Daytime naps- does the length matter

[Freyathecatt]

Morning ladies

We are trying to get my 5 month old's daytime (and nighttime!) sleeping sorted and everything i've read says that the morning nap should be c45 mins, afternoon nap 1.5-2 hrs and the late afternoon nap c45 mins again. My son really likes to have the long nap in the morning and then have the 45 min naps in the afternoon. Does this matter?? Or is it just important that he gets enough snooze generally during the day?

Please say it's ok! Can't face having ANOTHER thing to work on!!

Thanks in advance.

Whatever works for him! DS at that age had a morning nap at around 9am and then an afternoon nap at around 1, and an early bedtime of 6pm. Worked for us. Sometimes his morning nap would be longer, sometimes his afternoon nap would be, as long as he's having good naps then he will be fine!

I agree. Just because Gina Ford ( one of your
books??) says they need the long nap at
lunchtime doesn't mean they do. If he is
napping well you are doing great- doesn't
Matter if the long nap is in the morning or
lunchtime. DS does either.

mine used to do 3 45 minute naps at that age; I couldn't get her to have a longer one consistently, although randomly she would sometimes pull a long one out the bag.

As she has got older (she's now 10mo) this has turned into two naps of 1h15 - 1h30, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I can't see this changing soon so I have never established a short and long routine. I once woke her up after 45 minutes of a morning nap to see if she would go for longer in the afternoon. Result: overtired, angry baby and 2 short naps! Just do what suits your baby :-)

I'd just go with the flow. Ds is 15 months and still has two naps, one at 8.45 till 10ish and one 1.45 to 2.45, he loves his morning nap. I have to wake him up from the afternoon one to do the school run for dd. He sleeps 12 hours a night so his naps work for him!

Well.... the thinking behind this is that the morning nap is an extension of the night time sleep so should be kept shorter or it contributes to early waking. The lunch long nap is a different type of sleep (lighter perhaps, can't remember) so that won't affect nighttime sleep. I giess if you feel that it's not causing problems now then it doesn't really matter.. but if your dc starts waking early then that may be the answer.