Within my RL mummy friends we have realised there is an even split between our babies. They are either type a) Don't nap on schedule, can go pretty much all day with catnaps here and there whilst remaining content or b) A baby who melts down if the naps doesn't happen after the usual wake time for their age.
How can they be so different?!
We are a type B.
Interested to hear from those who have older LO's--did they change/adapt as they got older?
What are your LO's?
77 votes
papaya / 10570 posts
E is a meltdown queen! Plus, if she doesn't nap on schedule, she then can't fall/stay asleep for the rest of the day's naps and wakes up several times during her night sleep. Add to that the fact that she's a terrible sleeper who struggles to sleep if she's not in her own bed, with the black out blinds drawn and the white noise blaring and you can expect a grotty, grotty baby.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
C can live off of power naps and be ready to go like he had napped for 3 hours! Which is probably why he's a terrible nighttime sleeper. It's great for when we're out and about though.
coconut / 8861 posts
If we push the nap out too long, he melts down. First, he's tired. Then, it becomes a huge meltdown. We're moving towards one nap right now. I'm hoping for it to be a 3 hour one instead it's more like just under two hours or so usually.
pomelo / 5524 posts
LO has always been a schedule napper. If he misses his nap during the day or it gets cut short, he will inevitably have a meltdown later on.
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
It just depends really. She is usually a catnapper & can be fine going 6 hours or so of awake time at 5 months if we are out but other days she will loose her shit if she's been awake for 2 hours & you aren't putting her down for a nap. None of it negatively or positively affects her night sleep, in which we tend to have an even number of random days of STTN & 5 wake ups! She keeps me on my toes
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
At 18 months he melts down if we go too long past his normal nap time.
Until he was 6 months old or so he pretty much just catnapped (in my arms) off and on all day. He didn't even get down to 2-3 naps a day until he was almost a year old.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
Neither. J has always been a decent napper, but he's also very flexible and doesn't have meltdowns if he doesn't nap.
Sometimes I wonder if we kept him on a schedule for us or for him. He was never a cat napper though.
pineapple / 12793 posts
Neither. She's a great napper and rarely has a meltdown if she misses a nap.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
Somewhere in between. In the early days-- she was all over the place, sometimes lots of great naps, sometimes very few short naps, sometimes happy, sometimes miserable... I don't even want to think about it.
Now, she's pretty flexible. She is definitely best when we can keep her on a rough schedule-- but the schedule is dependent on wake time, so she'll go down roughly 2 hours after she woke up. If there is fun stuff going on, she can go longer because she is distracted, then sometimes she will fall asleep no problem when fun time is over, sometimes she just cannot settle down and we have to plod on to bed time.
I actually am not inclined to have too strict of a schedule since this seems to be working for her, for now, and it allows us some flexibility in the afternoons. That said, her morning nap is usually the best one and I don't mess with that unless I really have to.
honeydew / 7586 posts
He is definitely happier when he naps but doesn't meltdown if he misses a nap or we are off schedule. He will also fall asleep pretty much anywhere.
pomegranate / 3438 posts
When he was a baby he would nap anywhere for as long as he needed to. It made going out easy because I knew he would sleep wherever we were. Now that he is almost 2 we have to be at home from 12-2+ so he can nap in his bed.
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
LO has been B from the beginning. She was a very fussy newborn because she was chronically overtired. Once I got her on a strict schedule & put her down after appropriate wake times she became much happier.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6581 posts
Definitely a no-schedule napper over here, although I have noticed on the weekend she has started to consolidate her naps around 9am and 1pm. For the last several months though we just nap on demand, and luckily she can fall asleep pretty much anywhere.
bananas / 9973 posts
Definitely A for most of her life. Now that she's on a schedule for the most part, she starts to get tired and a little fussy if she's late for a nap. But if we miss the optimal nap period, she'll catnap or not nap entirely and still be pretty much herself. And 1 hr is a good nap for us.
coconut / 8279 posts
J's very flexible, though he gets really clumsy and hyper when he's really tired.
pineapple / 12566 posts
Haha, I have one if each. DS, who is now 3, would rarely nap until he was 5 months. He was a terrible sleeper in general, but totally fine development-wise. He turned into a decent napper and awesome sleeper MYCH later. He still naps.
DD is 11 weeks and definitely gets fussy and needs a nap.
grapefruit / 4823 posts
I have a cat napper(the younger one, 6.5 months) and one who is a great napper even at 21.5 months, but deals ok without one on the rare occasion.
honeydew / 7917 posts
Both kids followed EASY. After 90 minutes they would get super cranky and need their nap. Of course it's always short (30-45 minutes), but it's enough time for them to rest and reset.
honeydew / 7303 posts
My LO was a daytime insomniac and she melted down. She would not sleep!!!
She's an awesome napper now at 17.5 months. She only melts down if she is waaaaaaaaay over tired.
pear / 1517 posts
Meltdown! I always say if we mess up one day of sleep we pay for it for a week!
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