Daytime naps 4m baby - confused by Gina Ford book

[brownbutterfrangipanetart]

I mentioned to my friend that my baby seems to be going through a sleep regression and she recommended to look at Gina Ford.

the book says two daytime naps at 9am and 12pm. So no naps from 2pm ish onwards which seems strange to me.

My baby usually needs to sleep every 1.5 hours or appears to get overtired so she’ll do about 4 naps a day, each about 1-1.5 hours long.

am I doing too many day naps then? And could this be reducing the night sleep?

thanks!

Just let baby sleep when they want too, 4 months is so young to be so regimented imo

I've found the better my dd sleeps in the day, the better night she has

I think the advice to have the last nap ending at 2pm is because they want you to do bedtime at some nutty hour like 6pm. So you can then blow dry your hair and make dinner for your husband like a good 1950's wife.

It's all bonkers op, just try different times and you'll get to know your own baby's optimal nap rhythm which will be unique to them.

2 naps for a four month old? That's bonkers and seems kind of cruel. They're so tiny still at 4 months. Your baby hasn't read the Gina Ford book (and nor have I!)

Follow your baby's sleep cues. I found that mine gradually evolved into their own schedule. You can always tweak it or cut the last nap short if you're aiming for a certain bedtime and you know how long baby will last for awake.

Sounds like you already know your baby better than any book can! Just go with your instincts, you know your baby needs to nap more than that. sleep is going to go up and down with a baby anyway.

Thanks all. The advice in the book seems very regimented and the suggested nap schedule seemed odd - wasn’t sure if I’m missing something or doing too many day naps myself!

@Mummymummy89 sounds like it’s very old fashioned advice! I’ll continue doing what I’m doing

I found Gina Ford quite handy- not necessarily to follow like gospel, but to give me a baseline from which to deviate.

Don’t ditch it all because one bit doesn’t help.

Is the rest of the pattern about right? It does tend to sit together as a whole.

Throw the book in the bin when it comes to when babies 'should' sleep. They need X amount of hours roughly over a 24 hour window, how that happens is up to you and your baby.

Mine is coming up for 6 months and on 3ish naps a day at the moment depending on what we're doing

I found the happy sleepy baby book by Sarah someone a bit more flexible (eg options for routines for 2 or 3 nap days etc.) mainly based on nap gaps rather than times of day. It may give you the structure you crave without the rigidity of Gina ford

She who shall not be spoken about due to taking Mumsnet to court offers an opinion.

You may have a different opinion and you know your baby better.

Just follow your own and her schedule
Maybe you want baby up late in evening to play with a working parent
Maybe you have a daily walk at 3 and she sleeps then
You do you
g f is a guide only

Follow sleep cues at that age. Or wake windows, but not set times, that's silly. Plus at 4 months 2 naps default isn't enough! 4 is common, 3 is all a few need.

My 7 month is on 3 naps, approx 7/8pm til 7/7.30am sleep, then 2ish hours after waking up 30/40mins, 2hr15-30 later for 45/60 min, 2hr15-30 later for 30/45 min. And she usually sleeps through at night, so 3 naps is definitely what she needs

My toddler had 4 naps until probably 3 month, then 3 naps. 7 months - 2 naps. 13 months 1 nap, which was usually 2.5-3hr long and gradually decreased. From 18 months was down to 1.5/2hr & us 1.5hr at 23.5 months.

Thanks all - I haven’t read this book fully, just skipped to the 4 month routine section. I’ll check out the happy sleepy baby book.

@climbershell very jealous of the 7pm-7am overnight sleep! Hopefully mine will be sleeping like that at 7 months

This was my DD too . That book tipped me into PND - so please take it with a pinch of salt !

A decent routine at 4 months is
7am wake and milk
8.30 - 10am nap
10.30 milk
play
12 -2pm nap
2.30pm milk
play
4.30-5pm nap in pram on the go
5.30pm small milk feed
6pm bath
7pm big bedtime milk feed
7.30pm sleep
10pm dream feed

The one actually helpful thing that my Health Visitor with Dd said was that every single mother she had ever had with PND had the Gina Ford book on their bookshelf.

This was after I (slightly tearfully) told her that Dd didn’t seem to like the routine.

I did enjoy it as comic relief with ds. “Hey - Dh! It says here that ds is supposed to be in bed at 7pm and then will sleep for 12 hours continuously.” Cue us looking at ds who was happily watching the X Factor with us at 9pm and razzing all the contestants!

my nap advice is roughly this
9-10
12-2
4-5

bedtime 7 - 7 with a sleep feed at 11pm if needed

You will need to adapt the routine for your baby, they might need more sleep, my eldest would have added 15mins to the first 2 naps and then slept 7 - 7:30. He needed lots of sleep; he had most of his naps in his cot in a dark room.

I followed the Gina ford book for both mine but loosely and just as a guide. I always found the book suggested dropping naps far earlier than mine were ready for so at 4 months DD would have been on the routine for a younger baby and doing 3 naps. She’s now 10 months and on 2 naps but the book suggests she should be dropping the morning nap…..she’s nowhere near ready to so I’m just being guided by her and she’ll drop it naturally when she’s ready.

I know people hate the Gina ford book but I do find it useful as a rough guide, I think as long as you’re not trying to follow it religiously and pick the bits that suit you and baby best it’s a good point of reference.

Mine is nearly 4 months old and she's doing three naps a day. They're entirely dependent on when she woke up which can vary a lot day to day.

The only thing I try to do is help her have a nap if she's awake for 2.5 hours, and I try to make sure the last nap finishes by 530 so she can start to go to sleep around 730/8. If that last nap is too early she falls asleep before 7, and if it's too late it's like her brain connects it up to bedtime sleep, both resulting in an earlier wake up.

However, she's going into the 4 month regression now so she's waking around 3-4am anyway regardless of any nap schedule I try to follow! Before we know it theyll be 6 months old and it'll all be different again.

I've worked with babies for many years and I won't take a job where the parents follow Gina ford. Everyone parents differently and that's fine but Gina ford is sooo regimented and not all kids are that way. It's just setting yourself up to feel like a failure as a mum because you can't get your baby to follow the routine.

Thanks all - some useful routines suggested here as a guide. I think for now I’ll have it in mind but not looking to be so regimented, just trying to do anything I can to maximise night sleep so may try the dream feed as pp suggested

My first was waking up 6/7 times a night until over 12 months and 3 months of ok sleep before baby arrived (16 months between them), so i'm very glad that this one is a much better sleeper! 🙂