Gina Ford nap schedule for 6+ months no longer working

[sedgiebaby]

I don't actually do any GF except for the schedule of naps, as suggested by a friend, which seemed to be one of the factors which saw dd sleep through the night at 5 months.

Now at 6+ months she is dropping the last short nap quite often, but as a result, come bedtime she is way too tired, sometimes upset and crying loads, then falling asleep as soon as we start her last feed.

I think I may need to push her morning sleep and early pm sleep later, not sure how though she seems ready earlier still. What do you do/have you done with naps at 6 months?

Currently up 6.45, nap 9 until 10ish sometimes 10:20, 2nd nap 12:30 until 2.00 sometimes 2.40

Can you not shift her bedtime earlier?

Could you put her down for 30 mins around 4/4.30 (waking her up after max 30 mins) just to take the edge of her tiredness so she settles better at 7?

At about 6 months, it is normal to be dropping that pm nap.

You need to get her take a good 2-2.5 hours at lunch time (through to at least 2.30pm) as this will then enable her stay awake till bedtime at about 7pm.

You need to be cutting back on the am sleep to ensure she sleeps longer at lunchtime. It is so tempting to let them sleep in the am but (and I think Gina says this) it should be no longer than 30 mins.

Try

9am - 30 mins
12.15/12.30 - 2-2.5 hours
6.45 - 7pm - bed

flisspaps I have put her to bed early a few times, but 6.30 is as early as I can due to that last feed, if I move the feed back more I'm not sure she's going to be hungry for it, but can try.
BsshBossh I find this is the nap she will fight even if she is sometimes tired enough for it. Sometimes if we are out and about she will take it in the car or carrier other times not and she is wide awake. If I let her go later with it we are too close to bedtime.
addictedtofrazzles I'm not sure but think dd needs a little more daytime sleep than gf rec's. I think around 3.5 hours total. Maybe that's because I don't always get a full 12 at night?
Also I find she wants at least an hour in the morning, I go in at 10am and she's yawning on and off through to the next nap, and can be cranky too if woken, ideally she wakes on her own accord, maybe I'll try it though...do you find this has worked well for your dc's from 6 months?

I know exactly what the issue is.

Your DD doesn't appear to have read the book

If she has more sleep in the day (eg the not-recommended 3.5hrs) , you might well find she sleeps better at night.

Hi Sedgie,

I recently got advice from a sleep clinic (not about DD's naps, about her terrible night sleep) but she was at the same stage, about to drop the pm nap. They advised me to give her a "power nap" at around 5 pm if she was really tired, let her nap for 15 mins to take the edge of the tiredness, and not to let her sleep more than an hour in the morning. Now she doesn't need the power nap anymore (she's almost 8 months old now), she has an hour in the am (I normally have to wake her up) and 1.5 - 2 hrs in the pm.

Hope that helps!

Thanks Enoon, I thought 5pm was too late to let her have a nap but maybe yes a really short one, i could try that. Thanks also Flisspaps, I'm trying not to get hung up on schedules and find my way with things, I just found it was working so well for the past month, now it is all change again!

Oh - the only thing is she goes to bed about 7:45pm (again on the advice of the sleep clinic), so depending on when you put your DD to bed, you might want to do the power nap thing a bit earlier. I must admit it sounded ridiculous when the lady told me to try it (a 6 month old having a power nap ffs) but it did work .

As I said earlier, my DD 2.9 went/goes to bed at 7pm and at 6 months was having a very short power nap at 4 to keep her going until bedtime. Worked really well. One thing you need to realise is that naps constantly change for babies - every few months often - so try not to stress about the naps too much - it will always be trial and error. The main thing for me was/is that night time sleep was consistent. By 2 years my "Gina baby" stopped napping altogether but her night time sleep stayed brilliant :-)

Baby did not take the hoped for long middle of the day nap (about 1hr 20), but she has a cold and her sleep is a bit restless, she awoke all grumps so that was fun. Then at 5 she dropped off and I let her take just 15 mins as someone suggested and she was in bed before 7 we will see what happens tonight.

I want to get these naps right not just for the benefit of nightime sleep, which is pretty good but to keep her in a good humor she is really very very difficult otherwise!

Thanks all