I got lucky a few days out of the week where LO (who is 3.5 months old) would nap 2 hours - 2.5 hours for one of his longer naps of the day. I forget whether I had fed him right before, but he's back to his 30 minute cat naps for the past two days. I tend to stick closely to the 1.5 hour awake-time rule, and then place him in his crib to nap when it has been that long and he shows signs of tiredness. I'm just wondering if he would sleep longer right before I feed him....it kinda makes sense that he would wake back up if his nap coincided with a typical feeding time, right? Or am I over-thinking this? =P How do you ensure your LO naps for 2-3 hours? Is it timing? Do you feed your LO before he naps?
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Hahaha....oh man. My lo never naps longer than one hour. Never has!!
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My LO is the same age—she'll easily sleep 2 to 3 hours if you...let her sleep on you. I still try to get her down in her crib, but often I just let her sleep on me for a nice long nap. She's willing to sleep on her dad too (we just plop her on the boppy on our lap), but you can't get up to go to the bathroom. She rarely sleeps that long in the crib or co-sleeper though. I'm hoping she'll get there eventually.
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She has a mind of her own and has only slept that long a handful of times. No matter what I do! She has not napped in her crib in ages.
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So my LO has been the best sleeper from the beginning. She goes down at 7, up at about 630 to nurse, down again until 830-ish. Then she is up until noon when she goes down for between 2-3 hours. This was entirely her doing, and I love the schedule she has us on!
My older daughter was a terrible napper from the time she was born until she was about 8 months. I was always panicked about it. But, at 8 months, we shifted to a one nap/day schedule and she started to sleep for 4 hours at a time! And now at 3, most days she still naps for about 2 hours!
So I guess I am just writing to say that there is hope! Even if it means waiting a few months! -
Swaddling...keeping on a schedule. Up at 6/9/12/3/6 for daytime feedings. Bath at 830 and night feeding at 9. No naps longer than 2.5 hrs and play up to 40 mins, followed by eat then sleep.
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I've haven't been this lucky for months!
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If you figure out the answer, I'm sure parents all over the world will shower you with gold and riches!
Unfortunately, around 4 months, many babies tend to enter a cat-napping phase. Not saying that's the case with your LO, but often the only thing that "fixes" it is when they grow out of it a few months later.
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olive became a cat napper at that age too, and didn't grow out of it until we nap trained at 8 months. then she started taking 2+ hour naps so we have to wake her from her naps.
is your lo going into the crib awake for naps?
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@Mrs. Bee: Yes, we put him down awake for all of his naps, and he will usually fuss it out for a couple minutes and fall asleep on his own.
I wonder when he will nap without fussing in the beginning! Hahahaha. Is this considered CIO nap training?
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What @Mrs. Yoyo said! Unfortunately you can't just decide how long you want your baby to sleep and get him to do that. I tried sooo hard to get my baby on the EASY schedule at a young age but he was a champion cat napper! Things got better for us at 4 months then much much better at 6.5 months.
@cranberryapple: fussing a little before falling asleep is normal and it sounds like your LO is doing great as the goal is to have them asleep without your help (rocking, bouncing, nursing, etc.).
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