Hellobee Boards

We are struggling with naps too. Must be some kind of 6 month issue because my LO is 6 months too. I'm going to try for 2 naps in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. So firstshort nap around 10 a.m., then another short nap around 11 a.m. and then a longer nap around 2 p.m.

I based the nap times on when he normally takes his bottle. He always falls asleep after the bottle or on the bottle.

This was Olive's nap schedule at 6 months:

8:20am – Wake up
9:45am – Nap 1 (30 min)
12:00pm – Nap 2 (1 1/2 hours)
3:15pm – Nap 3 (30 min)
5:45pm – Asleep

I based her schedule on when she woke up from her last nap.

This was pre-sleep training, so her naps weren't consistent.

@pastemoo: they are most tired before their first nap of the day. i put olive down after she was awake an hour and a half for her first nap.

He really put himself on a nap schedule. Like @littlek, they are somewhat based on his bottle times. He doesn't fall asleep on the bottle, but he's typically ready for a nap with 15 minutes afterwards. This has been our routine for the past month, so 6.5 months 'til now.

7 am - Wake
7:30 - breakfast (usually some banana slices and egg yolk) Since we do a lot of BLW this can take a half an hour+.
9:45 - 7 oz bottle
Asleep by 10 am
He'll nap for 45 min- 2 hours, usually
12pm - lunch (usually some veggies, or whatever I'm eating)
1:45 - 7 oz bottle
Asleep by 2 pm - and another 45 min - 2 hour nap.
6:45 last bottle of the day, then asleep for the night by 7 pm.

I didn't sleep train, but am lucky that, for naps at least, he likes to put himself to sleep. If he cries at all, I know he's not ready for his nap and play with him for another 15 min or so. Nighttime is a whole 'nother story.

@pastemoo: Yes, she gets tired very quickly!

DD is 7 months old...Her routine looks something like this:

8:00 am: wake up, bottle
9:00 am: breakfast
9:30 am: nap #1, 1.5 hours
12:00 pm: bottle
12:30 pm: nap #2, 30 minutes
1:30 pm: lunch
3:00 pm: nap #3, 1.5 hours
4:00 pm: bottle
5:30 pm: dinner
8:00 pm: bath, bottle, bed

Around 6 months, LO's schedule was:
7:20 wakeup
9am nap (1.5-2 hours)
1pm nap (1.5-2 hours)
4pm nap (40 minutes)
7pm bedtime

We started a schedule at around 8 weeks and we went by both sleepy cues and the clock. The older she got, it was harder to go by sleepy cues so i went by the clock.

She is now 7.5 months old, and her awake times have increased to about 2-3 hours, depending on what she's doing. She will always take two naps in the crib, and will take one short nap in the Ergo. I find that she sometimes won't take long enough naps and i end up having to put her to bed really early (which i hate).

I too reached a point where I just wanted some sort of routine for my own sanity around the 5.5 month mark. We started getting into a schedule based on this:
http://noobmommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/EASY-Schedule-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

But I always allowed her to sleep if she really needed to and nurse when she wanted. Now it looks kind of like this:
7ish - wake
8:30-9 - nap (1-1.5 hours)
12:30-1 - nap (45min-1 hour)
4ish - catnap occasionally
7-7:30 - bedtime

@pastemoo: Yeah, i also put her down about 1.5 hours after waking up. I found that the first nap was always the easiest and usually guaranteed.

I went through a rough patch around the 6 month mark too. I'm not sure if it was separation anxiety that started, but she would start wailing uncontrollably after i put her down for a nap. It lasted about a week, but it went back to normal (thankfully).

@pastemoo: I know...makes for some pretty fun evenings sometimes She's never been a sleepy baby and it has always been a struggle to get her to nap. But she usually gets enough sleep earlier in the day, so I'm not to worried about it. And I said that her afternoon nap is 1 hour, but its usually about an hour and a half.