Your #1 Nap Question
Posted by Nicole on March 26th, 2009
I goofed had a technical difficulty, so I apologize for the incomplete post on Tuesday. I didn’t want you to miss adding your question, so here it is again.
I will be writing a series of posts on baby and toddler naps and implementing schedules in the very near future. You might have reviewed some of my sample schedules on the site and have some questions or you have other questions about naps or sleep schedules. Please let me know via e-mail info (at) picknicksbrain (dot) com or post a comment below.
What’s the #1 thing you want to know about naps and sleep schedules?
Tags: baby nap, baby napping, baby naps, baby sleep schedule, sleep schedule
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March 29th, 2009
Is it important that baby naps at the same time every day, for their internal clock?
March 31st, 2009
My 12 month old only wants one nap a day but that is from 10:30 to 12:00 (approx). He is very tired by the end of the day but is sleeping through the night (7pm – 6:30am). Is it worth trying to shift his nap to after lunch?
April 2nd, 2009
I have a two month old who hardly naps during the day but will sleep at least 5 or 6 hours straight in the night. During the day she is very fussy and doesn’t like to sleep without the pacifier but if it falls out she wakes up and cries. How do I get her to sleep longer during the day? Average nap time is 15 or 20 minutes only. On rare occasions when shes exhausted and the pacifier doesn’t fall out it’s an hour long.
April 5th, 2009
I have a 4 month old who only naps for ~30 minutes at at time. He naps several times during the day. What techniques can I use to extend / consolidate his naps so that he is napping for at least 1 hour?
April 6th, 2009
my 6 month old son sleeps from 7.30pm till 6am. after his morning breastmilk he sleeps untill 8.30am and also has two 45 minute naps during the day…is this enough/too little sleep, and as he is sleeping all night does he need this much sleep in the day?
April 13th, 2009
I too, would always be interested in tips to lengthen my 8 mo. old’s naps. She also does pretty good at night, consistently from 7:30 or 8 until 6:30 or 7 AM. In addition, she started daycare last week and I’m really hoping that her naps fall back into place (they’ve been a little messed up with all the extra noise and new surroundings). I know it will likely take a couple of weeks for her to get back into some kind of routine, but wondered if you and/or any of the other Pick Nick’s Brain website regulars may have any suggestions? We already take her lovey and blanket to daycare every day and have been very specific with instructions to keep her on the same feeding schedule.
April 14th, 2009
For children transition to less naps or no naps, how do you suggest a parent deal with bedtime and even attempting the naps in the first place? Move bedtime up and down depending on if they got a nap? Go ahead and try everyday regardless?
April 14th, 2009
My 7.5 m/o is sleeping through the night (12-13 hours with an early morning feeding) and takes 3 naps during the day (2 are 1-2 hours long with a short late afternoon nap). However, he is not on much of a schedule. Each nap falls around the same time (early morning, late morning, late afternoon), but it’s certainly not by-the-clock. I’ve tried to stretch out the times between naps with disastrous short-nap results. When do most babies move to a by-the-clock schedule?
April 16th, 2009
@Bil Day and night sleep are handled by different parts of the brain, so it’s common naps are a problem and nights aren’t or vice versa. At 2 months, it is common to have self-soothing problems. You might check out my newborn sleep tips post for more advice: http://www.babysleepsite.com/newborns/newborn-sleep-tips-10
April 16th, 2009
@Tina If you haven’t joined my free information sessions about naps, please sign up now: http://www.babynapswell.com where I’ll talk all about this. Hope to see you there!
May 18th, 2009
How will I know when my baby is ready to move to a 2 or 3 nap/day schedule? He is 6.5 months and still taking about 4 catnaps (30-45minutes) each day. Each one takes him approximately 30 minutes to fall asleep for (1 hr. 15 min. of wake time).
May 18th, 2009
I want to second the questions regarding consolidating naps–My 4 month old also takes 45 min naps 4 times a day after 75-90 minutes of awake time. How will I know when to move to fewer naps (i.e. lengthen awake time). Is there anything you can do to help lengthen the naps themselves or is that developmental? I’ve tried putting her down sooner and it just takes her longer to fall asleep.
I’ve heard it’s good to have the naps happen around the same time each day, but this is an issue when Baby Girl wakes at an earlier time than usual. Her body still seems to want to sleep at particular times, but she gets worn out before those times. I can stretch her awake time a bit but what should I do on the days she wakes up more than 30 minutes early? Hold with the general routine (awake 75 mins, then nap) or try to stretch her awake times to better match her typical “schedule”?
May 19th, 2009
My 8 month old son takes 2 naps a day, ranging from 1.5-3 hours each. He sleeps about 11-12 hours from 6:30/7:00PM-6:00-6:30AM. His morning nap (usually around 8:30 or 9:00AM). He will nap longer on some days and shorter on other days. Then for his second nap, he sometimes will sleep 3 hours! It is very difficult to keep him on a schedule since he wakes up at different times each day. One thing consistent about him is that he sleep on average 15 hours a day. When he sleeps 3 hours for his afternoon nap; when should his bedtime be? Should I extend his nap and bedtime depending on what time he wakes up? I know you say that when nap training, you should put him to sleep the same time regardless of when the baby wakes up but I just don’t know if he will sleep again in just a few hours or if it’s not fair to expect him to sleep when he is just not sleepy and having him “cry it out.”
May 19th, 2009
What is considered the “real wake time”? 5:30 am when my 9 month old wakes and cries in his own bed or 8:15 or so when he wakes happy after being nursed back to sleep in the family bed?
I am having trouble deciding what time to put him back down for his morning nap. If he sleeps until 6:30 am and then nurses until 7:00 which is what I prefer, I put him down again at 9, but if it is 8 in my bed I either do not put him down again or try (usually unsuccessfully) at 10 am.
May 19th, 2009
My 11 month old crys when he is put down to nap at my mother-in-laws. She watches him for me 3 days a week. I have told her everything I do the 4 days a week I have him and he still gives her a hard time. He goes down like a little champ for me and sleeps for approx. 2 1/2 hrs. He seems happy most of the time to be put in his crib at naptime at home. But, when he is at my mother-in-laws he’ll cry for over an hour usually puke and then when he finally does fall asleep it will only be for 45min-1hr. It is just a lost cause because he is not home in his own environment?
October 27th, 2009
I don’t know what I am doing wrong. My second child is 8 months and is not sleeping well at all. She goes down well at 6:45pm but then at 11:00pm starts getting up every hr. I nurse or soother and walk away only to return in 1 hr.
Her naps are at 9:00 and 1:00 which tend to be 45 mins long – although I leave her there for the full hr. This isn’t improving.
HELP I am sooo tired…