6 month old day naps wits end

[Jennyfirsttimemum]

Anyone that can help...please.

I can't get my 6 month to take more than one nap a day....

She will sleep roughly 10am to 11.30 , sometimes to 12.30pm.

Eye rubbing and very fidgety behaviour, like she's running! All limbs are moving...
I try to get her down but no luck. I'm exhausted by 5pm and her bedtime is 7pm...with 2 wake ups in the night (12pm and 4am) and waking at 6am, sometimes 7am ....I'm just dead on my feet.

I know I should count my blessings that I have a baby that actually sleeps but it seems every mum I speak to has a baby that sleeps 3 hour naps...

@Jennyfirsttimemum my 7 month daughter is the same, she has 30 minute power naps during the day and fights these, and then wakes 3 times at night as well! I know your pain very well!

"Typically" (I hate that word) a six month old needs about 14 hours sleep, 11 of which are generally at night. My first had way more than this, my second way less and my third isn't there yet. All babies are different so definitely don't compare. With all the wriggling yours sounds very overtired.

So you've got a baby who sleeps roughly 7pm - 6/7pm and who is napping at 10am for between 1.5 - 2.5 hours. If a 6 month old should be having around 3 naps a day then I think the first nap is probably on the late night and doesn't leave time for 2 more naps and perhaps she's not having a second nap because the first nap was bigger than she needed where she's trying to squeeze all the sleep in from being overtired. Clutching at straws.

I'd try bringing her first nap forward to say 9/9:30am. I think at that age our general routine was wake at 7am, naps at 9am, 12pm and 3pm, then bed at 7pm. My second was 9am, 1pm and 4pm due to the school run. I've always let them wake naturally and so it can shift things. If you shift nap to 9am and she's not waking earlier and it doesn't improve anything, then I'd consider waking earlier to see if it helps. In general with all 3 of mine I have found that sleep feeds sleep.

What time do you put her down for her first nap? If she's waking up at 6 then you should prob be encouraging her to nap around 8/8:30.

She gets tired- yawning rubbing eyes at about 9.30am , 10.00am... so the first nap is from then until about midday. I do try and follow feed play feed sleep - exclusively breastfed from birth,

I do find she is happy and well rested after that nap and she's not unhappy at all.
Just the eye rubbing and the running on spot - is that completely an over tierd thing? / increases from about 2pm onwards.

The long nap at 10am is a big improvement from a month ago when she would catnap 30 minutes only at say 9am and then midday...

Are you trying to put her in a cot for her nap? Would she sleep longer on you? My DD when she was that age would not nap for any length of time in a cot but if I held her she would sleep for hours. Not always the most convenient but they're only that young once and there's Netflix! Or I would put her in a sling if I had to get on with bits and again she could sleep much longer.

She is happy to sleep in her cot for the lounge mid morning nap.

Yesterday she did sleep on me for 30 minutes in the afternoon from 3pm to 3.30pm.... so that's an improvement.

I'm going to try for the earlier 9am/9.30am for the first morning nap. See if that improves the morning wake up time.

As I said she's not screaming or crying at all and seems very content. Maybe she just wants to nap those times and that's it....

Should I be worried about the running in the spot - she just seems excited... and she's smiling doing it...