Should I change my 5 month old's nap routine?

[MissMitten]

Hello! My baby boy has just turned 5 months and still seems to need 3, 4 or 5 naps per day, of 30-45mins each. So he is still needing to sleep roughly 90mins after the last time he woke up. It seems to generally work for him but is really different from what other mums/parenting books report by this age: 2 longer naps of 1.5-2 hours. My instinct is just to go with what he wants to do, but just wondering what others have experienced. I guess my query is prompted by the fact that he's not settling so well for some of his naps now - despite being tired - so am wondering whether I should try something different. Thanks!

My 5mo DS has only napped for 45 mins at a time for the last couple of months. I tried everything to get him to sleep longer because the books said he should but nothing worked and it ended up stressing me out big time. So now I just let him have as many 45 min naps he needs to get him through the day and am hoping he'll learn to sleep for longer eventually. Today he slept for 1.5 hours at lunchtime in his cot - he's never done it before and I expect he won't do it tomorrow either but I'm taking it as a step in the right direction! I'm starting to be of the opinion that nothing we do really changes their sleep patterns so we may as well sit back and let them dictate it! Just my opinion tho!

Hey! Thanks for the reply. I think you are right - he will start napping longer when he's ready. I have to admit that I'm longer forward to some longer spells of being able to do stuff though. Hope your little one carries on the good work.

Hi my 5 month old is the same. I am thinking of binning the bloody books because like you say they are just stressing me out. According to the Baby Whisperer we are stuck in a 3 hour cycle when we should now be in a 4 hour cycle and it's all my fault for bf on demand and that's why he doesn't sleep through the night!

He does occasionally join 2 x 45 minute naps together but not v often.

DD2 is 6 months and only does 30mins in the morning. She does (usually) have a 2-3 hour lunchtime nap, but that's only because DD1 and I co-nap with her. I know she sometimes wakes up (I'm not always sleeping), after 30mins, but if she sees I'm there, she goes back to sleep. Afternoon nap is about 30mims long too.

Am also bf on demand and co-sleep at night. She wakes up every two hours or so.

busyboysmum - I've binned my copy of the baby whisperer :) i bought it when we hit a real low point in ds's sleeping thinking nothing could make it any worse - I was wrong. Reading the book made me feel like a complete failure and doing the pick up put down thing just led to absolute hysterics from a baby who normally never cries. I've never felt so guilty. Now I just let ds dictate what he needs - if he wakes up in the night its cos he needs something, he'll sleep through when he's ready :)