I don't have specific times of the day that I put Micah down for his nap, but he is pretty consistent with being tried after being up for about 2 hours. My question is when you say you let him sleep when he's tired and be awake when he's not, do you mean he doesn't nap at the same time every day or he sleeps literally whenever he falls asleep (i.e. he's playing in his jumper and falls asleep so he must be tired...put him in bed)?
My LO is so alert that he pretty much forces him to stay awake. When he's tired we have to "help" him fall asleep (i.e. bring him to his room/feed him/rock him, whatever). He has never been one to just fall asleep in our arms while we're holding him or anything like that so I'm just curious about other babies.
Re: Q for those who don't have set nap schedules
I watch for cues- eye rubbing and loss of interest in what we're doing are the big ones. I take him to his room, rock, nurse, and put him down. The times vary depending on the day but generally he does one short morning nap and a longer afternoon nap!
My LO does not drop anywhere- he is very, very particular about his routine and sleeping in his crib.
HTH!
Linus doesn't nap at the same time every day, but like your son, if he's been awake for two hours, he's probably getting sleepy. Occasionally, he'll fall asleep in his bouncy seat or while lying on the floor. But most of the time, when I see that he's getting tired I have to hold/bounch/walk him to sleep. If I let him be on his own and he gets too tired without falling asleep, he becomes ultra cranky.
Lately, he's been a lot harder to put to sleep, even when he's tired, and its making me bonkers!
I just want to give you a world as beautiful as you are to me.
This is the same for both of my kids as babies. Once DD starts yawning, getting glassy-eyed, or rubbing her face into me, I know she's tired. So she has a bottle in her room, I put the white noise on, and put on her seahorse, and she falls asleep. I sometimes rock her a little as well.
I feel your pain. My LO is suddenly a lot harder to put down too even when he is CLEARLY tired. Very frustrating. I am hoping it is the 4 month wakefuls that people are posting about and that it will soon pass. Good luck to you
Our daughter is not on a nap schedule. She is the same, gets tired after 2-3 hrs of being awake. If I notice her yawning or rubbing her eyes I will put her in her swing. She may cry for a few min (if longer, I turn on the vacuum) and then she's asleep. She'll sleep anywhere from 30 min to 2 hrs. The only thing I make sure of is that she doesn't go down for her last nap any later that 4:30. Otherwise she fights going to bed at 8. She has been sleeping through the night for the past 2 months (8pm-6am) so it works for us. But as you know all babies are different. Some do better with schedule's.
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