Hellobee Boards

@cake2017: what is his typical awake period? Like how long does he stay awake before showing tired cues with earlier naps? I would use that as a rough guide—if he can go about 2-3 hours of being awake I would try to have him up by 4, thinking you are starting bedtime in the 6:30/7 range?

Also I am a big fan of early bedtime so I would try to keep it early instead of pushing back to 8. It is probably because both my kids have been early risers but also that early bedtime leaves a cushion for getting all.the.things done after they are asleep (dishes, lunches, morning prep, etc.). Hope that helps!

At 6 months, both my boys either needed a 30 minute cat nap in the evening or had an earlier bedtime. On catnap days, they were up at 7-730am, napped from 930-1130am, then 130-330pm, and then a 20-30min cat nap from 530-6pm and then bedtime routine would start at 730pm. On 2 nap days, they would go down 10-12pm, then 230-430pm, then 7-730pm bedtime.

@cake2017: Nap training usually takes longer than night training. And honestly, both my kids always have to blow off steam before sleeping - DS1 more than DS2, but both of them still squawked and fake cried and yelled for a few minutes even after they were fully trained. DS1 is 39 months now and he pretty much yelled and screamed for 1-2 minutes after putting him down for naps until he was like 2 years old. They just roll over and pass out. So I wouldn't really stress if they cry.

I think consistency - whatever you're being consistent with - is important. For my family, we keep to a 30 minute give or take window on our schedule, so if we want our children to nap 2 hours, but they cry or wont fall asleep, I don't bail them until 90 minutes have elapsed. If they wake early, I let them hang out and if they are happily playing or singing in their rooms, I don't get them until the full nap time is over. If they wake early and start getting upset, I'll wait until its within 30 minutes of their desired nap time ending.

This obviously doesn't count illness or something like that. I just believe even if they don't sleep, they need to rest in a dark quiet room void of stimulation. Furthermore, I feel like that helps extend those naps and gets their bodies to get used to sleeping 2 hours at a time and then later when they switch to 1 nap, 2.5-3 hours. And yes, I remain consistent through regressions. Once the regression is over, they go right back to sleeping normally without skipping a beat and I have no bad habits to go back and fix.

I think its funny that they both sleep terribly at daycare. Part of it is because its in a communal room and its a little earlier than their preferred naptime, but also they can't like let the kids cry or fuss and they let the kids get up whenever they wake up. There's basically no expectation that they stay put and sleep - so they don't. At daycare, my 39 month old skips nap half the time and my 19 month old sleeps like 45 minutes to an hour, but at home, they sleep 2.5-3 hours for nap.

If you have to be on the go, I would really prioritize having the morning nap be at home. Its the one they are usually sleepiest for and the most restorative nap of the day.

For my kids, if they didn't fall asleep until like 30 minutes before a nap was supposed to be over, I'd let them sleep 30 minutes later and just feed them a little later so that they would at least get 1 hour of sleep. Then I'd just try to put them down a little earlier for the next nap.

If they just didn't sleep at all, I would feed them but still break the association between feeding and sleep. I would nurse in a bright sunny room, if they fell asleep I'd go change their diaper so they were at least roused up, and then I would swaddle them and do the same sleep routine and put them back down to sleep. While nap training, I try to just go with an eat, play, sleep routine as opposed to a clock schedule and try to get them to nap as long as possible.