When should a baby have a daytime nap routine?

[MYA2016]

My DS is 12 weeks old tomorrow. We're really lucky because at night time he will sleep through (10pm - 9am). He's exclusively breastfed.
When should he be in a routine with his daytime naps? he doesn't seem to want a morning nap because he's waking up quite late (some days he'll wake at 10am!) We go out a lot and he sleeps in the car for maybe 10 min bursts and then wakes as soon as we stop. He won't sleep anywhere In the day apart from car seat or my arms. If we're at home he will sometimes snuggle up to me and sleep for 2 hrs.
When do they get into a routine with naps? And how do u work around their routines? Ie. If they have a mid afternoon nap does that mean u never make plans for that time? Sorry if they sound like stupid questions but he's so clingy in the day I can't imagine him ever having a routine!
I've tried and tried to bring his bed time forward so he wakes earlier in the morning but he's not having it. I regularly take him up at 7/8pm and he just doesn't sleep till 10pm earliest :(

[TeaBelle]

Dd had a routine from 6 months. Up until then we did everything on demand but weaning helped get her a bit more regular

[TeaBelle]

Oh, and yes, I tried to time activities roughly around naps, but dd only ever had 2 so it wasn't too difficult, and now she has 1 in the afternoon it is even easier.

[StylishDuck]

DD has only just got into a daytime routine of sorts now and she's 14 months. I used to just go with the flow when she was younger. Some days she'd need more sleep than others. Now she sleeps roughly 8-7 at night with a 2 hour nap around lunchtime. Up until she was about 1 she never napped for more than 30 mins at a time.

[bojorojo]

My Dds slept all night fairly early - 8 weeks. I tend to think this makes them harder to adjust to routine naps. I was sooooo jealous of a mum in my village who left coffee mornings/get togethers dead on 11 because the baby had a nap at 11.15! Actually, on reflection, the baby, and subsequent child, was a bit of an automaton. The mum came across as rather controlling but some mums like a well defined routine. Often a baby will nap in the car but I honestly never built my day around scheduled naps. I needed a life and the nap was not the most important thing unless they were irritable and needed one. There was no schedule. If I was invited out, I went.

If you want a routine, you will have to work out if you want two shorter naps a day, or one longer one, but because your baby is waking up quite late, the second nap will be late so consequently bedtime will be late. I think you have to stick to the routine and it will stop you doing things. Some people like that though and build their days around it.

My DD2 was clingy and actually I resented it. I really did want her in bed before 10 pm but we rarely achieved it. Usually any attempt at a nap routine ended in much crying. Her because she was clingy and me in frustration. When people say they will get into a routine and leave them to cry have presumably, never listened to it for months on end. I gave up. It just was not worth the angst. It is just easier with some children to let them sleep when they want, not when you want. Neither of mine ever had a morning nap, just a longer afternoon one but they were still bouncing well into the evening.

As a result, mine never went to bed at 7pm. I kept hoping. When they start nursery, when they start pre school, when they start school etc. They were never tired. They did loads of after school activities that never resulted in tiredness. I liked to think if they were wide awake and functioning, they were learning!

[MentalMum1]

Interested in this thread as I have an 8 week old and wondering the same thing! My brother has a rigid schedule with his little one who is five weeks older than mine, but she is his second whereas I'm on my first :) Sounds like heaven yours sleeping through the night! Mine is currently going through a phase of one night only waking up once, the next waking every hour! Likewise never asleep before 10, can sleep quite late as OH works from home so stays in bed with her. Tends to sleep late morning and late afternoon but like you depends on the day's activities as she will 99% fall asleep in car seat or buggy. I have so far failed at getting her to nap anywhere but there or on me! Would live to be able to put her down in her Moses basket or sleepyhead for an hour or two...

[Ragwort]

I introduced a GF routine immediately we got back from hospital, this was 16 years ago and I know routines are not very popular these days .

But it worked beautifully for us (DS was a first/only child so no other children to fit round which probably helped) - he slept 7pm - 7am (one quick night feed) with a morning nap (around 10ish) and an afternoon nap (around 2ish) - I didn't stick rigidly to those times if we were out and about but sometimes I would use one of the naps for a power walk for myself, pushing the buggy whilst DS slept. He carried on having his afternoon even when he started morning playschool bliss . I don't know if it was the routine or the fact that he just loved sleeping - and still does as a lazy teenager !

[SouthernComforter]

My baby is 20 weeks and generally has 3 naps a day - 9ish, 1ish and 4.30ish. Times are dependent on length of previous nap - I try to get him to sleep about 2 hours after he last woke up.

He also used too sleep well but since the 4-month regression he wakes at least once for a feed (as well an evening dreamfeed) and is usually kicking about by 540am. Today he had his first 'nap' (or went back to sleep for 40 minutes) at 640am. My toddler is up by then. I live in hope that it gets better as I hate our current morning timings!

[s098]

I was wondering this too. My dd is nearly 12 weeks and i was trying to think earlier if she had naps at roughly the same time every day but i think it depends what we are doing. She also goes to bed when we do around 10pm.
We had someone a few weeks ago telling us she should be in bed at 7 and a strict naptime between 1-3 or we will have problems later on. It made me feel like we were doing something wrong but i realised i don't want a baby that HAS to be a home for a nap at a certain time!