what are nap and sleep times for your 6mo?

[katechristie]

Hi, I'm trying to get some sort of routine going for DD's naps as she is now 6mo, and still not a great napper, but gets very grumpy to boot. - We've always fed to sleep, so I'm trying to break that association now, but want to work towards nap times for her first. - She can wake anything from 5am to 7am in the morning, but doesn't always show sleepy signs for her naps, and the timings of them can vary greatly from day-to-day, so I thought if I worked on being consistent with nap times first, even if I have to feed initially, then I can work on gradually changing the feed to sleep bit. She's generally asleep for the night by 7-7.30, but again, feeds to sleep and wakes a couple of times for a feed, but doesn't take very much, just settles in cosy next to me helps herself back to sleep.

I really hoped she'd find her own routine, but alas, here I am 6months on and my life is still a bit of a mess. Somedays I've spent half the morning trying to help her to sleep and DS doesn't get a look in, so I figure if I can now start getting fairly regular nap times, then I'll know when I can get out and about and do stuff. - I'm aiming for the majority of daytime naps to be in the cot, but she'll happily sleep in the carrier on me, or in the pram if out and about. TIA

[kingfix]

just watching with interest as DD (3) never napped reliably until she went to bootcamp nursery at 14 mo, and DS (4 months) is showing every sign of following her example.

[katechristie]

yes, my DS was the same, wouldn't nap unless in pram or car, then nursery sorted it within a couple of weeks (i suspect with more crying than I would have liked!)

[kingfix]

i asked the nursery how they did it and they said 'routine, routine, routine', and I think peer pressure helps. (Probably some crying too, to be honest).
I've bought a book called no cry nap solution, as, like you, I'd love DS to nap more so I can spend some time with DD and get something done around the house.

[katechristie]

yes, that's what I've been struggling with, feeding on demand makes a routine so hard, but am hoping it'll happen now she's 6mo with a bit of help.

[MegBusset]

DS2 is 5.5mo, has to fit in around DS1's nursery runs etc but his routine is a bit like this:

awake 7.30
first nap 9.30-10.30ish
second nap 12.30-2ish
third nap 4ish
bed 7.30

I Bf him after every sleep and that usually keeps him going til after the next nap though do feed more often if he demands it!

[dycey]

At 6 months my DS was able to stay awake for 2 hours, then 2.5 hours then 3 hours then til bedtime... he was napping for about 1.5 hours, then 45 mins then 30 mins.... And I rocked him to sleep - cuddled and bounced in the dark or in the pram. He dropped the third nap before 7 months though - bedtime got increasingly hard and suddenly he didn't sleep in the afternoon and bedtime got hugely easier!

Hope that helps a bit. But they are all so different - his peers were sleeping much more - and always have!

[katechristie]

thanks, that's useful. I was kind of thinking that I'd aim for around 9.30 -10ish, then just after lunch, depending on how she'd done with the first nap, even if I have to resort to car/buggy for the first week, just so I can get the pattern there for her. I figured that as she's at that age when she'll drop the third nap in the next month or two, I'll not worry so much about that one - if she snoozes whilst she feeds for that one I don't mind, or just a quick walk in the pram. thanks.

[strawberrie]

My DD is six months and a week, and seems to be on the verge of dropping from 3 naps to 2 - until recently we had a rough pattern of waking 7 ish, nap from 9-10.15, again from 12.30 - 1.30/2 and again around 4 or 4.30, then bed between 6.30 and 7 pm.

In the last couple of weeks I'm finding that she's too interested in what's going on, eg we go to a baby group at 10.30am and if I haven't managed to get a sleep in before it, she'll stay awake until say 11.30 before eventually getting knackered. So quite often she's only having 2 naps, but I find the late afternoon quite tricky as she doesn't really have the stamina to get from say, 3 pm until bedtime! And she's still waking normally once or twice for a feed in the night

[Marinochka]

My Podge is 5 months, this is her approximate routine:
Wake up 0730, feed
Long morning nap 0900 ? 1100, feed at 1130
Long afternoon nap 1300 ? 1430, feed at 1500
Short afternoon nap 1630 ? 1715, feed at 1745

Bath at 1845, feed at 1900 and by 1930 she is usually asleep.
Night feed at 2300

I do not allow her morning nap time and duration wary, and if she is up say at 1000 I will coax her to sleep again (normally it is not too difficult) and if she is still asleep at 1115 I wake her up.

In the afternoon though the routine can slightly shift ( +/- 30 min).

Bath and bad time do not wary either.

She started sleeping through the night when she was about 4 months I think. I did help it though - stopped feeding her whenever it was possible when she was up at night. Say she was up at 4, I was giving her a dummy, swaddling her if she was unwrapped so she doesn?t wake herself up with her arms, and hoped she goes back to sleep. Some nights it worked, some didn?t. I didn?t do it hard way and if she was up 3 times in a row I was feeding her. I think it took me a week, now she sleeps from appx 2300 till 0730. She is always up at about 5 am, so I get up, give her a dummy and swaddle her. She goes back to sleep.
In some instances I still feed her at night, like I did right now ? she was fussy all night, though I try not to do it more than once/week.