Healthy Sleep Habits /Nap Questions

Re: Healthy Sleep Habits /Nap Questions

• amanda31H member

  December 2010

  Ruby_Tuesday:

  My boys are 6 weeks adjusted.  Like the book says there is no nap schedule at this point.  They just fall asleep periodically throughout the day with their wakeful periods are typically no longer than 2 hours. 

  I didn't have nap schedules at this point either.  I followed Baby Wise pretty much, but I also have and read HSHHT.

  The book says two things that confuse me about naps.  It says one up all up refers to naps as well as mornings.  I have always done one up all up in the morning, but naps??  Does he just mean one up all up when they are on an actual nap schedule which I guess is supposed to emerge around 12 weeks?  

  That's what I understood.  But I don't agree with this, for my girls.  Once we started to have naps at a certain time I noticed that one of my girls is a long napper in the morning, the other naps longer in the afternoon.  They've since flip-flopped, but for example they went down for their nap at 10:30 yesterday.  They both fell asleep around 10:50.  B woke up at 12:30.  A didn't wake up until 1:40!  I put them down for their second nap at 3:30 yesterday (the afternoon nap is either 3 or 3:30 for me depending on when they wake up), and they both slept 40 min.  A needed that extra sleep.  The times where I would wake both up from their nap, someones sleep/needs got compromised.  I do ALWAYS wake them both up to eat, so on the off chance that someone crosses over that time, I will wake them to eat with their sister.

  The other thing is that he says that there should be a routine for naps as well as bedtime.  Again does he mean when we are on a nap schedule? 

  Yes, that's what I understood.  My only "routine" is sleep sacks on, and humidifer on (noise machine).  It's similar to night except for the darkness.

  Also related to naps but not the book... Where do/did your little ones nap before 12 weeks?  Mine are napping in the bouncy seats and I don't really like it because we have some flat head issues.  I would rather they nap in the PNPs  in a quieter area but they wake quickly when I put them in there.  Do you think they wake in the PNPs because at night they are swaddled in the cribs and they are not used to being so free? 

  At  6 weeks they were in bouncy seats, swings, next to me on the couch  in a boppy (I never left them alone before anyone freaks out), or in a PNP in the guest room downstairs.  It was anywhere!

  Also (sorry I'm all over the place with my questions)... My DH thinks we should be putting them in the cribs for naps now.  This makes no sense to me.  I would be up and down the stairs all day, right???  I want to wait until a nap schedule emerges.

  It's up to you.  I transitioned the girls to their cribs for their naps around 3.5 months I think.  I should have done it earlier.  I think you're fine for now, but that's up to you!

  Thanks!

  Here comes Baby #3!

  Report0 Reply
• Loading the player...
• Breenie29 member

  December 2010

  I didn't get my trio onto a nap schedule until they were about 4 months (actual age) At this time I started to put them in their cribs to sleep and made sure they were all on the same schedule. Before then was a bit of a free for all. They napped whenever they wanted and where ever they were comfortable. Some of those places included the bouncy chairs, swings, Boppys, and family members' arms

  The only thing I was really strict about (schedule wise) was when they ate. They all ate at the same time every 4 hours. So this would be the only time I would wake them from a nap. 

  HTH!
  

  Report0 Reply
• OrangeSmoke member

  December 2010

  Ruby_Tuesday:

  My boys are 6 weeks adjusted.  Like the book says there is no nap schedule at this point.  They just fall asleep periodically throughout the day with their wakeful periods are typically no longer than 2 hours. 

  The book says two things that confuse me about naps.  It says one up all up refers to naps as well as mornings.  I have always done one up all up in the morning, but naps??  Does he just mean one up all up when they are on an actual nap schedule which I guess is supposed to emerge around 12 weeks?   The other thing is that he says that there should be a routine for naps as well as bedtime.  Again does he mean when we are on a nap schedule? 

  We did a loose Babywise... so in a 3 hour window they always napped... first it was an hour or more, now we are down to 45 min.  and I never did one up all up for naps.  I will only wake a sleeping baby for his bottle.  and no routine for naps other than place in bouncy and give pacis.

  Also related to naps but not the book... Where do/did your little ones nap before 12 weeks?  Mine are napping in the bouncy seats and I don't really like it because we have some flat head issues.  I would rather they nap in the PNPs  in a quieter area but they wake quickly when I put them in there.  Do you think they wake in the PNPs because at night they are swaddled in the cribs and they are not used to being so free? 

  Mine still nap in their bouncies although they are getting too big for it.  They had some flat head issues, but it resolved itself as they begin to be awake more and we stepped up the tummy time.  I don't see how napping them in PnPs will help the flat head (they are still on their backs).

  Also (sorry I'm all over the place with my questions)... My DH thinks we should be putting them in the cribs for naps now.  This makes no sense to me.  I would be up and down the stairs all day, right???  I want to wait until a nap schedule emerges.

  Yeah, crib naps.  We never got there.  The boys are now napping in cribs during the week at DC but on weekends, it's still the bouncy.  I just could never figure out the logistic of how to put them to sleep with two babies and up/down stairs.  They won't settle on their own for naps, so I'll have to rock them down.  I don't see how I can go upstairs with one and leave another one downstairs "playing".

  Thanks!

  Me: PCOs DH: Perfect!
  4 Fresh IVF cycles + 1 FET where embies didn't survive the thaw = 2 perfect little men!
  
  sFET 11/9/11 - Beta 11/18 BFP!
  

  Report0 Reply
• Ruby_Tuesday member

  December 2010

  Yeah, I should add that they pretty much nap where-ever they fall asleep right now.  If I 'put them down' it's in the bouncy or the PNP, but they also nap, next to me on the couch, on me, in the boppies (with me next to them), etc.

  I wish my guys were on a 4 hour schedule.  Their weights are great so the pedi told us to go on demand.   They don't seem to want to stretch from every three hours.  I do make sure when one eats all eat.

  

  Report0 Reply
• kafunder member

  December 2010

  Ruby_Tuesday:

  My boys are 6 weeks adjusted.  Like the book says there is no nap schedule at this point.  They just fall asleep periodically throughout the day with their wakeful periods are typically no longer than 2 hours. 

  The book says two things that confuse me about naps.  It says one up all up refers to naps as well as mornings.  I have always done one up all up in the morning, but naps??  Does he just mean one up all up when they are on an actual nap schedule which I guess is supposed to emerge around 12 weeks?   The other thing is that he says that there should be a routine for naps as well as bedtime.  Again does he mean when we are on a nap schedule?  Like PP, we don't do one up, both up for naps. If one wakes up before the other, I just take that time to play and cuddle with the one that is up, as long as they have taken a reasonable  nap. If one wakes up WAY early from a nap and won't go back to sleep (like after 15 minutes), he or she goes into the swing for some restful time there. Even if they won't nap, I believe they need some restful time between feedings, otherwise, they are fussy messes. We generally follow an EASY schedule. In the beginning, their awake times were short, but now they generally go 1-1.5 hours after feeding before needing a nap, except in the AM after the first feeding, then sometimes they go less than an hour.

  Also related to naps but not the book... Where do/did your little ones nap before 12 weeks?  Mine are napping in the bouncy seats and I don't really like it because we have some flat head issues.  I would rather they nap in the PNPs  in a quieter area but they wake quickly when I put them in there.  Do you think they wake in the PNPs because at night they are swaddled in the cribs and they are not used to being so free?  They napped together in the PnP, and they were swaddled. They napped really well like that until about 12 weeks, and then they started wakign each other up, so now they nap in their rooms in their cribs. In hindsight, I wish we hadn't swaddled them so much b/c now they are addicted and breaking them of the swaddle habit is tough. However, it did make them nap really well.

  Also (sorry I'm all over the place with my questions)... My DH thinks we should be putting them in the cribs for naps now.  This makes no sense to me.  I would be up and down the stairs all day, right???  I want to wait until a nap schedule emerges.

  Like I said, we started naps in cribs around 12 weeks, but we probably should have started sooner b/c they nap so much better there. I did go up and down the stairs quite a bit when they were first getting used to it, but now it's better. As they got older, they became better nappers.

  Thanks!

  Report0 Reply
• jenn_darrin1515 member

  December 2010

  When the girls were that little I would keep them within a 1/2 hour -45 minutes of each other...so if one woke at 9:30 I would change and feed her and then wake the other one if she wasn;t already awake when I was done or around 10ish...I was a little crazy about the schedule, but it worked for them and me...

  I would put htem down for naps wherever they would sleep (never upstairs in their cribs for the same reason you mentioned - I would be up and down all.day.long)...we used their pnp, swings, bouncies...whatever worked...some naps we all rocked together in the chair and slept together (as they got older this became teh norm for our naps...I loved cuddling with them for weekend naptime when I went back to work)

  we didn;t transition them to their cribs for naps til after their first bday when they started wiggling out of our laps at naptime - and it went smoothly enough...GL!

  Report0 Reply
• Breenie29 member

  December 2010

  Ruby_Tuesday:

  Yeah, I should add that they pretty much nap where-ever they fall asleep right now.  If I 'put them down' it's in the bouncy or the PNP, but they also nap, next to me on the couch, on me, in the boppies (with me next to them), etc.

  I wish my guys were on a 4 hour schedule.  Their weights are great so the pedi told us to go on demand.   They don't seem to want to stretch from every three hours.  I do make sure when one eats all eat.

  I know it's hard to stretch their feedings out, but it definitely helps your sanity My guys were the same, but we did our best to stretch it out. When they started to fuss around the three hour mark we did our best to distract them. We would dance and sing and act really silly with them. It seemed to distract them. Then we would change their diapers - and make a big game out of that. Then before you knew it they had made it to the 4 hour mark. It worked really well for us, and made a huge difference in my day to day schedule. They would sleep so well after eating, and they actually seemed happier.
  

  Report0 Reply
• kafunder member

  December 2010

  We're still on a 3-hour schedule and I don't see that changing anytime soon. We try to let them go longer but they are like little alarm clocks that go off at 3 hours (or ticking time bombs, as DH likes to call them).

  Report0 Reply