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Babies: 3 - 6 Months
Short Naps...and waketime
DD will only usually take 30 minute naps (once inawhile her morning or afternoon naps will go for 1 to 1.5 hours)...how long should her waketime be then before her next nap? I feel like she's just overtired all the time and I don't know how to fix it. But at the same time I feel like I'm always putting her down for a nap!
I've tried the No-Cry Nap Solutions in trying to extend her naps, since she sleeps 30 minutes on the dot, but she keeps waking up!
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Re: Short Naps...and waketime
My DS is usually up anywhere from 1 to 2 hours between naps. He is a cat napper, with the exception of a long afternoon nap. In the evenings, he usually stays up for 2 to 3 hours.
I used to think that our LO took 2 hour naps. Then my DH put a webcam in LO's crib, and only then did we learn that he is sometimes awake upwards of 30-45 minutes in the middle of a 2-hour nap! He has a crib mirror that he enjoys playing with during his awake time....
I'd leave LO in the crib for as long as possible during nap times. Our LO always tries to pretend he's ready to get up, but he's NOT! Make her comfortable in there -- toys, paci, blanket.... just see what happens if you just leave her in there until about 1.5-2 hours after you put her down. She may surprise you.
Um .... anywhere between 1.5 to 2.5 hours. I try to just go by her cues of yawning and rubbing her eyes. But by the end of the day...she's just so tired and I can totally tell.
I put her in her crib and watch her on the monitor...at exactly 30 minutes she wakes up....she doesn't cry but she's just staring at the camera. So I go in and pick her up after 10 minutes. Maybe I'll leave her in there a little longer so I can see if she'll fall back asleep. I guess I just assumed after 10 minutes she probably wouldn't fall back asleep anyway.
You could try putting her down earlier, after a specific awake time length, instead of waiting for sleepy cues. For us, when we saw sleepy cues in DD, she was actually overtried and was impossible to get to sleep and stay asleep.
Here's a guideline I used, which includes awake time activities of diaper changes, feeding, playing, and the amount of time it takes the baby to fall asleep! etc. Typically, it takes babies 20 minutes to fall asleep, so include this in your awake time (i.e. if their awake time is good at 90 minutes, but them down at 70 minutes).
Guideline for Awake time for babies
Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months 1 hour and 15 - 20 mins
3 months 1 hour and 20 - 30 mins
4 months 1 hour and 45 - 2 hours
5 months 2 hours - 2.25 hours
Late 5 months/early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours
6.5 - 7 months 2.75-3 hours. Some are getting more.
8 - 10 months 3 - 4 hours. Some are getting more.
11 - 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap
Here's another guideline I recently found and actually looks more accurate to my DD, after 5 months:
0-4 weeks: 30-45 minutes
4-6 weeks: 40-60 minutes
6-8 weeks: 40-70 minutes
8-12 weeks: 50-80 minutes
3-4 months: 60-90 minutes
4-5 months: 1 hr to 1.5 hrs
5-6 months: 1.5 hours
6-9 months: 2 hours, give or take 15 minutes
If she's not having good naps, it can be a sign of overtiredness, and the suggestion there is to decrease awake time by 10-15 minutes. Try putting her down after just 1 hr 10 minutes or so. It seems drastically short, but try it.
Also, in a book I read about sleep, if they are crying/fussing for 20-30 minutes after waking from a short nap, then they probably aren't going to sleep again. But since you said your LO isn't crying at all, I'd leave her until she did cry (or until at the very least 20-30 minutes.)