Do you wake your DC from daytime naps?

[MilkyChopsKid]

to keep the sleep pattern right? Just wondering whether you use this to improve night-time sleeping.

My 10 month old DD doesn't go to sleep until 9pm - 9.30pm (almost my bedtime ), she can be very difficult to get to sleep at bedtime and for her last nap in the day. Should I restrict her lunchtime sleep so that her last nap (at 5pm or so) and her bedtime is easier? Is it cruel to wake her up on purpose?

She also wakes a couple of times in the night but that is probably another story!

If I think dd's gone too long I open the door to her room, open the curtains, do something noisy next door and/or go up and down the stairs a lot.

What works better really is making sure she starts napping at a reasonable time - if she goes to sleep at (eg) 3pm she can have as long as she wants as there'll still be time to get tired out before bedtime.
If she doesn't go to sleep till 4.30 she can have max 45min or bedtime comes too soon, so if she hasn't dropped off by 4pm we go for a long walk in the buggy...

Having said all this her night time sleep is still pretty poor even though bedtime is easy.

I have to wake my ds from his nap most days so that we can go out to dd's activities - I do feel a bit cruel but we wouldnt get out the house in the afternoon otherwise. He has had only one nap a day from about 11/12 months which is just after lunch. Before that he napped at 9.30am and just after lunch with bedtime around 7.15pm.

Why is your DD going to sleep at 5pm???

Mine would never sleep if they did that.

At that age DS was having 3/4hr in the morning and about 2hrs in the afternoon (at 10ish and 2pm).

Unless you want her up that late I can't see the point in such a late nap.

Mind you my SIL puts her 1 yr old DS down 6-7 and then again at 8.30pm.

She does have a tendancy to put them to bed and leave them whether they are tired or not though - I can't bear the crying.

BTW we do wake DS2 from his naps if they are going on too long in the morning - otherwise we are stuck with him doing a long nap in the morning and then being too tired to eat at 6.30pm (bedtime is 8ish).

How many naps a day is she having? And are you saying you'd like her asleep earlier in the evening? If so, I'd cut out the late afternoon nap - dd at that age was having 2 sleeps, ds was having just one, and both were always asleep by 7.30pm. Mind you, the rest of the night were pretty awful so what do I know?

I do wake ds if he's slept for more than 2 hours (he's 14 months) - like Mrs Badger I open the curtains, make some noise etc. I don't feel cruel - any more than 2 hours and any chance of a decent night's sleep for anyone is out the window.

Why don't you tell us a littlemoreabout her routine? When does she eat, get up etc Most babies I have worked with at this age have been on a 7-7 routine

Thanks for your responses. A 7-7 routine would be great! Especially if it comes with no disturbances for me during the night - around 4am normally but sometimes at 1 - 2am as well.

DD can only last 2-3 hours between naps and we end up with one around 4.30 - 5pm. Although strangely the time between naps sometimes gets longer as the day goes on.

An average day:
6am wake up
8am back to sleep again for 90 minutes until 9.30am
12.30pm another 90 minute sleep until 2pm.
5pm a 45 minute sleep
9 - 10pm sleep for the night.

The feeds are at 7am, 11.30am, 4pm and 8pm.

HaventSleptForAYear, a 10am and 2pm sleep would work well but DD can't last until then in the morning. We have tried bedtime earlier when she has been out and the routine disrupted but she kept waking every 45 minutes until 11pm.

Is night-time sleep better than daytime sleep, so if DD does sleep 12 hours a night will she go longer during the day?

sometimes you just have to string them out a little bit to get to the next nap time to make it all work.is hard work for a few days but they often do get used to a new routine quite quickly. it depends how happy you are ith her current schedule i reckon! i value my evenings so work hard to get them in bed by 7pm(have dropped 3 yr old nap so she will be tired enough to go to bed then even though the days are harder). of course some children just wont do as we want and will do what suits them. try and see for a few days she should be able to exist on 2 sleeps per day. it might take a while to get her into the idea of a slightly longer lunchtime nap but it should work- a nap at say 9 then 1 maybe?

MilkyChops I would reduce her morning nap to 45 minutes so she should want longer at lunchtime. Do this over a period of time, say knock 15 mins off her morning sleep every 2 days. Try to get lunch to 12 ish, again by knocking it back 10 mins every few days. Make sure she has a good mid-morning snack to help her go longer. If she is more tired you may find you can get 2h out of her at lunchtime, say 12.45-2.45 or 1-3pm. Give her tea at 5-5.15ish, bath by 6.30, bed by 7. I think it will take a few weeks to slide the day back like this but you definitely need to lose the 5pm sleepif you want your evening back! Good luck

I think the other posters are generally going in the right direction
BUT
we had great success putting dd back to sleep after the 5-6am wakeup - if she gets her extra 90min then till 7.45 or so, you may find she can last till 11am, wake up for lunch at 12.30 and then do a final nap at 3 or 4.

I know it's not the widely-accepted 'after-lunch nap' but it works for dd - I suspect when she drops down to one nap a day it'll be an afterlunch one.

agree with Mrs Badger - we've started doing this with DS, bottle at 5am so he sleeps a bit longer and then this has just pushed the day back a bit. He now has a nap before lunch, and then a nap at about 3:30pm.