I feel like I'm going crazy, I can't seem to figure out los naps anymore. She's 6.5 months and is taking up to 30 minutes to fall asleep for naps
I can't seem to get in a 3rd nap most days, but she can't make it to bed time. She is waking up earlier everyday. Wake times are a mess, nap time is a mess, bedtime is a mess. I just don't know what to do. It always seems like there are a few weeks were things work and then everything falls apart. I just can't keep up. I also feel ridiculous for complaining about something so trivial.
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Yes! I remember this well- that last stretch of the day wasn't enough for a nap, but she was SO cranky.
What time is bedtime now? Could you move it earlier to ease the transition? When we shifted to 2 naps, I slowly stretched each awake time a bit longer. Instead of napping at 9, 1 and 4(ish), I stretched the first nap to starting at about 10:30 and the second to about 2:30. That way, if she woke at 3:30 or so, there wasn't a huge stretch until bed.
We also used the same bedtime routine for all naps as well- it seemed to help with the transition.
Honestly, every phase seems to last forever and also go so fast! Just when you're settling in, it changes! Best of luck!
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I think the first questions I have is what times are naps #1 and #2? What time is bedtime?
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@Mrs. Oatmeal: @Rubies: her schedule changes based on when she wakes up in the morning, but nap 1 is normally 2 hours after wake up so between 830 and 9, nap 2 is usually 2.5 hours after she wakes up, between noon and 1 (although the timing for this has been off) and nap 3 starts at about 415 to 440 this range is often bigger as it took 40 minutes for her to fall asleep for this nap yesterday. Bedtime is usually between 7 and 745, once again taking forever to fall asleep. We do a 630 bedtime when she won't take her last nap. We've been getting night wakings and early mornings, which is new. We have a solid bedtime and nap routine, she's put herself to sleep for a long time. I hate feeling so anxious and obsessed with sleep. I feel like she's a math problem I have to solve and it makes the days hard and it totally isn't her fault but mine.
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Sigh. I hate baby sleep!
I'd try to stretch her awake times a bit, so you're on a loose 2-3-4 schedule and see if that helps. For my LO, it was more like 2.5-3-4 for a long time. And now at 12 months we're still on 2 naps but it's like 3-3.75-? and he goes to bed around 7:45-8. Even when he naps terribly, I'll only put him down maybe 20-30 minutes earlier. -
@BabyTsMom: Thank you! I think we are going to try and stretch. My partner and I argued about it this morning for to long. And she is taking forever to fall asleep for this first nap. The 3rd nap seems to make everything worse. I need an instruction manual.
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We suddenly had horrible napping around 6.5 months and moved to a 2 nap schedule. We ended up having to put DS to bed about 30 minutes early for a week or so, but just worked on extending his waketimes by about 10 minutes at a time and dealt with the fussiness. He ended up conking out better that way and within 1-2 weeks he was doing 2.5 hour stretches just fine and could stay up 3 hours for the last cycle, although we might start his bedtime feeding a little earlier just to make sure we didn't have an overtired baby to feed.
2-3-4 did not work for my son. Right now he's at 2.5-2.75-3. Wake time is 730am and bedtime is 730pm. The schedule can change here and there, but we work hard not to get off by more than 30 minutes during the day and will often stretch a waketime or cut a nap a little short to stay on target. DS goes down for naps at 10am and 2:45, although it can go to 3pm some days. He sleeps about 90 minutes to 2 hours, although we try to leave him in his room until the desired time if he wakes a little early (and he usually just plays quietly in his crib until we do). We think quiet rest is still beneficial.
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@gingerbebe: I think we are committing to 2 naps today, although her morning nap which is usually reliable has been terrible. I hope she's ready for longer awake periods and that is why she's having trouble falling asleep.
Thank you for replying! We also put a lot of value on rest, I just wish I would get obsessed.
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That is a HARD transition. We moved to 2 naps around then and there were some ROUGH days!
We did a loose 2-3-4 though if I remember right it was more like 2.5-3-3.5 at first? Bedtime was CRAZY early - like 6pm and barely making it to that time without a meltdown. When she woke up really early I would nurse/rock/bribe her back to sleep. That way she wasn't up for the day until at least 7am so the whole day's schedule wasn't thrown off.
How long is your LO's naps, too? It got a lot better when my LO started napping for like 2+ hours twice per day. Short naps are the worst because then the wake time doesn't get you as far.
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@daniellemybelle: she was taking 1.5 to 2 hour naps sometimes with a brief wake up, she put herself back down. But it's been more like an hour lately. I'm so scared of an early bedtime! Thank k you for replying! I'm so anxious about this!
It took her forever to fall asleep for her afternoon nap today so she definitely stated up 3 hours between 1 and 2. She started pooping at naps which is new because she was going 3 to 4 days without pooping for a while.
Omg babies. I hope this is a decent nap!
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I generally find that for some reason, time in the crib, even if they are awake, doesn't count as much as time outside the crib. If DS wakes up early from his nap and hangs out in there for 45 minutes, he's definitely NOT ready to back down for the next nap 45 minutes early. Its more like 15 minutes early, if that. Which is why we think that quiet time in the room is still restful in some way. Babies are so odd.
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When you say she's taking forever to fall asleep - is it crying or playing/babbling in her crib?
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