nap times for a 5 month old

[kbaby]

Hi s cant seem to last longer than 2hrs awake and has to have a nap every 2 hrs he will then only nap for 30 mins unless being walked in his pram. It means that in order to get him to bed at 8pm he has a last nap at 6pm. He is a terrible sleeper and wakes 3 times each night. Im wondering if its because his last nap is so close to bedtime.

whats everyones else routines like

[nannynick]

When working with babies, I try to establish a nap routine which fits around school drop-off and collection times, as also care for older children.

A typical nap routine would be:

• have included mealtimes so you see how naps fit in around mealtimes once you have started on solids.

9.30am-11am - Nap
11.30am - Lunch
12.30pm-2.30pm - Nap
4pm-4.30pm - Quick Nap (often while on school run)
4.45pm - Tea
6.30pm - Bedtime
10pm - Bottle Feed if awake and hungry - feed in bedroom with very dim lights, if possible no lights. It's sleep time after all!

8pm bedtime to me seems rather late. You may find that your little one is becoming overtired and thus harder to get to bed, plus more night waking.

[gingerninja]

Hi Kbaby, my 4 month old is the same, I've spent many a day tearing my hair out trying to get her to nap. She used to be OK at night only waking once, we're now up and down all night which means she never gets good quality sleep (imo)and is constantly tired and grumpy. Unfortunately from what I can gather bad nights equal bad days and vice versa. Her best time is the early part of the night ie from 6 to 11ish. Yesterday she woke from her last nap at 4.15 so she went to bed at 6 which felt a bit early but if I didn't we would have still been trying to get her to go to bed at 9. Instead of his last nap at 6 have you tried to put him to bed at 6?

After weeks of hanging over her cot for hours during the day trying to get her to nap I've tucked her up on the sofa and I sit next to her (she's there now) because she seems to settle a bit better. In fact the last 2 days she has had an epic 3 hour nap! which then presents the problem of should I wake her because it seems to happen later in the day and I also worried about the bedtime thing.

Anyway, this is a bit of a ramble but essentially what I'm trying to say is I don't seem to have much of a routine at all. If she's happy when she wakes after 30 mins I get her up if not I try and encourage her to go back to sleep. I stressed myself silly clock watching and just went with when she was tired etc etc and tried to organise bedtime as close to 7pm as possible opting for earlier rather than later. I wish I had a routine but it just doesn't seem to happen!

[gingerninja]

Nanny, with all these type of routines I fail before I start because if by LO wakes at 6 she's ready for sleep again before the allotted time and if she only sleeps for 30 mins (20 today) she's out of kilter straight away. Not to mention the fact that she feeds little and often and no amount of trying can get her to take more milk than she wants at any one time. Oh and she seems to dirty her nappy at the time she's supposed to be sleeping so I just cannot get a routine like this to work. She just reinvents it every day. Any tips?

[nannynick]

Try not to worry about having a routine. Instead just aim for about 1.5 to 2 hours of awake time, followed by 1.5 to 2 hours of nap time.

You may find that your dd will feed and then nap. Then wake and feed again, then poo/wee , then be active for a while, and then repeat the cycle.

To start with, the only daytime sleep I would try to keep at a regular time, is the one after lunch. This is because as your dd gets older, this nap will stay in place right up until she is at pre-school, and perhaps even longer than that. Try to aim to have her sleep for 2 hours - at first she will wake up, but try to soothe her back to sleep while still in crib/cot. It helps greatly if she sleeps in a dark room - blackout curtains are great.

[herbgarden]

If your Lo wakes at 6, why not feed, put straight back to bed and then wake at 7/7.30am - give a little top up of milk and start the day so you are then on track - my lo also needs to nap earlier if he's woken at 6 but I find that if I pop him back again after a feed in the dark (so he thinks its still night time) he might snooze for another 45 mins so he's much better for the day. Eventually you might find that they stretch to 7ish. Is your lo getting too much daytime sleep thereby affecting night sleep? I find that if I let my lo sleep too long (other than a big nap at lunch) it really affects the nighttime. I keep a close eye on naps and then wake him (some people don't agree with this theory) - I do a half hour at around 9am, 2 hours at lunchtime (agree with Nannynick on this one) and a quick 25/30 mins but not later than 4.30ish - tea at 5, bath and bed by 6.30 (my lo is rubbish at lasting longer than 6.30).

Re getting a long lunch time nap established - easier if you only have one- but can you get him used to a long one by pushing out in a buggy for a long period of time over a week or so? You might find he then "gets the hang of it"? It's hard at the moment isn't it with the weather so awful

Just a few thoughts but I've found it a bit of a battle - it helps I think too once they start on solids...

[REIDnotREEDorREAD]

My ds is 4 months old. He too only sleeps for half an hour at a time during the day. He stays awake for 1 - 1 1/2 hours a time then needs to sleep (which lasts half hour)i always make sure he has half an hour between 4-5pm so that he is tired and ready for bed by 6.30-7pm. he then usually sleeps until 10.45pm when i wake him for his bottle, then he sleeps until 6-7am.

i used to get stressed about his sleep pattern during the day because he started with a good pattern - he used to have 3 naps per day always at the same time, but for some reason they just got shorter and shorter. I dont really bother about it too much at the moment though because his night time sleep pattern is fully established and i feel this is most important (imo)

his may however become a problem when he starts nursery in March

[dcb]

I too cannnot get my 6 month dd to sleep for longer than 30 mins at at a time, usually every 1.5-2 hrs. I would love her to have a long sleep atfter lunch and have been working on it for weeks. At first I thought that pushing her out in her pram past the 30 min stage was working, but no longer does. I've also tried going in 5 mins before I think she'll wake up anfd shushing her back to sleep. Occasinally this works - it takes about 15-20 mins and then she may have another 30 mins. Is this worth persevering with as it does tend to stop us from doing things during the day. Anyone have any other ideas? Also I've just started weaning her which is going really well - I tend to give her her baby rice at about 11.30-12ish. 30-60 mins after breastfeed. Is this a good idea?

[loopylopey]

my 18week old baby sometimes wakes after 30mins but normally she cries but doens't open her eyes and resettles herself. if she does wake up i have the pram ready for pounding the streets which normally gets her back off to sleep. lately she's been sleeping from 11am-2pm in her bouncy chair. i try not to put her in the cot during the day cos i don't want to jeopardise the night time routine!

she does the old 2 hour awake thing as well so i aim not to ever let her be asleep after 5pm otherwise going to bed at 7pm will be impossible.

[cruisemum1]

kbaby - keep seeing you on other threads! we must have the same problems. my ds is a dreadful napper despite exhaustion some days and just recently has started waking during the night three times or more which is a blow as he was doing 8 - 10 hours before! He's 17 weeks btw. There is no real 'typical' day but this is often how it falls:

wakes around 7:30am
feeds
needs nap around 9:00
naps 30mins (approx)
feeds around 10 - 10:30am
naps around 11/12ish
feeds around 1:00ish
naps around 3ish
wakes 30 mins later wired/tired and having to go until 6:0pm for bath then sleep around 6:45pm.
Bed around then and after that I am up and down stairs settling him with bf (only way he will sleep... After that it is anyones guess.
Frustrating isn't it?
Sound familiar???
sometimes days he will have a 90 min nap but this is irregular. He doesn't take any naps in his cot either. You are not alone!

[cruisemum1]

forgot to mention that the whole 'routine' will be blown to buggery next week when dd goes back to school! I am going to try to get him organised then as the school run offers a great morning and afternoon nap opportunity. I just need to get the lunchtime one going and we will be perfect [happy]
nannynick - are you a real nanny? If so you could become a god on here!
gingerninja - ditto here

[kbaby]

Thanks, I guess because he is a bad night time sleeper I thought putting him to bed at 6pm ish would just encourage him to be awake more in the night.He cries when he wakes up after every nap but getting him to nap longer is impossible and it doesnt help that I have a toddler demanding my attention so I cant really give him the time it takes to get him to go back to sleep as normally he puts up quite a fight.

At night he wakes at 12.30 and then 4ish for feeds. He doesnt seem to want both feeds so one of these wakings are habit. At the 4am waking its impossible to settle him to sleep unless hes in our bed as he wakes once you put him down in his cot.

Do you think maybe I should do a dream feed or even try and cut one of the night feeds out?

cruisemum1- I know were bumping into each other all the time. Your days sound just like ours and from 4pm onwards im generally carrying him everywhere as hes so grouchy putting him down is impossible. The only difference is I dont need to feed ds to sleep but have to hold him.

[cruisemum1]

kbaby - ditto the carrying around thing after 4pm! v difficult to cook dinner isn't it!?
re: nightfeeds - i wouldn't introduce a dreamfeed now if i were you. you cd end up with even more night wakings.... my ds wouldn't settle in his cot after around 5am but i always put him in there anyway even if i had to get him up 5 mins later. he eventually got the message that that is where he sleeps at night and now 9 times out of 10 he stays there without fuss. i am not too careful about putting him down without him stirring so that it is not a surprise to him when he does stir iyswim. hth