Day naps..can anyone explain why...

[amysmum247]

My dd is 9 months & sleeping has never been her best subject, however she is now mostly sleeping through from 7pm-5/5.30am most nights...touch wood. I always bf her to sleep, more because she is so exhausted come 7pm & falls asleep anyway. She will have a morning nap at around 9/9.30am for around 20-30mins..I wake her after 30mins max as otherwise she is not tired at lunchtime when I want her to take a nap. So I normally put her down between 12.30 & 1pm. Her cuddle her until she has just closed her eyes.. then after 60secs put her in her cot. This is fine for the am nap but at lunch she generally will only have 30mins then wakes up crying, if I cuddle her she will then have another 30mins & this pattern continues normally until I get fed up. I try to let her have at least 3x 30mins that way she can get through the afternoon without being too grumpy but is so tired come 7pm. On the odd occassion..about once a week..she will have 1 1/5 - 2hrs at lunch without me going to her. Why is this? I have tried to think if I do anything different on the days she has a good lunch nap & I can't think. I have tried leaving her to settle herself but she just cries & cries & I can't stand it. She obviously is OK at settleing herself during the night & on the odd day when she sleeps for 2hrs so I can't think that leaving her to cry herself to sleep would solve this problem. I would love to have just an hour to myself to get on with the ironing, have lunch etc. So if anyone has any ideas I would be grateful. The other day she woke at 7.30am didn't have a morning nap & went to sleep at 1.30pm and still woke up after 30mins. She is still tired as she falls straight off when I pick her up. I have tried leaving her in her cot and stroking her tumy but she just screams louder. I have always put her to sleep am & lunchtime without feeding so this is not the issue.

you could be me! i was gonna type a thread and call it naptime chaos. will watch your resaponses with interest

I've a theory about day time naps with which I've already bored others today, but will share with you anyway....

They need to learn to sleep - it doesn't come naturally. She's doing well as you say sleeping through the night. I wonder if she's getting over tired and is struggling to rest more? I found the more sleep they have, the easier it becomes. So I'd try not waking her half way through her morning nap (and 5.30am to 9.30am seems a long time for a 9 month old) Maybe leave it slightly later if necessary for afternoon, hopefully she'll sleep better and not be so exhuasted when she goes to sleep at 7pm. Maybe 30 mins into her lunchtime nap at the moment she's wondering why you've not come to wake her up, as you do in the mornings?

I think 5.30 to 9.30 is a really long time too before a nap for a 9 month old.. Is 5/5.30 the start of your day, or is she going back to sleep after a feed then? If not, she may well be exhausted by 9 am, and be really over tired by lunchtime.

Have you tried letting her sleep longer in the morning (it sounds like she'd probably have a longer nap at that time), and then she might have a nap later in the day for 45 mins or so, which would mean she's more refreshed and able to stay awake more at 7 (this might even have knock on effect of her drinking more at that bedtime feed, and her going through even longer in the morning).

I am much more relaxed with my second DS than I was with my first, as I became a bit obsessed by the long lunchtime sleep with DS1. However, DS2 (7 months) is totally fine just so long as he has the opportunity to get about 3 hours of sleep in during the day - in 2 naps usually. And it doesn't seem to matter if he sleeps his longer nap from 12-2.30, or 2-4, or 1-3, or even 9-11 with another hour from 2-3 - he's still ready for bed by 7, and is pretty happy all afternoon.

Sleep really does beget sleep.

When she wakes at 5.30am she is ready to start the day. I can get her to go back on the very rare occassion..only about 3x in the last month. by the way this is a new thing she always used to wake at 7-7.30am sometimes even 8am!!! I put her in her cot for her naps unless I fancy a walk or we are out in the car. On a morning even after 20mins she wakes on her own sometimes...maybe it's because she is too tired to settle into a deep sleep. I will try & get her to go back to sleep in the morning & then see what happens, if she doesn't then I will try putting her back down at say 8am??? Does that sound better...5.30am - 8am 2.5hrs awake. You would think I would know by now but 9 months on & I still know as much about baby sleeping patterns as I did at the beginning.

My dd has started waking at 5am and its not fun, mainly as I'm not keen on getting up then (esp after getting up at 3am for a night feed!) but also because it messes her daytime naps up. I find that the days she naps well she sleeps much better at night. My dd is only 5 months but she is normally getting hyper and silly by 9am ready for a nap - she is a very very reluctant napper! What happens if you let your dd sleep longer at the morning nap and then maybe having her afternoon nap at about 2.30? This worked well for me until this 5am thing started!

maybe those babies who are waking at 5 and refusing to go back to sleep need another short nap around 7 even, and then 2 more naps in the day. you could have breakfast then in peace, or a bath!!

Well we had a new one last night so my plan went all to pot. We had a window salesman visit, and since we are looking at new windows he came in & didn't leave till 6.40pm. We had to give her a quick bath & then she was in bed by 7.30pm. She had had a little nap in the afternoon at 4.40pm for 20mins so she wasn't dead tired. She cried at 8.10pm but settled back to sleep on her own. She then was pretty restless all night, I could hear her moving all night. She woke at around 12.30ish but a quick cuddle and she was back to sleep. She then woke at 4am, I fed her thinking it would mean she might sleep longer...she was fast asleep at 4.15am, woke 5 mins later & chattered on and off for 1/2 an hour then started crying. DH cuddled her & was asleep by 5.15am. Woke again at 5.45am, fed her and was fast asleep by 6am. Put her in the cot asleep & she woke 10mins later. So we have had breaky & I am thinking of putting her back to bed at around 8.30-8.45am. She is showing no signs of tiredness but she rarely does unless she is knackered. She is currently pulling everything from the change bag & trying to disconnect the modem as I type. I am going to try to stick to my plan today although we have a baby group on a Thursday which always over runs.

oh dear! But at least you didn't have an hour and a half of screaming, so it does sound as though in that sense, it was an improvement.

Both my DSs tended to sleep better in the day when I put them down before they showed many signs of being tired. I'd put them in their cots thinking, hmmm, can't see this nap lasting long as he doesn't seem that tired, and then, hey presto, 2 hours later, they'd still be snoring...

Good luck today.

Put her down at 8.15am & she had 45mins, then put her down at 12.15 & she had 1.5hrs....hooray lets hope that is the answer
thanks everyone!

amysmum - how did you do it ??!!?

I'll keep my fingers crossed for tomorrow. And this evening for that matter.

Wow..surely that can't be the answer. So I think as long as I get her down for her morning nap 2-2.5hrs from when she has woke & then her lunch nap 3hrs from when she last woke she seems to be having longer. I thought by keeping her awake longer she would sleep better but infact the more tired she is the less she will sleep for. Get her to bed the moment she is tired & everything is fine. Yesterday I think although she had 1hr20mins this still was not quite long enough maybe she was hungry as she didn't have as much lunch. So she had another nap in the car at 4pm for 30mins, bed at 7pm & then not a peep until 4.45am. Fed for 1/2 an hour then a cuddle & finally woke for the day at 6.10am. So I have done the same today, am nap was around 8.25am..she slept til 8.55am, then bed at 12noon & slept til 1.25am. This time I fed her & cuddled her until 2.25pm when we have come downstairs. I know she was sleeping in my arms for the 2nd hour but as long as she is sleeping that is fine by me. I am sure if I up her lunch food then she will be able to go a little longer...at least this is giving me more than 30mins break. Thanks everyone...if you were here I would kiss you!!