Too many naps

[JakesMum05]

My 6 month old has been having 3 naps a day. He can still only go one and a half to two hours before he needs another nap and whether he has 45 minues or 2 hours for both morning and afternoon nap he still needs at least 30 mins in late afternoon and then goes to bed 2 hours after that, usually 7. However he is starting to wake earlier in the morning and i wonder if he's having too much sleep in the day. Gina Ford claims they only need 2 naps as does baby whisperer. However i can't figure out the EASY schedule if he only has 2 naps and if he's tired, he's tired, he needs a nap and if i keep him awake he just gets more and more grizly.

Which nap, if any, does anyone recommend i drop and how do i keep him to his schedule, which we both work well with (it's not rigid, just loose but structured.)

Any help or advice greatfully received.

My ds is 15months old and somedays it seems that he is asleep all the time!
If babe needs sleep i would go with the flow,nothing worse than overtired baby.
Ds always wakes up early,regardless of how much sleep he has,thats his body clock.

I would stick to same time to bed each night,hopefully the naps will go to 2 in time,but it all sounds very normal to me at 15 months!

Would like to offer constructive advice but sadly I can't!! DS1 was a real routine baby and would nap twice a day for the same time each day and generally sleep well at night (after 8 months). DD2 had 1/2 hr in morning and 1/2 hour in afternoon and was a TERRIBLE sleeper at night for yeeaaarrss. DS3 (now 8 1/2 months) is all over the place with naps and always has been. We get good nights and bad nights - no pattern related to daytime sleeps at all. So no idea at all! I suppose one thing I have learnt is that all babies are different. But agree, nothing worse than an overtired baby and sometimes its just impossible to keep them awake anyway!!!!

My ds is also 6 months, and like you until recently the routine was loose but structured with awake times of 1.5 to 2hours. His naps are increasingly unpredictable, eg 1st nap this morning was 2 hours, 2 days ago it was just 30 mins. Some days he has 2 naps, other days 3. Worst thing is if his 2nd nap finishes mid afternoon - ie too early for him to make it all the way to bedtime without being v grizzly, too late to be able to squeeze in the 3rd nap. We have had some early starts as well, trying to work out whether it is related to his naps, the fact that some days he is so tired he doesn't finish his final feed, that he has a cold, etc. I figure it is another phase, probably as he transitions from 3 naps down to 2. So no advice but just to let you know that you are not on your own.

Hi Jakesmum

My dd is very similar - also 6 months. She's so much sleepier than GF says a baby should be at this age.

I would keep all 3 naps to be honest. I f you've got a sleepy baby then he won't last from lunchtime to bedtime without a nap for example.

But I would keep the afternoon one to no more than 30 mins and not after 5pm if you have a 7pm bedtime.

Try to keep the morning one to no more than 1 hour and then the lunchtime one will be a better sleep of probably at least an hour and a half.

If you want to experiment with dropping a nap then lose the afternoon one first. Loads of attention, bouncing around, extra unnecessary nappy changes and probably getting out of the house to stop him dropping off might be the only way! THen he'll be sooooo knackered by bedtime he should sleep through o a decent time. Fingers crossed!

"She's so much sleepier than GF says a baby should be at this age"

ROFL - sorry, I am collecting classic Gina Ford quotes and that is going straight on my list. It really conveys the full ludicrousness of letting some stranger tell you how much sleep your child should have, in such a few words. Marvellous

Yeh, Gina Ford, grumble grumble. I remember when DS3 was 6 months and he was needing 'more than Gina Ford' recommended, (I was trying the Gina Ford routine at the time) I had sheer hell for about 4 weeks until I gave in and let him nap when he wanted for how long he wanted.

norty I sawsanat!

Thanks

Thank you, most of you, that's helpful stuff, good to know i'm not alone and the advice is great.

To 'isaw...santa'. i appreciate that a lot of people on here dislike GF intently but most first time parents like myself need a little help as we aren't totally sure what to do, and really my midwives and health visitor are complete strangers but i foolishly let them tell me what to do early on.

It's nice to be nice !