-in restraint DD has, and I think having little more structured approach is helping him. I still meet his needs when they arise, but I think moving to more of a schedule is going to have a positive effect for him. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399758 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:37:43 +0000 Weagle 399758@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: I think when our LOs don't nap well it's easy to do whatever it takes. However, your LO may actually start napping better when on a schedule. I use the term loosely. We were anti-schedule/pro-follow cues until we realized that LO just wasn't getting enough sleep. It wasn't healthy. Since we've started the routine her naps have improved exponentially! </p> <p>But there's still room for flexibility. For instance, this morning LO woke up at 6 instead of 7:30. So, she went down for her first nap at 7:45 and slept until 10:20. She went down for nap #2 at 1:20 and is still sleeping. We'll keep her up until her bedtime at 7:30. It doesn't follow her normal days, but it's what she needed today. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399716 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:23:42 +0000 winniebee 399716@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NerdBee: Hmmm he starts complaining when he's up that long and then usually doesn't nap any longer. Yesterday at daycare was up for over 3 hours but then only took a 40 minute nap. But, maybe I should just say forget it and try stretching him out longer for a few days and see what happens. I think the problem in general is that 10 hours of overnight sleep might be enough for him....which means when I put him down at 7 he's done with sleep by 5. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399708 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:20:38 +0000 Honeybee 399708@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@London Mama: That's good news! I was hoping that leaving him in his crib until his scheduled wake up time would get him on the right track! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399702 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:19:53 +0000 winniebee 399702@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Honeybee: He DID sleep until 6:30 on Monday....he slept 7-3 and then again til 6:30. It was glorious. Since then we are up every few hours at night and back to the 5 a.m. wake BS. </p> <p>I've been reluctant to enforce a schedule because of the 30 minute nap. But now I'm starting to think he needs it. Also daycare has total quiet time throughout the whole palce from 1-3 and I'd really like for him to nap well during that time frame. </p> <p>I'm just going to start leaving him in his crib til 6 and hopefully he'll eventually catch on. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399699 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:19:27 +0000 NerdBee 399699@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: what happens when you try to keep him up until 9am? Does he melt down? </p> <p>I would try to keep him awake for as long as you can before the first nap. Sammyfab gave me great advice about this that I followed and it totally worked! </p> <p>Since the time change, DS had been waking up at ridiculous times like 4:30-5am. On Saturday he woke up at 4am and would not go back to sleep and would not even nurse. So I decided to keep him up for 4 hours which is the longest awake time that he's ever had. I nursed him at 6am, fed him cereal and fruit at 7am and put him down at 8am. He stayed awake quite happily and may have been able to stay awake longer but I didn't want to push it. He fell asleep right away and slept for 2 hours! Never had such a long nap out of him before. That put him on track for a 1pm nap and he slept for 1.5 hours. He went down for a 6:20pm bedtime and since then he's been waking up around 6am. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399667 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:12:13 +0000 Weagle 399667@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@London Mama: Not really. I did make the room darker and started using white noise, but I don't know that they actually made that much of a difference. When we started this she was taking 30-45 minute naps. They (very) gradually lengthened. I think actually having a routine was what made the biggest difference. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399624 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:03:27 +0000 London Mama 399624@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Honeybee: I don't have much advice for the early wake up time. I tried putting my LO to bed late hoping he'd sleep longer but he still gets up his usual time. I did read somewhere that it may be more fruitful to change the morning routine - keep the lights off, noise to a minimum until its closer to normal wake up time. If you do that for longer periods each day he may start to push his wake up time, or at leat learn to be quiet and still until you pick him up </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399612 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:58:20 +0000 London Mama 399612@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@c.sassy: do you have any tricks for making your LO take longer naps? I notice this schedule has 2 hour naps, how did your LO manage that transition? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399588 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:49:00 +0000 Weagle 399588@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't have any advice for the early wake-up, but we just went from the 3rd to 4th schedule on this pdf (except I still feed on demand).</p> <p><a href="http://noobmommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/EASY-Schedule-Cheat-Sheet.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://noobmommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/EASY-Schedule-Cheat-Sheet.pdf</a></p> <p>I realized that I needed an idea of what she should be doing, so I just googled 6 mo schedules. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399534 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:29:40 +0000 Honeybee 399534@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're still struggling with this. Sigh. We finally got DS's 2 hour midnight parties under control, and now he's reverted back to getting up at 5 am. Why won't our boys sleep?!</p> <p>I think I'm going to start him on a schedule because his current schedule is all over the place and making it really difficult. I'll probably start with something like this after the new year:</p> <p>6:00 am wakeup (if he gets up before this, he's just going to have to stay in his crib by himself)<br /> 8:30 - 10:00 am first nap<br /> 1:00 - 3:30 second nap<br /> 6:00 pm bedtime routine<br /> 7:00 pm asleep</p> <p>I plan on enforcing his schedule my making sure he spends those times in his crib, even if he's not asleep. I'm hoping that after the initial week or so adjustment period, he'll catch on. :/ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/suggestions-on-nap-schedule#post-399071 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:15:31 +0000 winniebee 399071@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son goes to bed at 7 and wakes usually at 5 lately (ugh). So, he's ready for a nap by like 6:30 am! I've been napping him before we leave the house for daycare. I feel like we are all over the place and have no schedule for naps at all - he's historically been a poor napper (naps in cribs, but only 30 mins) and that's getting a little better so I feel like now is a good time for a nap schedule if possible. But what to do about the early wakeup time? Currently he naps every 2 hours or so. Is it better to have a schedule or nap him when he's tired at this point? I'd love to do naps at 9, 1 and 4 but honestly he can't make it from 5-9 without a nap and that early nap throws everything off (and I wonder if I'm just perpetuating the early wakeup). He's 6 months. </p> <p>Any suggestions? </p>