I really need advice on when to lay my DS down for a nap.

[Izzieee]

Okay, he's just a newborn, at the moment, so he sleeps whenever he wants. However, I'm getting proper nervous about the future! Please can you tell me when to lay him down, for each age?

Thank you

Honestly? When they're tired. I don't have set times and never have. My youngest tends to have a morning nap.

How do you know when they're tired?

It changes so frequently as they grow, too. I'd say far better to learn to read his tired signals (yawning being the main one) & put him down in good time.

newborn babies are almost always tired. so maybe after waking up, a quick 'conversation', a nappy change, and a feed and then sleep again. Maybe an hour of awake time, maybe less. I'd recommend a sling (a nct stretchy ring sling is a good starter sling). HTH

Eye rubbing, yawning, turning their face away, glazed eyes, crying are all signs of tiredness. My youngest had a semi-routine of naps from about 6 weeks because I had to be out of the house at set times for pickups at school but the others just napped when they seemed tired b

after a few months old my babies had two naps, one in morning and one in afternoon. But your little one is probably too young for any routine yet.

Eye rubbing mainly. Getting grumpy. It's something you'll just know. As your child grows up you'll learn what all their little signals mean.

Yeah, he's too young right now, but I was wondering about when he's older

At newborn stage I found that 2 hours was a bit too long between naps for mine as she would only nap for 40 mins to 1 hour each time. So I'd put her to sleep at 1 & 1/2 hours and she'd nod off in 15 mins or so. Very gradually this moved to 2 & then 3 hours until it got to 1 morning & 1 afternoon nap.

With the babies and toddlers I have looked after, I have always tried to get them into a routine of a 30/40 min nap around 9.30 ish, 1 1/2-2 hours straight after lunch and when they are very young, maybe 20/30 mins late afternoon. Morning and later nap might be in the buggy but the long after lunch nap always in their cot.

As a nanny I do think that babies and small children do really well in a consistent routine. All the children I've looked after have always slept really well at night, but that could be down to things other than the routine and I know that being much more flexible works for some parents too.

I had a fairly routined baby, he liked doing things at the same time each day which was a shock for me as I am not a very routined person! Weirdly when I picked up the Gina ford book early on I found her schedules matched what we had fallen into naturally.
I don't really advocate her methods but you can google her time plans for a guide.
Really just get to know your baby and when they like to sleep, what they do when they are sleepy, hungry etc, I am sure you can start recognising their habits and then go with their lead.

My ds makes a very distinct screechy noise when he's tired, I just take him up as soon as I hear the screech, lay him in the cot and he goes to sleep. Miss it though and he's overtired very easily. My advice op is to have a few quiet days with your baby, don't make plans to go out, stay in, and jot down when he feeds wakes and eats. Even at newborn he will have some sort of routine, even if just part of the day (eg. At that age my ds would be like clockwork in the mornings, but by the afternoon would be just free styling). (I'm not suggesting you have a strict routine by the way, but its nice to know a rough idea of when he might eat or sleep).

Gina ford helped me structure naps too (contented sleep guide I think it's called) and it worked really well for my DS. She has guidelines of nap times and ages that made it really clear, I was clueless and it helped give me structure to my crazy days.

http://www.contentedbaby.com/TopTipsDaytimeSleepPublic.htm

Is this it?

Yes, I have an app and I'm putting it all on that, but I actually don't notice anything specific

I found this website really helpful in terms of average awake times and number of naps.

However DD resolutely refused to sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time until she transitioned to one nap a day. Now, at 2, she can happily have an after lunch nap of up to 2.5 hours!

Thank you!

They change habits at least once every three months.

I got mine down for a nap by breastfeeding untill he was 9mo. Breastfeeding was like, this miracle nap inducing system.

Now he is 14mo, I get him down for a nap with his favourite blanket and a sippy cup of warm (cow's) milk. There was a bit of a changeover period.

You can build up to a nap routine by choosing a designated fluffy blanket IME.

I drove myself half crazy trying to get ds into a nap routine. It just hasn't worked yet for me. He falls asleep when he wants to, where he wants to. I can spend an hour trying to get him down for a nap, give up and then 15 minutes later he falls asleep on his playmat in the middle of the sitting room floor. But he also won't nap for any more than 45 minutes at a time no matter what I do. At 6 mo he tends to have a 20 minute nap around 11ish, 45 minute nap around 2 and another 20 minute nap around 5. It's a very peculiar schedule but fighting against it is pointless! What I'm trying to say is every baby is different and don't beat yourself up if your baby's schedule doesn't fit what the books say! Ds is also a pretty good sleeper at night and goes straight to sleep at 7:30pm following his bedtime routine. I dream feed around 11pm and he tends to wake up once around 5am and then sleeps as late as 8:30-9am. So it works for me!

I have 3 kids and still no idea about naps and the youngest is still of an age for naps...bumbling along is a totally acceptable parenting method!

Baby whisperer is brilliant on this - when a baby yawns, you've got until the third yawn to get him down before you've missed the window. If you miss the window you get overtired screaming. Worked great with ours. Sounds mad but is not!