I need nap help too

jaysgirljulie

Ryan is great at night time and pretty good with naps, he takes 2 90minute naps and once in a while even a third 30 minute nap. The problem I'm having is that sometimes he will wake up at 6:15am, usually 7,  but sometimes 7:45, and sometimes when I'm lucky 8:45! 

So while he takes good naps they are not always at the same time each day. I tried to make 9am his first nap of the day but when he wakes up at 6 he just can't make it that long (it doesn't matter if R slept 12 straight hours, he still needs to sleep about 60-90 minutes after he wakes up or he is so uncordinated he hurts himself). I tried to make it 8 but sometimes he wakes up at 7:40 and he's not tired yet. I need more consistancy for myself, and surely it would be better for him too? We stay home most of the time because I can't make plans. He won't sleep anywhere besides his crib so no sleeping on the go and it never fails that when we have plans I have to cancel them because he will be needing a nap at the time when he usually gets up.

I guess my question is- is 11 months old enough  to start schedule. not just a routine? I was thinking about waking him up at 7am every morning so that we start the day at the same time every day. Is that crazy to wake a sleeping baby? What should I do if he wakes much earlier than that? If he does it will throw our whole day off again.

Any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated!

redshoegirl

What does he do if he wakes up at 6.15am and you just leave him in his crib until 7am? We do this with Will and Dash, and their first morning nap is also at 9am. Sometimes I can hear on the monitor that they're awake at 6.30am, but I just leave them in there until 7am. Sometimes they go back to sleep, other times they just chat quietly (to each other, to the air, whatever lol).

If they somehow oversleep - which is rare - then at 7.30am I'll go in their room and start making "quiet" noise like getting out their clothes for the day, which gently wakes them up without any fuss or problems, and 30 min doesn't generally throw their schedule too much out of whack (they might go down for their first nap at 9.30am instead of 9am, but still have their regular 1pm second nap).

FWIW, one of the things that I read in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is that most babies instinctively gravitate toward a 7am wake-up (something to do with the dawn/day cycle?), and there's not much you can do do alter that time. So if Ryan generally wakes up at a certain time every day, you probably can't force him to change it, at least by my understanding.

mrspresley

I'm in the same boat so I know how you feel of course she always wakes early when I am home and "sleeps in" when I have to go to work so I end up waking her to nurse her before I go.  her wake up time has gradually gotten later and later... it used to be between 6-7am and now it is between 6:30-7:45am

i have heard that schedules are good for babies and gives them predictability so i don't think there's anything wrong w/you trying to put him on a schedule.

that said, I never did ever get Miss A into a schedule. only a routine... down for a nap 3 hrs after waking no matter what (unless we were out for something like church).  like you, I found that her waking time was always so variable i could not do a consistent nap time.  but, in general she was always napping around 99:30am when she was waking earlier and once she started sleeping later her nap would be some time between 10-11am.  i never could get it at the same exact time every morning though, just approximate. I hear you on making plans, it is tough and in fact when she had 2 naps/day i felt like we hardly had time to do anything b/c she only has 3 waking hours before her next sleep and we spend 1 hour of it eating, 10 minutes on the potty when she wakes up and another 10 minutes after she finishes her meal! now that she is taking just one afternoon nap I finally feel like i can make plans and go do stuff with her.  I know some moms will take them on the go and let them sleep but since I've read that napping on the go is not restful sleep I never wanted to do that (plus if she naps on the go for even 5 min she will not nap when she gets home!)

I guess i don't have any good suggestions, just wanted to say that Miss A is the same as R

sanae78

mrspresley:

 of course she always wakes early when I am home and "sleeps in" when I have to go to work

OMG, TOTALLY this.  Kaya now wakes between 6:30 and 7 when I'm home, but when I'm working she'll wake up between 7 and 8.  She used to sleep sometimes until 8 or 8:30.  The night we changed the clocks back she slept until 9:30!  Which was more like 10:30!  The past few weeks, though, she hasn't slept past 7:30.  

Anyways, Julie, we are totally in the same boat.  She never wakes at the same time.  But I was doing what Jaime was doing and putting her down 3 hours after she woke up.  It is hard to schedule things.  We just tend to stay home until after her first nap.  We try to make sure she gets one good nap in and then if she has to nap in the car for the other nap, then that's ok. 

SimpsonOhana07

Hi mommies

Even though I am not mom, I usually just lurk on this board and also simply because I miss you ladies. T/N seems to be on the sloooow side lately.

There is something though, that I can share with you. A couple of weeks ago on our local news station, there was a week long segment on Sleep. On one of the days, they featured a lady that lives in the Vancouver area, originally from England, and apparently has quite the talent when it comes to helping with babies sleep soundly. She sounds pretty good.

Here is the baby whisperer. Hope this will be of some help. She is also available by email  and also has a blog. To those of you that are on my f/b, I will send you her page as well.