Nap Schedule?

SarahKate31

Do/did your babies nap on a schedule? DS never has. Some days he will take 4 naps, some days just 1. Some naps are 4 hours, some 20 mins. Yesterday he took 2 naps for a total of 1 hour. The time of day varies widely too.

Getting him to go down for a nap, even when he's tired and clearly ready for one, is such a struggle (15 mins of crying, minimum). I can't imagine trying to schedule naps given this.

So. Do/did your babies nap on a schedule? Did they fall into the schedule on their own? At what age?

nezwee

DCP has seem to put DD on a nap schedule or so it seems for the past week or so. On the weekends DD never naps at the same time as she does during the week. I probably won't try to put her on a schedule and just let her nap when she's tired, until she is older and can have quiet time in her room.

KathrynMD

yes - DD had a pretty regular schedule starting around 2.5 months and daycare reinforced it too.  At 6 months, she was on a very predictable schedule of 2 naps a day of about 2 hours each; around 9:30 and 2.  She moved to one nap a day around 1 year - normally at 1 pm.  Now, her school naps are still pretty good - 1-3 most days, but they are crappy on the weekends.  Its partially my fault b/c we had trouble w/ them so I stopped making her take them and I will normally just put her in the car if she needs to nap. 

camdenfaithful

Yep.  She fell into a pretty predictable routine around 8-10 weeks.  None of it was anything we did and she just sort of did it on her own.

She naps more when she's with us on the weekends because we cosleep, but even at the sitter she has the same routine.

How long and when she sleeps is slowly starting to evolve as she's getting older, but for the most part it's pretty predictable. 

ETA - we have the absolute easiest baby ever.  I don't offer any tips or anything, but like I said, DD just does it all on her own and DH and I just sort of follow her cues.

ThePastor'sWife

DS has had a nap schedule since he was ~3 months old. He settled into it on his own. We're very lucky that he's always been an excellent sleeper. We did try to watch for patterns with his nap times and on days when he wasn't asleep by his usual nap time, we'd go ahead and put him down anyway and the majority of the time, he'd fall asleep. The only control we've ever taken over his naps are in regards to cutting them back - like when he made the switch to 2 naps, and then again to 1 nap. For those switches, we gradually went over to the goal, but it was always initiated by his cues (when 1 nap would just get progressively shorter, we'd know it was time to ditch that nap). 

I'm watching DH's cousin's baby and have been since Sept and really struggled with her naps - she didn't have much of a schedule and was very erratic with the length of naps.  I just started putting her down at the same time daily and within a week or so, she'd only fuss briefly before falling asleep. Now, I lay her down when DS goes down for his nap and she doesn't make a peep, and she's typically out for 1.5-2 hours. She won't sleep when DS is up (and on days when she really needs it - she IS only 9 mos old - the most I can get is a 20 min nap in the am), but she'll sleep for quite a while when he's asleep, too.  The key is putting them down before they hit the point of being overtired, where they're crying/upset/hyper/etc. 

I guess all that to say that I'm a big believer in routines and schedules for babies - DS and the baby I watch couldn't be more different, but both have thrived off of the established routine. 

weezie825

Evie uses the nap schedule at her school.  In the young infant room (6 weeks to approx 9 months) they can nap whenever, but in the older infant room (9 months to 18 months) them start weaning them to 2 naps a day, then to 1.  By the time the kids are ready to move to the toddler room (18 months - 2 years) they all take 1 nap a day from 1 pm - 3 pm.

Honestly, I think DD would still prefer to take a 30 - 40 minute morning nap.  She usually falls asleep at 9:30 on the weekends.  But we try to always make sure we keep the afternoon nap.  If she doesn't get it, she can't make it through the evening.  She'll end up crashing at 5 pm and it makes the night a disaster. 

Mella&T

Bailey kind of put herself on a schedule which worked out really well for me. She was napping in her swing up until about two months ago when I finally had to pull the plug knowing the longer I did that, the harder it would be to get her to nap in her crib and she was not going to fit in the swing for too much longer. She doesn't have specific nap times but her nap/awake intervals are pretty regular. She wakes up anywhere between 4:30 and 6:00, eats, sleeps another 2-3 hours, awake for 2, sleep for 1, awake for 3, sleeps for 2 and then awake usually until bedtime. Sometimes we'll have to put her down for a short cat nap in the evening but not too much lately.

I rock her to sleep for nap time but she puts herself to sleep at night. I found that white noise made all the difference in getting her to fall asleep and stay asleep.

AKBrideinMD

DD doesn't really have a schedule but more of a routine...Eat, play, sleep and I typically put her down for a nap after 1.5 hr of awake time, or when she shows tired cues. When we swaddled we were guaranteed a 1.5-2 hour nap most of the time but now it could be anywhere from 20 min - 3 hours. We're still working on that...We'll see if we can get on more of a schedule once I start SAH.

SarahKate31

Hmm, so it sounds like a lot of kids fell into it on their own. DS actually does better at home on the weekends. He starts to crash after being awake for ~3 hours and usually takes 3 naps. I'm guessing that daycare is too exciting to sleep through when all 5 kids are there. I bet he sleeps more on the days where it's just him and 1 other kid.

jcsntms06

For the first eight months she didn't really have a schedule. But once she started daycare she has been napping between 12-3. Now that she is two she naps between 1-3. 

daisyterp

Both of mine had a pretty predictable routine (not a strict clock schedule though) around 4 months of a morning nap (usually 2-3 hours after waking up,) then an early afternoon nap, and then usually a 20 minute cat nap just before/during dinner time. 

The cat nap usually got dropped a little before the 6 month mark? but sometimes they would still take it.

Also sometimes it's tough to get them down for naps if they are overtired- that's usually when they get super fussy- you almost need to head them off at the pass and start the nap time prep before they appear tired. 

lauranne

Claire naps like a champ for my daycare provider.  She's pretty hit or miss for us.  DH can get her down easier than I can for a nap.  I don't stress about it too much.  We're always out and about with Aiden, so I'm actually ok with her not having a strict nap schedule.

Cooper81

At DC not so much, but by the time he was 3 mths on the weekends and at home he took 2 naps until he was 1 year old. One around 9/10 and the other around 3/4 and they were typically 2 hours each.  Then at one he lost the morning nap and took about a 3 hour around 12:30/1, which is pretty much what he does now at DC and at home.