As if our night sleep wasn't bad enough, now we are having nap issues. She will take a random long nap (1 hr 15 min....is the longest), but for the most part naps are 30-45 minutes. I feel like I might be missing the mark on awake time, or maybe not but wondered what others are doing. We have been doing 2 hr-2 hr 30 for first nap and 3 hours for subsequent naps. The 3 hours seems good, but I think I am messing up the morning nap and then setting us up for a bad nap day. Fill me in because reading her sleep cues isn't working anymore.
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No. Effing. Clue. Sometimes she's a mess after 1.5 hours, sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 3+ hours! We rely mostly on cues at this point because she is so inconsistent when she wants to go down. In *general* though we aim for about 2.5 hours.
Also I sort of suck at reading her cues too (or she's just nuts). Like sometimes she is whiny and rubbing her eyes and I put her down and she flops over and immediately goes to sleep. Sometimes she does the exact same thing and then she flops around in her crib for 20+ min before falling asleep. Then sometimes she seems baaarely tired but I put her down anyways because we are running out of time to get a nap in and she takes a while to go down, but then sometimes goes right to sleep! Gah.
It doesn't seem to me like awake time/tired-ness when going down has THAT much to do with how long she sleeps though (unless she's been up for like 5-6 hrs then usually she'll nap really well). The thing that seems to make the biggest difference is night time sleep. If she was up a lot over night, I can almost guarantee she will have short crappy naps that next day. If she has a great night we have much better odds to have nice long naps. But I don't know if that is causation or just correlation.
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Naps have been quite inconsistent for us lately at 8.5 months!
Eta I know this is not a helpful response but just wanted to let you know you are not alone in not understanding when is the best nap time! If you figure something out let me know!
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It's definitely harder to read their cues as they get older. Even when my LO takes a great nap, sometimes he's yawning 30-60minutes after he woke up. And other times he doesn't seem tired at all but I put him down after 3 hours or so, he surprises me by going to sleep right away. It's really weird. So yeah, like PPs have said, not helpful but you're definitely not alone in being bewildered by your LO. Haha.
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At 9 months, I am thrilled if we get two 45 minute naps out of this kid. I don't know...somehow it just seems counterproductive to continually fight the same losing battle.
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@Mae: lol yeah its so hard to judge!! One day I do one set of awake times and she naps perfectly and the next day it is a complete disaster! Plus we are dealing with miss crib pooper, so I was hoping I could get the awake time down to ensure a somewhat decent nap, but it's so hard! At least O isnt the only impossible baby to figure out!
@jhd: lol no that helps! Makes me feel not so bad about my struggles! I will be sure to let you know!
@BabyTsMom: haha yep O does that same thing! They just like to keep us on our toes I guess.....and keep me guessing.
@LovelyPlum: ah sorry you are dealing with the short nap battle! It sucks. I'm trying to be more zen about her naps, but it's hard! It makes me feel better that I'm not alone though! -
I think at 8 months we were doing 2-3-4, so 2 hours from wake up to first nap, 3 hours between wake from first nap and 2nd nap, and then 4 hours til bedtime. Except for us it ended up looking more like 2-3.5-3.5. And there were times that he needed a nap like 1h45m after waking for the day. The first awake period should always be the shortest--I personally think 2.5 hours is too long, but that was for my LO.
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We do 2-3-4 now. Sometimes he seems ready to nap before 2hrs after waking though. It might be worth it to try getting to sleep right at the 2hr mark. For us this means starting to wind down and prepare after 1hr 40mins.
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I would loveee to get to 2-3-4 but my kids can't handle that yet. We typically do:
Nap 1: 2 hr after wake up (this is a bit of a stretch - they start showing cues at 1 hr 45 usually but we read books and nurse until 2 hr and that keeps them content)
Nap 2: 2 hr 15 min after wake up
Nap 3: 3 hr after last wake up - this is usually a short nap (30-45 min)
Bedtime: depends on nap times, but typically 3 hrs after last napI know it's not for everyone but we went hardcore extinction-style nap training last week and it took 1 day. That day was HELL. But naps have been magic since then. They stay in their cribs for one hour (except that last cat nap) but usually they sleep beyond that hour. We've actually gotten a couple 2.5 hr naps and I've had to wake one of them up so they don't sleep too long! Before nap training naps were a hot mess - they would nap 25, 35, 45 min tops until they got so tired they'd take a mega nap (2.5 hrs) to make up for it. They were chronically over tired and woke up all night long. Nap training has saved us!
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Lo is 9 months and her nap times vary a lot, and some days she naps 2x, sometimes 3. Around 8 months she started this funny thing of taking her first nap really early, like right before I took her to daycare! She doesn't do it anymore really, it was a funny thing where she really needed her first nap to be early, like 1-1.5 hrs after wake up. I actually have a hard time discerning sometimes whether her early morning awake time is a last motn wake up or up for the day
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We were also doing 2-3-4 at that point. Her cues were never reliable and we did better by watching the clock. And of course some days it worked perfectly, and some days it just sucked all day long. Babies.
At least you can take comfort that it's probably nothing you are doing wrong, Its just babies being babies.
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@nana87: we're the same! Until a few weeks ago, I didn't consider her up for the day until she woke up from her first catnap, around 9:30 am. It was like that for a while with bedtime, too. Like, is her 7:00 pm bedtime "bedtime," or is it a nap before her 10:00 pm bedtime? That's changed a bit now, but who knows for how long!
@twodoghouse: impressive, Mama!
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@hilsy85: I am kind of trying to do 2-3-4, but lately it seems like she isn't falling asleep until 2.5. But sometimes 2. Or 2 hr 15. Haha. I'm going to try sooner tomorrow and see what happens. Obviously worst case she doesn't fall asleep. Thanks!
@Leah: going to try it! Thanks!
@twodoghouse: 2-3-4 is my dream, lol. We just have trouble achieving it because of the short naps. Bedtime would be like 5......I am glad nap training worked so well for you guys, yay!!! We nap trained close to a month ago and it was amazing that she was napping in her crib and falling asleep in her own, but unfortunately it hasn't lead to longer naps yet. I'm hopeful though, haha. But I am definitely going to try sooner in the morning and hope that gets us on a better track for the day! We are still on 3 naps for the most part, and also do that short catnap. One day I'll figure it out.....
@nana87: lol that's too funny. Yeah it's hard to say with the early wake ups! I also think naps for us are just goofy right now because I think she's trying to go to 2 naps, but sometimes needs 3, it's weird.
@Foodnerd81: well thanks for that, it is a relief! Some days I'm like yes! I've got it. Next day....what?? So babies are just crazy.
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@ellewoods84: I want to meet these people (and babies) who are so super consistent that they can do a 2-3-4 schedule! Sometimes I feel like LO wants to move to a 2 nap schedule but she's all over the place. Sunday she slept 9-11 (had to wake her to eat), 2-3 (had to wake her to eat), then struggled to go down for another nap, didn't fall asleep until 6, and then I had to wake her at 630 bc it was getting too late. Yesterday she was tired early and slept 830-915, 1215-210, then 5-6. Today she fell asleep at 915 and she's still sleeping. So I have no idea. how do you plan anything when naps are sometimes 45 min, sometimes 2+ hrs? when she wakes up from a nap yesterday at the same time she went down for a nap today. lol
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We are going through the exact same thing. LI just turned 7 months and her naps are all over the place. I think she's trying to drop the third nap but it's difficult when the first two naps suck. And she also started pooping during naps. She sure is keeping me on my toes!
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@charleysmom: oooh, I feel you. Are you writing about my baby? We are in the EXACT same boat! She has been refusing the 3rd nap a lot lately, and her first naps are so short that I just know she has to be tired! We also are dealing with pooping during naps and it driving me crazy!! Hopefully this is all just a phase.....
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There's no way my kid would go down after 2 hours. If I want any thing longer than a 30 min nap he needs to be tired and ho for over 3 hours. That's just gim and his weirdess though. Maybe try keeping her up longer and see how it goes?? He's not a good napper soooo probably don't take my advice tooo seriously! lol.
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@ellewoods84 The pooping thing is new- but it was 2 naps yesterday and almost 2 today but I caught the second one before I put her down. She's also about to start crawling and she figured out how to sit up in the crib so we are just a big hot mess over here. Oh, and she has like 4 teeth coming in - the good times continue to roll. Hope things get better for you soon!
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All babies are different! I go by the clock.
7- up
8:15/8:30-10:15/10:30- nap
1-3 or 1:30/3:30-nap
4:30/5- sometimes I can get him down for a quick 30 min. nap
6:50- bedHe does sometimes go #2 during nap in which case he will not go back to sleep. If it is early on into his nap I put him back to bed so he at least gets to rest.
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Subscribing to this. If my 7.5 month old ever naps longer than 30 minutes, I consider it a huge success.
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