6mo increasingly needing 5 naps a day.

[firstpregnancy]

Please help. DS is 6 months old and has never settled into having 2/3 naps a day, like it seems most babies have by this age. He was having 4 naps a day with the occasional day where he would need 5, but he is increasingly needing 5 naps a day and doesn?t seem to be able to stay awake much longer than an hour/hour and a half unless we are out somewhere and he is distracted. He sleeps for around 30-40 minutes.

He sleeps well at night (8pm to 7pm) so no concerns there, but I feel like I am forever putting him to bed. We don?t have a nap time or bed time routine to speak of ? he is put to bed awake and usually goes to sleep with no bother in around 10-20 minutes (although he is teething at the moment so sometimes grizzles for a bit). I put him to bed as soon as he starts rubbing his eyes or yawns. How can I encourage him to nap for longer? Should I encourage him to nap longer? Please tell me that he will snap out of this soon and start napping like other babies. He is constantly tired even with these naps and I feel like we are fighting an uphill battle as the day goes on.

Personally I would be aiming for a least one nap to be longer than 30-40 mins - I would also start going for a stricter routine - as I think babies over about 6 month it really works for. So aimed for at 6 month nap at 9,30 ish - for 30-40 mins then lunch at 11.30-12 then longer nap then -you might need to settle him if he wakes after 30 min -then if he needs it a nap at 4ish - then probably a bit of an earlier bed time maybe - 8pm is quite late

Def an earlier bedtime - in bed by 7, which means you can avoids need for extra nap.

Also agree about having a stricter routine - works better with solids as gives the day more structure.

Well, he is usually in bed by 7.30, but 8pm is the latest that he would normally be asleep by. DP gets home late, so can't really do any earlier as he would never see him.

But maybe I need to be stricter with his routine like you say, as we do try to keep him to routines when it comes milk etc and he seems to thrive with it. Think I have maybe been swayed too much by people who advise to put babies to bed as soon as you notice the first 'tired' sign. Now that I think of it, he never suffers if he gets his sleep a little later, and I would feel better for it also, knowing that he won't have time for 5 naps.

Just not sure how to tackle the getting him to sleep longer thing. On the very rare occasion that I have managed to get him to go back to sleep, it has been a case of catching him just as he is stirring and gently holding his legs before he starts kicking and really waking himself up and patting his tummy. Don't like to intervene too much, as he is generally very good at self-settling the rest of the time. Trouble is, if I leave him to see if he will go back to sleep he never does, and I reckon I'd have to leave him much longer, like 30 or 40 minutes, which seems far too long! I think I will maybe just try to eke him out between naps and hope that one day he will get the hang of it. He has started solids now (though not on 3 meals a day yet) so hopefully that will help a bit.