5mo naps - should i meddle?

[pulapula]

My DS has a long nap in the morning (2 hrs) and a short one in the afternoon (45mins but used to be 2 hrs too until recently ).

I would prefer it the other way round so we can go out to baby groups etc which tend to be in the morning, and then i could have a rest at lunchtime when my DD also naps but I am worried to wake him in case this results in 2 short naps and a grumpy baby.

Anyone have any advice/experience of this? Do you think he might sleep longer in the afternoon if he sleeps less in the morning (a la gina ford)?

If it were me, I wouldn't mess. Let sleeping dogs lie ! - not that I am calling your ds a dog!!!

my ds usually sleeps in the morning but we have baby yoga on a tuesday so i keep him awake and he sleeps longer in the afternoon then reverts to usual pattern next day, no harm done.

No way to tell really without trying it to see, but speaking from experience I tried to move my DDs naps once for the same reason (and once only!) and have never meddled again. It just isn't worth the tired unhappy baby that I got as a result of trying to shorten naps in the morning.

Also, a longer afternoon nap may mean problems getting him to sleep at night.

If it is any consolation, by the time he is a year old and you are doing lots of activities with him, he should have moved by himself to one longish nap at lunchtime, so no more worries!

IME meddling just resulted in upset baby and grumpy mummy because it just didn't work with her natural sleep cycles. Could you compromise and go maybe once a week and try and organise some pm activities for the rest of the time. Failing that would he sleep in the buggy / sling while you get a chance to chat to the other mums. having said that, if you're lo is very adaptable and a good sleeper then try it for a day or two and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice.

I think I'll leave him for now, and work around his naps. There isn't much to do in the afternoons round here (and its dark and cold!) but a happy baby is more important at the moment, so not worth risking.

We do go to baby-signing and we've been swimming once but nothing for a few weeks due to illness. Once i start taking him again I'll probably feel like I'm getting out more. I need some adult conversation!

I should also say that I have to wake him from his 2 hour nap in the morning (often he's fast asleep) so guess he does like his morning sleeps!