Daytime sleep routines for a 6mo

[TracyK]

I am very confused as to what to do with my 6 mo ds. I usd to give him 45 mins- 1hr in am then 2 hrs in afternoon and maybe a 15min about 5ish.
Then a friend says she does the opposite 2 hrs in am and a short nap in the afternoon.
So I tried that. But I don't know what he prefers or what would make him go through the nght as he does sometimes and then sometimes gets me up twice for a feed. No regular pattern that I can see.
I don't understand why a baby would need 2 hrs sleep in the morning if they're just after a long sleep at night - but maybe I'm reading too much into it.
I would just let him sleep when he wanted - but at the moment I'm not sure he's sleeping because he's tired - more just because it's so hot.
What sleep routines does everyone else follow?

At this age I went with the baby - if they seemed tired I let them sleep. I think that it it entirely dependent upon the baby you have - some need sleep some don't. I have experienced both with our two. DD slept for 45 mins a day from about 6 months, whilst DS could sleep for Britain!
The only thing that I followed was to not let them sleep too late in the day if I wanted them in bed by 7pm, otherwise it was awful getting them to settle. I would be guided by him in your position at this stage really. Good luck!

My ds is 6 months and must admit that we're only getting to follow a routine now... which i seem to think is pretty late compared to his sister who had a fairly regular routine from 4 months (or so it seems... i tend to look at the early days of dd through rose tinted glasses!!)

ds wakes up at about 6 ish - 7 ish and 2 hours after he's woken up will put him down with a boob feed. He'll normally sleep for 2 hours in the morn. Lunch at 12ish and then sleep again at 1ish will sleep for about hour half... food at 3, food at 5 and sleep at 6pm. Sleeps through to about 5am. quick 5 min boob feed and up at 6-7 ish... and so we start again...

must say that this seems to be working quite well, but ike i said has only started this recently... which is a pain in the bum as he didn;t use to sleep at all and now he seems to be doing this quite nice regular routine but he's about to start nursery in 3 weeks and so it'll all get mucked up again!... sigh!

i would say... do whatever seems to work for you, don;t worry about what other people are doing, babies find their own set patterns (as do moms! )

Hi Tracy. My littlin (now 7.5 months) has never been a napper. Sometimes takes 10 minutes in morn, 2 hours in afternoon but sometimes NONE. Worried myself sick in the beginning as he wasn't doing what the books said he should. We do have a routine and I offer him sleep at his set times. Sometimes he takes it, sometimes not but he's always in bed at 7pm - this he knows and can rely on. He does, however sleep 12-13 hours at night. As for the heat, I'd offer him some quiet time in a cool dark room for a bit. If he sleeps GREAT, if not don't be too worried. Easier said than done though, I know. Good luck.

Mine used to have 45mins at around 9am after waking at around 7am and a 2hr sleep at 12.30pm following lunch. They might have had a 15min kiplet at around 4.30pm but neither were that bothered although both would get crotchety before 5pm feed. ds1 would sleep 12hrs solid from aroun 7months through the night whereas ds2 would be nearer 11hrs at around 5months onwards.

The waking for a milk feed in the night may be more due to hunger if he's missed out on sufficient milk feeds during the day.Babies still get most of their nutritional requirements from their milk at this age and if with weaning they are scoffing too much puree in pref to milk then that may be why ds is waking sometimes. Just a thought.

Perhaps I should also point out that I followed GF (Gina Ford) routine for ds1 and ds2 just slotted into ds1's routine. We have an age gap of only 17mo. I know not everyone is keen on her view points!!

Hi Tracy ...
I was the queen of routine with DS who is now 4.8 years (I slavishly followed Gina Ford) and I put him down at all the times she said and woke him up at all the times she said, and to be honest spent the first 18 months of his life getting my knickers in a twist if he didn't do what he was 'supposed' to do. Not knocking GF at all, I still think she was a life saver for me when I needed it.
However ... I have approached things differently with DD (who is now 6 months old).
Without going into a long involved story about how DD's routine has evolved this is what she does now:
Wakes anytime after 6am but always before 7am.
Breastfeed at 7ish
Breakfast at 8ish
Sleep anytime after 9am ... and will sleep usually for 1.5 hrs. She did wake up after 40 minutes a la GF but in the last couple of weeks she has slept longer.
Lunch at 11.30am
Sleep depending on when she woke up from morning nap (usually 2.5 hrs after she woke) ... she will then do anything from half an hour to 1.5 hrs.
Breastfeed between 2 and 3pm
If she has been awake since before 2pm then I will put her down for a cat nap around 4ish ... If she slept to 2.30pm then she will get through till bedtime
5pm tea
6pm bath
6.30pm Breastfeed
7pm Bed.

Looking back on how I did thing with DS I really prefer DD having a longer nap in the morning ... If she has had a long nap then I don't feel stressed about her having catnaps for the rest of the day, if she catnaps in the morning then I stress about when she will have a long sleep.

I know that as she gets older that morning nap will get later and later and so eventually by the time she is 18months it should be a nap after lunch ...

Sorry for this longwinded post ...

HTH

PS ... I was soooo rigid about DS's routine that this is a novelty for me. DD's routine described above is only what she has been doing for the last two weeks ... it might change at anytime!

Well, today I tried to let him sleep as long as he wanted - but he woke at 5am, gave him 1 boob, kept him quiet till 6am, then the other boob, kept him quiet till about 7.
He went downstairs with dh and had 5 oz about 8.30am. I took them for a walk and he went for a nap at 8.45 in his pram. I gave in and woke him at 11am - he would have carried on sleeping I'm sure!
I fed him at 11 and then gave him some chicken/potato/carrot mash at 12.15.
He went to sleep again at 1.20 and again I had to wake him at 2.30.
I fed him (but very briefly) at 3.15 and then properly at 4.15pm. He had some banana porridge at 5.
He's now had his bath and is feeding 8oz?? at 7.30pm.
Lets see how tonight goes!

Also - do you think I was right to wake him - or should I have left him to see how long he would sleep for during these naps?