Does my 6 month old actually need to nap?

[DaisyLady1]

FTM to 6 month old who has started to refuse daytime naps over the past 2 weeks. I have been trying everything to the point I spend the majority of my day trying to get her to sleep and it's now making me feel quite low.

She sleeps amazingly at night (long may this last) goes down at 7.30pm, dream feed around 10pm and awake at 8am. She is EBF.

I have tried the carrier, dark room, pram, rocking, feeding, white noise, no white noise etc. She is just too interested in the world and has serious FOMO!

I desperately want her to nap as come the afternoon she is incredibly cranky and constantly rubbing her eyes but as mentioned, nothing is working. Yesterday I spent from 10am (2hrs after waking) until about 3pm trying and eventually gave up.

I feel like giving up on even trying as its completely taking over our entire day and making me feel really crap! Does she actually NEED to nap? Any advice please?

Yes, she does need to nap. This is just a phase, as you said, she's got FOMO, but she absolutely needs more than 12 hours sleep a day at 6 months.

Rather than trying non-stop, try cutting the awake window a bit (so, wakes at 8, start trying at 9.30) and try for a nap for 20min, then give up, give it an hour, try again, etc etc.

It's a bitch. DD did this at 7m ish. We ended up putting her in the car and driving around to get her the daytime zzzs he needed.

I agree, hopefully this phase won't last too long and she'll go back to napping. It's soul destroying to keep trying and you both just end up upset. As pp suggested to try and if it doesn't happy then get on with your day and try again later and hopefully it passed soon when she realises she's not missing a thing!

Definitely a phase and definitely needs a nap. Might be over tired. I found the huckleberry app incredible useful as it alerts you, based on your babies age, when they should be going in to sleep based on when they last woke up (their "wake window"). It's not entirely accurate but you'll get used to using it and knowing what works for your baby. I'd say at 6 months you should have a nap every 3 hours. I'm sure it will resolve itself!

I used to put mine in the pushchair with a snoozeshade over her to block out light etc, would just put her in the kitchen or hallway, jiggle the pushchair until she dropped off.

Thank you for your replies, good to hear this is probably just a phase. I did think she needs to nap but started to feel like maybe I was wrong. Desperately clutching at straws here!

Good idea to try for a bit and have a break and start again. I feel like I'm losing the plot trying constantly. Just wish we could get out and about more as I worry she isn't getting stimulated enough being at home and therefore not tired to nap.

@India999 the Huckleberry app was brilliant before we hit this phase. I used it for all naps and it worked perfectly. On the flip side, it's now making me feel worse because I keep thinking how long ago she 'should' have been asleep!

Just out for a quick walk to chill us both out a little and will try again when we get home.

Thank you x

Yes

Yes, ideally 3 naps a day at that age.

DD1 hardly napped since she was little it just depends on the child. She used to (and still enjoys) staying in bed for longer in the morning. They need to sleep a certain amount of hours

3 naps 🤣🤣🤣 very specific

They should be napping but like all the above, they tend to resist sometimes.

Mine is 7 months now and going through a clingy phase. As soon as I walk out the room, she cries 🙈 its tedious 😂

I used to take DS out in the hiking carrier when I was trying to get him to sleep without a feed. The walking motion helped and he'd eventually drop off. I used to walk miles with him ha. But not very practical now with covid.

Your little one might be going through a leap...
Have you got the Wonder Weeks app? Its very good. Let's you know all about baby's developmental milestones (they call them leaps). If my DD is particularly grisly and I cant work out why, the answer is usually in that app and she's usually going through a leap.

About 6 months my DS dropped his morning nap so you’re maybe trying to put her down too early. I’d maybe just do one nap after lunch.

Even sleep hating DS had 2 naps still at 6 mo (not after 10 mo).

Used to get up with DH and sit in high chair with a few bits of finger food while I got a bit more sleep then brought to me either for BF and snooze together or into carrier and fresh air while I walked dogs.

Afternoon one tended to be on me after my lunch and I'd watch TV.

Ignore the 'they must have exactly this many hours or this many naps' brigade. I find Lyndsey Hookway on Instagram has useful ideas on sleep including the full range of 'normal' spectrum. Not all babies are the same

I recommend precious little sleep - she’s got a chart of babies ages and recommended amount of naps and hours of sleep for reference.

But yes - every child is different. But them resisting naps doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be offered. My 4 month old cries when I change her nappy - still gotta be done 😂

@PlinkPlink yes I have got the wonder weeks app, I don't always find it tallies with her behaviour but saying that, I just checked and it says we are currently in a leap. Apart from the nap strikes (and being tired from them) shes on great form.

We went for an hour walk after not being able to get her to have her first nap today, and she slept for about 20 mins. Obviously that's not long enough but its better than nothing!

I think tomorrow I may just change up our morning and do things in a different order to see if that makes any difference? With being stuck at home, our morning routine is very much the same every morning so a mix up might help.

Thanks for the reccomendations on people to look up, will do some research later.

My DD (8.5 months) got like that, but around the 7 month mark (although would be 6 months corrected) so I dropped to 2 naps a day and instead of going by wake windows (I do loosely), I put her down around the same times everyday.

She usually wakes around 6-6.30 so her first nap is between 9 and 9:30 (45 mins - 1 hour) then her second nap is between 1 and 1:30 (1.5-2 hours) and I wake her by 3pm then aim for bed around 7pm.

If your DD wakes at 8am, I’d try the first nap between 10:30 and 11 and see if she settles any better.

One of mine didn't, but she wasn't tired or grumpy even late into the afternoon. Even as a teen gets by on very little sleep so there is a continuum but as your dd is showing signs of tiredness it sounds as if she still needs sleep.