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Parenting

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Original poster

Nap lengths

4 replies

babylon88 · 23/05/2023 12:07

Can someone please help me to understand it when people outline a sleeping routine for a baby and say they should have x hours in the afternoon or at lunchtime like it's something you can control? All very well and good suggesting dropping from 2 naps to 1 and just having a long 1 nap but what if your child will only sleep for 1 hour when a plan says it should be 2? I get you can cap a nap but you can't make them sleep any longer than they will sleep

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DragonbornMum · 23/05/2023 12:20

How old is your child? Mine wouldn't sleep longer than 30 min at a time until he was 9 months, and even then it was iffy! My neice didn't sleep longer than 20 min until she was on 1 nap a day.

Both slept 2 hours solid as toddlers.

Original poster

babylon88 · 23/05/2023 12:23

13 months. Every day is different sometimes she will struggle to wake up after a 2.5 hour nap and other days she won't even sleep 1 she's never had any consistency to her sleep and that's been blamed on me not enforcing consistency but I can't control whether her bedtime is always at the same time if some days she won't sleep 'as long as she should for a nap'.

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DragonbornMum · 23/05/2023 12:37

Sounds like she doesn't get on with routines! Are you trying for one nap, or sticking with two?

If she can manage one, then I'd put her down at the same time every day. If she wakes after an hour and is fine at bedtime, no problem. An hour is better than no sleep. If it's too early to get through to bedtime, put her down to bed a little earlier. If she sleeps two hours, great!

If she's developmentally transitioning to only needing one nap, she may need a little power nap every few days in the morning. This is only temporary and would probably only last a week or two at most.

Dropping to one nap does make things awkward for a little while, but it's only temporary. Once you're through this change you'll have a bit of stability for a while.

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Didi1345 · 23/05/2023 15:46

I have sacked the idea of any form of routine. I have an 18 month old and 2 month old. Stopped even caring about routines when DS1 was 8 months. They aren't in school yet so it's fine. As long as it's working for you then don't worry.

When your child gets to one nap a day they will naturally form a routine themselves, til then just do what works for you x

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