How precise is nap schedule?

Socialworkgirl

I am interested to know how precise folks' nap schedule is.  I would love to get DD on a more precise schedule but haven't managed to do it.  I think the biggest factor in my control is what time she wakes up in the morning and I just haven't been able to manage to wake her up those mornings she will sleep later than usual.  It's just so glorious to have those few extra minutes!

She often wakes up between 4:30 and 5am and I put her in her swing and she will go back to sleep until sometime between 6:30 and 8:00.  She is ready for a nap after about 2 hours of awake time which works out to 3 naps a day but the last few days I haven't been able to get her to take the 3rd nap even though she is tired.  Her naps are only about 30 minutes long.  

She takes a bath between 6:15 and 6:30. Ideally she is asleep sometime between 7:00 and 7:30.  

Do your LO's have exact nap times? What are they? How much do they vary day to day? Do you wake them up at a certain time in the morning?

i am thinking about starting to wake DD up at 7am if she isn't up.

 

joshandpanda

like pp, I like to follow his cues, but they usually are pretty precise... maybe within a half hour or so... 

allardr

No consistent nap times, but we do have consistent awake times. She stays up for two hours then naps. If she doesn't nap one of those times I just move her bedtime up maybe from 6 to 5:30pm. No biggie. We always cut her naps off & wake her up at 5pm and then she is in bed asleep by 6/6:30pm.

danslilgrizzly

For us it really depends on what time LO wakes up. I try to have him up between 7 and 7:30, but sometimes he wakes up a little earlier or if he has a random night waking and falls back asleep he might sleep a little later. So basically I try to go by the waketime I know he can handle which is about two hours. Based on that, his schedule may shift by 30 - 45 minutes from day to day.

I think the thing about trying to stick to an exact schedule is that there are often disturbances such as sickness, teething, physical development that can interfere with naps. For instance if teething is causing your kiddo to take short naps, but they still can't handle more than a certain amount of time awake, you will inevitably have to put them down earlier for the next nap to avoid overtiredness. 

DCMerged

I was all about following baby's cues and not the clock until we hit a wall with his poor night sleep and now am in the camp that routines are important. Having a nap schedule (which is somewhat flexible) has really helped. This is ours, which is based on what I observed as his habits anyway but just tinkered with them a bit:

7 am - Wake up (I wake him up if he is still sleeping by 7 but most days I don't have to. This is because if he sleeps late, then it starts the whole days nap schedule off)

9-9:30 - Start first nap

12:30-1 - Start second nap

4:00 - Third nap

Goal for total hours of naps is 3-3.5 hours

wither16

We are on a schedule- although it is not necessarily clock driven.  There is sometimes a misconception about schedules not being baby driven.

I am a working mom- so we do have a consistent wake time- I think that helps a lot.  So once baby is waking the same time every day- the naps just fall into place.  And yes they vary sometimes based on cues.  Babies are humans, and sometimes are more sleepy than others, just like adults!

First nap is about 8am  2nd nap about noon.  Cat nap around 5pm.  Working towards dropping his last nap.  Bed time 8pm.

Obviously, being a working mom, I had to find a schedule that worked for us.  I don't even get home til 6pm, so putting him to sleep at that time would be silly for us.

Hope that helps!