Should I wake my baby?

[OddSocksToday]

Hi, please can anyone advise me on 8 month old nap times (in an ideal world)? My baby is still sleeping for his afternoon nap after 2 hours. He's normally awake much earlier. Should I wake him? Just checking it's okay and also what the ideal nap times are at this age. Websites all differ in the advice.

Thank you.

I don't let my baby nap past 3pm or longer than 2 hours. I just open the blind and stop tiptoeing round, and he wakes up gently. Otherwise he doesn't go down at bedtime.

My son used to often manage 3 hours in the afternoon- as long as he’s warm enough/ breathing normally etc I wouldn’t worry. Probably about to have a growth spurt or start teething

How is he generally at bedtime? Do you think he may have a cold brewing or have you had a busy morning?

At 8 months old I’d generally say let him sleep as he must need it but if you think bedtime will be hellish then wake him up.

I found this website was pretty useful for a guide on sleep schedules.
I didn’t follow it to the letter but it gave good advice about gaps between waking and sleep
www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/8-month-old-baby-schedule/

Morning nap: 9:00 -10:00, afternoon nap: 13:00 - 15:00 (max).

Thanks. He is teething badly and has had a painful day or two. Also terrible sudden nappy rash bless him.

Sleep wise he normally goes down at 6.30pm and sleeps till 7am with one dream feed and one night feed.

Today and yesterday he woke up at 5.30am crying. Not sure if teething.

Should I start putting him to bed later in the hole he'll sleep in slightly later again? (Assuming enough nap time in the day).

(By the way - He woke up soon after I posted and DH is looking after him!)

*in the hope, not hole

At this age I'd leave him tbh, I often found when I started 'tinkering' around without sleep times to do what they were 'supposed' to do or to fit around us all hell would break loose.

I think just do whatever works in your household. Trying to follow other people’s schedules or book suggestions is stressful in my experience. My MiL was often horrified that I let mine sleep until whenever they naturally woke up, even if that meant they were still asleep at 5pm. However, I wasn’t working when mine were small and so it didn’t matter to me if they then went to sleep a bit later than usual at night. Please note however that I was never a very structured routine kind of mum of babies and toddlers, which I know doesn’t work for a lot of people.

Never wake a sleeping baby.

My almost three year old still naps for over two hours every afternoon. I just make sure he's awake before 3pm. He'll go back to bed around 7pm.