Should you ever wake a baby from a nap?

[TS123]

DS is 14 months old and seems to do best with 2 naps per day. Most days his morning nap is short - 30-45 minutes which lets him sleep again for about 1 hour at 1-1:30pm. Some mornings, out of the blue, he'll take a really long morning nap - 1 1/2 hours. Then he'll have a really difficult time napping in the afternoon and that nap will be only 30 minutes (which makes it harder for him to stay up until bedtime). I have wondered if I should wake him up from his morning sleep if it goes on too long so that maybe he'll get a better afternoon nap. Or is it best just to let his nature sleep rhythm dictate the length of his naps?

I wouldn't worry about it. Wake him up if you need to go shopping or let him sleep if you're cooking/MNing. As long he's getting his Zzzzz's sometime!

I just let DS nap when and how long he wants... same way as sometimes you go to bed early if your tired so sleep longer etc.

it doesn't really matter. if you want to keep him in a good routine then wake him up after 45 mins in the morning, if it doesn't really bother you let him sleep as and when he wants.

leave them to sleep unless you need to go out etc

TS123, was interested in this post cos my lo (nearly 13 months) was until recently just having a lunchtime sleep (usually 2 hours somewhere between 11.30 - 2.30), however since he started walking he has been back in his cot by 10 and is sometimes sleeping til 1 so he is having his lunch after his sleep rather than before it. However the same as your lo he then struggles for a short nap in the afternoon and if he doesn't have one is shattered going to bed at 6.30. so sorry to hijack the thread but is anyone has any tips for me too I would be grateful!!

Just let them sleep and put them to bed at 6.30pm.

Princessmel - he does go to bed at 6.30 anyway but is too shattered to last this long if he has his sleep 10-1, and he can't go any earlier than this because of my working/picking DH up from work on my days off.

Its hard fitting naps in around things isn't it?
I need to fit my dd's in around collecting my son from nursery and 3 other children I collect at diff times on diff days .

Is there anyway you could keep him awake till 11am so he can sleep a bit later and last till bedtime?
My dd is better if she has a little friend round. I can usually keep her up a bit longer then.
We are at the stage where she can sometimes last till after lunch ( today)and nursery pick up and sometimes not. It too depends on her morning wake time.

Or could he have a mini power nap on way when you collect dh?

Firsteps I know exactly the problem. Bedtime doesn't seem to be early enough when they take one nap but getting in 2 naps is almost impossible. It seems to be a part of the transition from 2 naps to 1 for some kids, where 1 nap isn't quite enough. It's really tough to know what to do. I've tried stretching DS in the morning when he doesn't nap, to see if he'll last until noon. But because he wakes so darn early (5:30am usually), he's often overtired and will resist the nap by noon. Then it may even be worse nap not better -- because he's overtired. So it's really tough because you don't want to "stretch" them too long. In some ways, I think it's really just best to go with their cues. Then, try having quiet activity in the evening (when they get cranky) and then early bedtime. In my experience, it's been much easier to go with his natural sleep rhythm than to fight it and keep him up when he's tired.

I think it is just something that passes once they decide that one nap is enough - my ds (15 mths) manages with one 1.5-2 hr nap around 1pm now but from 13 mths for quite a few weeks we just had to go with the flow as he went from being a napper you could set your clock by to one who didn't know what he wanted to do - it just seemed to sort itself out in the end.

Jelliebellie, that is what I've heard from many people. Tell me -- during the transition weeks when he wasn't sure what he wanted to do, did you let him have his naps whenever he wanted (even if it was a late morning nap?) or did you try and get him on the 1 nap after lunch schedule right away (ie - keep him awake even if he's tired and stick to same routine daily)? I've read (Ferber) that you can perhaps "speed the transition" by sticking to a regular naptime after lunch. But I've also read (Weissbluth) that during the transition, some days they will need 2 naps, other days just one and on days they had just 1 nap - put them to bed early.

No comment on waking sleeping babies I just wanted to say that I am very jealous of you all with your napping babies

DD is 13 months and stopped having a daytime nap altogether about 3 weeks ago

Wow, at 13 months it seems a bit soon to drop all naps. How much sleep is he getting at night and is he sleeping well at night? Is he well behaved or cranky during the day? I'd say, keep in the habit of putting him in his cot - at the least he should have some quiet time to rest at some point during the day. At some point I'm sure he'll resume naps out of biological necessity. Sorry if you weren't looking for advice.

No worries TS123, I just wanted to register my jealousy

Yeah she is young but I think she's just worried she's going to miss out on something if she naps.

DS2 barging around the place and insisting that he's coming to help her go to sleep doesn't help either!

I'm lucky in that she's happy from morning til night and will keep on going all day without tears or grumpiness.

I just miss the chance to run around baby free and get some house stuff done and getting to play with DS2 uninterrupted

Have you decided whether to wake your DS or let him follow his own routine?

Ts123 is the 530 wake up regular or occassional ? Ferber says that with early morning waking the first nap is part of the nighttime sleep that has become
"detatched". If 530 is his regular wake up time i would push him later for his nap, if pos after an early lunch.

A well known childcare expert suggests bringing lunch forward even if it means lunch at 11am and a 2 hr sleep1130-130. The transition from 2 naps to 1 is tricky, I remember it well.

If you go out in the morning take lunch with you (i used to take sandwichs) then if he started to look sleepy i would quickly feed him so he went to bed with a full tummy. Sorry so long