6.5 month naps

[Amz6219]

My DS had contact naps for pretty much first 12 months of his life but slept in the cot at night, was absolutely fine with this.

I know not all babies are the same but DD just seems to hate napping no matter where it is, it’s taking longer to get her to sleep than she actually sleeps for and it’s utterly exhausting… I’ve just left her chattering in her cot now because her physically fighting me rocking her was getting frustrating! (She also sleeps reasonably well in her cot over night)

Anyone had similar and got any tips as to how / when I get can get some decent naps?

Bumping as I could do with tips too

Could be a scheduling issue maybe? What's your nap schedule/wake windows?

No except solidarity. Both mine have been horrendous nappers as babies. DD got better around 12 months and was great at it from then on. She was always a decent sleeper overnight. DS is 6.5mo, a terrible napper, and a fairly bad night time sleeper too!

@shivawn i try to do 2-3 hour wake windows because I cant do nap schedule as she doesn’t nap longer than 30-40 minutes usually 😭 I’d say average day:

7am wake
9.30-10 nap
12.30-1 nap
3.15-4 nap
7pm bed

Cannot remember the last time I got at least an hour out of her!

@SecondhandTable @ElmtreeMama Definite solidarity 🤝

That's a really long nap.
Sorry, I'll get my coat.

That is like my DS. Although he does do longer naps sometimes but not every day and they're random. Except for one particular week day, it's the first weekday DD is at nursery and he sleeps a lot more that day, making up for the times when she is around disturbing him! He often has a 1-2.5 hr nap late PM on top of me then before she gets home, it's quite funny.

Today he napped:
9.20 - 10.10 in the pram on the way to playgroup.
12.20 - 12.40 in the pram on the way home from playgroup
4.05 - 4.30pm in the pram on the way to the park
5 - 6pm on top of me at home, though the first 20 mins or so were on/off disturbed with crying and writhing around.
And he's just fallen asleep on me a few mins ago for bed.

That schedule looks good to me, you have enough awake time to build up sleep pressure! Consolidating naps is developmental so she might just need a little more time, hopefully as she gets a little older you'll see naps starting to get longer. My son used to wake after exactly 38 minutes from every nap until he was almost 6 months old and now at 7 months he does an hour-1.5 hours for most naps.

Took me a minute @brokengoalposts 😂😂 I’d settle for 6.5 minutes sometimes!!

Yep, sounds familiar @SecondhandTable ! It’s the I’m inconsistency and fighting it that is just driving me nuts 😵‍💫

Thanks @shivawn ! Just feel like she’s tired, but I bet it’ll all be totally different in another month… 🤞🏼

Lyndsey Hookway is great for normalising natural variation between babies. She says 30 mins can be really normal for some babies, but some can respond to some gentle cajoling just before/after they wake, like shushing, rocking, or touch

Thanks @Orangepen13 ill have a look!

Maybe that’s what it is, she just had lower requirement. Just doesn’t feel right does it a baby not having a ‘restorative’ nap 🙈

I’ll go with it, think my expectation/comparison is what is frustrating me but if I just assume 30 min nap every time then I’m not caught out!

It’s 2-2.5 hours of waking time before they need a nap at that age, mine always woke at 6.30/7 then napped at 9 ish til about half ten.
then another at about 12.30-1 til 2.30 and another at 4.30-5.15.

that sounds very specific but I have 8 kids and have to fit it in around school runs and cooking dinner.

Ive never stayed with them and rocked them, I jus tout them in their cot give them a kiss and leave them to go to sleep. If they cried I go back in and pat them til they stop crying then leave again. I leave it a few minutes longer each time. I’ve only had to do this the first few days when starting a routine, they happily went down after that.