Napping 5mo - where?when?how often?for how long?

[zambooloo]

Ok so I posted on here a couple of nights ago crying as night time sleep was so so awful, waking every 20 mins all night!

Am realising that daytime naps need serious attention... Would love to know what yours are like as we have no pattern or routine at all. I kind of expected her to nap as and when she needed wherever we were - oh how deluded of me!

She has 2 or 3 naps of anywhere from 1/2hr - 3hrs in arms or bouncy chair. Only every 1/2hr max in cot.

So I would love to know..

1. How many naps a day?
2. How long are naps?
3. Where are the naps taken?
4. What times of day are naps?
5. What do you do if out for day or over a nap time?

Sorry very rude...

Meant to say thank you very much for any tips, advice, experience.

Hi zambooloo

My DD is about 8 month now. Since she was about 6 months her naps have been:
8.30 am: half an hour in pram/push chair
12 noon: an hour and a half in cot
4 pm: half an hour in pram/push chair

She gets up about 7am and goes to bed at 7 pm. All the above times are approximate.
I'm quite strict with my routine, so try not to go out too much at nap times. To be honest, it is pretty restricting and its not for everyone. I'm not sure if it would work if I had another DC. If I do have to go out, she sleeps in her push chair/car seat, but so far I've managed to be in at her lunchime sleep.
Any help?

Hi, yes thank you - the trouble I am having (well one of my many sleep troubles) is that she will not stay asleep in her cot, day or night. She's in my arms again now - it's all up, down, up, down for the whole nap but I guess I just need to persevere!

Getting her to nap in her cot was a bit of a trial for us too. I waited until she was sleeping in it at night before I used if for day times naps. It took a good few days before she got the hang of it.

Good luck.

Hi, I have a 21 week old ds and I think (although I've probably jinxed it) we are just coming out of the 4 month sleep regression.

Up until the last few days he would only nap 45 mins max in his cot during the day but now will nap for a lot longer. I had to wake him from a nap the other day - amazing! I haven't changed anything this just seems to have happened naturally.

Anyway since getting the longer naps his night sleep is much much better we are down to one night waking most nights.
This is what he did yesterday...

Up 6:30 am
9am Nap 1 hr
12pm Nap 2 hrs
bed for 6pm (although I think he was OT at bedtime as a bit unsettled so prob could have done with a short nap in the afternoon).

Generally I try to keep his day sleep to about 3hrs and then he will sleep for 11 - 12 hrs with 1 or 2 wakings for feeds - he is ebf.

Hope this helps.

DD will be 5 months tomorrow, at the moment her routine is:
6:00(ish) - wake
7:00 - one hour/one hour thirty mins nap in cot
11:00- cat nap in car/pram/sling usually 40 mins
14:00- usually 2-3 hours in cot
19:00- bed

I think we cracked daytime naps when I realised I should stop messing about singing/rocking and leave her to it!

Good luck.

My DS will be 6 months next week. His naps still aren't perfect (he'll only sleep for 45 mins at a time) but he does nap in his cot. I wait til I see lots of tired signs (eye rubbing, ear rubbing, face rubbing) then I turn off all noisy toys/tv and we have 10-15 mins of stories. I then take him up to his cot, leave him with his dummy to wind down on his own, then when he starts getting whingey I hold his hands and he goes to sleep (most of the time). If this doesn't work he will just scream his head off so I end up feeding him (bf) to sleep but this doesn't happen often. I think it helps him to have a nap time routine. When we're out and about he'll nap in the pram whenever he wants :) this is our typical day at the moment....

wakes 6.30
naps 8.30 - 9.15
naps 12 - 12.45
naps 3.45 - 4.30
bedtime starts 6.15, asleep by 7.

hope that's of some use :)

Hi.my dS is 5.5months

Up 630-7am
Nap 9-930
Nap 12-2
Sometimes a 15 min nap 430ish
Bed 630-7pm

I do a dream feed at 10pm but other than that, that is him til morning

He will nap in cot or pram.

5 & a bit month DS;

1. How many naps a day? 3
2. How long are naps? 2 20-40min naps, 1 1-2hr nap.
3. Where are the naps taken? Pram, he won't nap anywhere else. So I roll him up & down the flat all day when we're not out.
4. What times of day are naps? The 2 short ones are before breakfast & late afternoon, long one is just after lunch.
5. What do you do if out for day or over a nap time? I just let him sleep whenever he wants.

He sleeps from 7pm-6am, waking at midnight & 4-ish for a feed.

Thanks for all replies, I have been staying in for the last few days watching for tired signs and trying to establish decent napping routine.

Can I get your opinions on this... She seems to need

• 1st nap at 8.30 for between 1/2hr-1hr
• 2nd nap 11.00 for about 2-2.5hrs
• 3rd nap about 4.30 for at least an hour

she wants to sleep for longer at last nap but I wake her as it is getting so near bedtime.

Also I'm finding it almost impossble to go out at all as she will only nap at home. Is this just something I have to put up with? How do you manage to go out?

Thanks again

Hi OP, just posted on your other thread,but the naps are looking good!

I always find my DS sleeps better when we are out than when we are at home during the day, so I'm not really sure what to suggest. Is there anytime your dd will sleep when out? If DS is asleep in the pushchair he will wake up if it stops moving or if we are on a smooth floor in a shop, but if we're on a bumpy pavement or going accross grass etc he goes straight back to sleep.

Will your dd nap in the car or on a bus?

Meant to add, perhaps time going out in the car/bus/pushchair right before her nap, so by the time you get where you want to go, she's due to wake up anyway?

I follow the eat activity sleep routine with my 14 wk old dd and have 'trained' her to nap in her cot. White noise, darkness, dummy. I let her fuss for 60 seconds and then go pat and soothe. Then leave and repeat. Never more than 60 seconds of fussing or grizzling. Now she falls asleep the minute she hears the White noise.

Basic routine below but generally I put her down at first yawn even of she's only been awake half an hour.

7am awake and fed
8-9 nap
9 feed
9-10.30 awake
10.30-12.30 nap
12.30 feed
2pm-3pm nap
3pm feed
3-4.30 awake
4.30 Catnap
6.15 bath bath and bed
11.30 dream feed

It's quite restrictive personally but she has got so used to the routine that life is much easier and she hardly ever cries...