How much sleep for 6mo?

[Thefaceofboe]

Hi,

I was just wanting to ask how much day sleep your 6/7 month old gets?

My daughter is almost 7 months and tends to have 11 hrs night sleep and about 3 hours day sleep, spread out over 3 naps, but I’m really struggling to get her to stay asleep at bedtime. She goes to sleep fine around 7ish but wakes up after half an hour and then I can’t get her back to sleep unless I’m cuddling her, it seems like she’s not in a deep enough sleep.

I’m wondering if she’s sleeping too much during the day, but I feel any less she’d be grumpy.

Her schedule tends to be

Wake up 6/6.30

Nap around 8.30-10am

Nap again 12.30- 1.30pm

Nap 4-4.30pm

Bedtime 7pm

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello, is it worth trying to drop a nap and seeing how that goes? My 6 mo routine is like this if it's helpful:

6:30am awake

9:30-11am nap 1

1:30-3pm nap 2

6:30pm bedtime

What I did was just bring the first nap later by about 15 mins every couple of days so nap 2 naturally got a bit later too and then he dropped the 3rd nap (similar time to yours) at the same time.

Good luck!

Yep, sounds like she needs to drop a nap. Mine went to 2 at 6 months on the dot. If she was getting the right amount of sleep she wouldn't be waking up like that once she's gone to bed.

She will struggle at first, as sounds like she needs to drop it, but when you make the change she won't like you for it. She'll act like she still needs it but don't give in

Make the 1st nap later, which in turn makes the 2nd nap later, and 3rd nap won't happen (bedtime will need to be much earlier - ours was fast asleep 6pm most nights). As time goes on and they can be awake longer bedtime will go to a more normal time

Hi OP, every baby is different of course so just sharing what mine was like in case yours is also a ‘high sleep needs’ baby!

At 7 months he was….

Up 7:30
Nap 1: 10:30 - 11:00
Nap 2: 13:00 - 15:00
Nap 3: 17:00 - 17:10 (Power Nap!)
Bed 19:30
(Sleep through for 12 hours)

I based this off the human circadian rhythm which operates based on sleep pressure and body temperature throughout the 24 hour period. I did my PhD in this area so it was quite a scientific endeavour The most restorative time for humans to sleep is in the middle of the day, so stretching that nap out and shortening others may give your little one the boost in energy during the day, followed by enough sleep pressure at bedtime to sleep well overnight.
Best of luck to you, naps are tricky to nail and the goalposts always move!
Also worth nothing that my baby is now 22mo and still naps 13:00-15:00 and sleeps 12 hours overnight - he has big sleep needs.

Yep, sounds like she needs to drop a nap. Mine went to 2 at 6 months on the dot. If she was getting the right amount of sleep she wouldn't be waking up like that once she's gone to bed

I thought this too, but she can’t stay awake long enough inbetween naps to only have 2 and she is horrendously overtired by bedtime. At the moment she is waking at 6 and having her first nap at 8.30 but by then she’s exhausted.

I’m finding it really hard to get her tired enough for bedtime but not over tired.

@Kate105

thanks for replying. Your routine sounds exactly how I want ours to go but it’s just not working right now. Although I might try a 6/6.30pm bedtime and see how we get on.

had a few awful nights while my husbands away and just feel like horrendous

@LabradorFiasco

Hi, thanks for replying, thats really interesting about the afternoon nap, I always try and have a longer morning nap but may try and stretch out her afternoon nap now 😀

its definitely tricky when wake windows are always changing as they get older.

My boy is turning 7 months and has just dropped to 2 naps this week. He started cat napping for 20 minutes at a time so I saw that as a sign that it was time to change things up. He's doing well. His old routine was:

6am: wake
7:30 - 8:30: nap
11am - 12 noon: nap
2pm - 3pm: nap
5:30: shower
6pm: story and bed

We've now moved to:

6am: wake
8am - 9am: nap
12 noon - 2pm: nap
5:30: shower
6pm: story and bed

That's the 2/3/4 rule for wake windows and works for us.

Can't crack the night waking though. He sleeps 6pm - 11pm soundly. Then wakes 2 hourly for a feed (breastfeeding) until 6am. Don't know how to crack that one, if anyone has any advice.

Considering getting him out of the next-to-me and into his own room in the coming weeks to see if that helps.

@GromblesofGrimbledon

thanks for relying! I’ve done a 6pm bedtime tonight with 2 naps and a 10 minute power nap at 4 so I’m hoping for a better night.

i can’t give you any advice on the feeds but when we moved dd into her own room at (almost) 6 months her sleep improved massively.

So this is how today has gone

Woke at 6am

nap 8.15am -9am

nap 11.30-1pm

nap 4-4.15

Bed time - 6.20

It’s now 7.30 and she’s woke up twice already and she’s currently asleep in my arms. I can’t transfer her without her waking 😫

That middle nap should actually say 11.30-1.30pm! so a 2 hour mid day nap

Each sleep cycle is about 45 minutes. When mine is overtired he wakes at the 45 minute point on the dot. If I just pay him/give him his dummy/ignore him for 5 minutes if he's just grumbling, then he usually goes back to sleep. Have you tried just holding back and seeing what happens when she wakes?

Our routine, in case it helps:

Wake 7:30/8
Nap 1 9:30-11:30/12
Nap 2 1:30/2-3:30
Bath 5:45
Bed 6:30
Dream feed 9:30

Oh, and he's 8 months

@justchecking1

Hi, yes I have just left her for a few minutes and she just gets more worked up, causing her to be more awake so I try and get to her now while she’s still drowsy in hope of her going back to sleep easier.

im struggling with her naps and have no idea if she’s undertired or over tired at bed time. I guess it’s just trial and error but it’s bloody exhausting.