Too many naps?

PrettyPalomino

Hello ladies! It's been a while (approx. 6 months...) since I've posted. DD has thrived since birth, and I've felt like #1 FTM so I kinda went MIA. But now I'm confused! (and humbled). The kid sleeps... a lot... too much? I never put her on a strict schedule, but we ended up in this very predictable routine from 4 months onward:

6:30 wake up and 6oz bottle of formula
8:00-9:30 nap
9:30 baby jar of puree
10:00 6oz bottle
11:30-12:30 nap
1:00 6oz bottle
2:30-4:30 nap
4:30 6oz bottle
6:00-7:00 nap
7:30 6oz bottle
8:00 bedtime

Basically she still has 5 bottles every 3ish hours, she still naps 4x a day... we've tried cutting out the evening nap and she has a meltdown. And I'm surprised she doesn't last 4 hours between bottles (Crabby McCrabberson if you try to stretch it), is it normal for an almost 7 month old to still be on the same schedule as she was when she was like 3-4 months???

m6agua

I think that schedule sounds within the realm of normal and nothing to worry about (but you could ask your doctor). The only things I could think of trying would be:

A.) Instead of being up for the day try to put her back down at 6:30 after the MOTN feed

or 

B.) Try to extend her awake time by about 15 minutes each day. My LO is up anywhere from 2-4 hours now.

I would personally prefer option b.

ETA: However when my LO wakes up before 6:30 I usually put her back down. After 6:30 is usually harder to get her back down.

SandNStarsNJ

It's not horribly unheard of. ODD was like this until she found stimuli that kept her wanting to talk win more. If Lo needs to sleep, she'll sleep and when she's ready to phase a nap out, she will. Unless there's signs of constant lethargy or failure to thrive, I'd say you're A-OK, mama. But, I'm also not a doctor, so that might be the person to check with.

You could always try adding more puree to her diet and see if that affects sleep too. Maybe she's got too much liquid running through her system or calms herself excessively from sucking no the bottle. Just thoughts... welcome back!

camcbeth

S had 3 naps a day up until the other day and has now dropped one. Each nap was a good 2-3 hours with 2-3 hours of wake time in between. There was a chart somewhere on this board posted last month. 

jsmai

We were on 3 naps a day up until a couple of weeks ago. We're ebf, so I can't speak to how many ounces she's eating. But I fell like her naps condensed once we started more significant portions of solid food.

Ladybug2821

I feel like we have some nap issues here also.  I think she wants to drop the third nap, up until 2 days ago she was still taking her first 2 naps too early to stay awake until bed time.  I'm hoping she is be going through the changes now and will start staying awake longer in between.  @prettypalomino Is she STTN?  I think at 7/8 months they say 3 hours for naps and 11/12 hrs for nighttime.  Granted, not every baby will sleep those hours but I look at is as I guideline.

PrettyPalomino

@Ladybug2821 thanks! Yep she's STTN, approx. 10-11 hours a night depending. She never wakes up before 5:40 and that's rare, usually she's up at 6:00-6:30 and we just keep her up from then on, OR we ignore her and she falls back asleep until 7. So she's doing about 11 hours at night, plus like 5 hours of napping. Definitely more than the recommended.

I find that when we're out of the house doing things, she can push nap time easily (unless a moving car is involved). Maybe I should leave the house more often in the stroller. 

Also, I am Canadian so she goes to daycare at 1, which means she needs to be down to 1-2 naps by then! Ahhh pressure!

Ladybug2821

@PrettyPalomino I'm going to start increasing wake times by 15 mins like @m6agua mentioned. I think today she only took 2 naps so she might be figuring it out herself...hopefully. 

hoosiermama-2

That sounds like a great schedule! They're all so different, anyway - as long as LOs are thriving, I think they can do what works for them.

Ours, for example, sleeps great and through the night, averaging about 11 hours. During the day? She takes three or four 30-45 minute naps. We tried a variety of things to get her to sleep longer, but we've just accepted that that's what she prefers!

tvh1982

At my 7 month appointment they adviced me the following schedule:

7:00 - 7:30 : wake up and bottle 200cc
09:30 : fruit
10:00 - 12:00 : nap
12:30 : lunch; bread and bottle 100-200 cc
14:00 - 16:00: nap
16:30 : dinner; veggies/potatoes/meat and 100cc bottle
19:00 - 20:00: nap
getting ready for the night
21:00 : bottle 200 cc
21:00 - 07:00 Night

Two first naps we've got most of the time.
But she easily can skip one (or both and has a 30 min power nap)
We still have a BIG bottle at 23:00 of 300 cc as she starts her night at 18:30-19:00
And wakes MOTN where I reduced the 200cc bottle to a 100cc bottle. She's not happy about that, but takes her dummy and carries on sleeping. (And I've had a few nights she doesn't wake!! Yay)

Every baby is different. Some needs tons of sleep (I did when I was a baby) and some don't.
If the schedule doesn't bother you, than don't change it. 
If it does bother you, try prolonging her wakes with 15 min at a time.