Timing naps

SnowflakeBride06 · May 2011

DD isn't a great napper but getting better and more regular.

She takes 3 naps a day and before she would nap anywhere and didn't have a real pattern.

Now her best nap is in the pm for 2h, the am is 30-45m and the 3rd one is 30m.

If I miss the afternoon nap window I am screwed not only miss the nap but she goes to bed later.

I try and keep the week/weekend routine the same and try not to go out and stay out in the afternoon but its hard, I feel cooped up otherwise.

Anyone have advice to get through this?

She naps well in the stroller and car but not as long as she would if we were home. Plust if she cat naps in the car, say I am coming home from a playdate/errand near nap time then her pm nap ends up being later too....

Stacyc625 · May 2011

what time does she get up in the morning? What time are you 'shooting' for as a bedtime?

Sweets2005 · May 2011

Well all babies are different but typically she should only be napping twice a nap and should have dropped the 3rd nap by now. It might take a week or so to get her on a different schedule but she may sleep more predictably in the day and night if you drop that last nap and try to make the am and pm nap a little more consistent. And yes it is hard to time the naps, which is why when my twins were under a year we hardly ever left the house!

hellopoppyseed · May 2011

My 8 mo sleeps 7-7(eats at 5am still) and naps at 9 am and 2 pm. This schedule worked for ds1 at this age too. I stick to it as much as possible.

Stacyc625 · May 2011

hellopoppyseed:
My 8 mo sleeps 7-7(eats at 5am still) and naps at 9 am and 2 pm. This schedule worked for ds1 at this age too. I stick to it as much as possible.

poppy we have twins!!! Chase is on the SAM schedule- he is always up at 515am to eat and back down. strange.

regenab · May 2011

At this age I was following the 2-3-4 rule with my girls and it worked really well for us. It kept everything the same every day and after about a month you could set your watch by their nap and bedtimes.

2-3-4 rule: Morning nap begins no later than 2 hours after wake up in the am. Second nap (afternoon nap) begins no later than 3 hours after waking from first nap. And then bedtime is no later than 4 hours after waking from second nap (afternoon nap). So this was our schedule:

7:30am - Wakeup

9:30-10:30 - Morning nap

1:00/1:15 - 3:00 - Afternoon nap

6:30/7pm - Bedtime

My girls slept from 6:30/7pm - 7:30am overnight.

We kept this schedule until they dropped the morning nap at 14 months old. I would really try to get her down for a morning nap by the 2 hours mark every morning, and she should then start to take a longer morning nap. That will allow you her to be able to handle three hours from the first nap to the second nap. And then she will get a good afternoon nap and not need the late afternoon 30 min. nap.

You may need to do an hour earlier bedtime for a week or so to get her over the later afternoon nap hump. When the girls were giving up that third nap we would put them to bed by 6pm every night because they were just losing it. It sucked because I got home from work at 6pm and DH would already have them in bed. But it only last about 2 weeks and then I was able to do bedtime with them again and have that time with them at the end of my day. Then at 11 months I lost my job and was home with them all the time. Stick out tongue

Oh and you might not want to hear this, but you really should try to limit activities at this time so you can get her in a good napping pattern. And for most children they will be better rested if they have no motion sleep, meaning at home in their cribs. It seems like you are trapped to their nap schedule, and you are. But believe me having really great sleepers/nappers is a wonderful thing and for some kids it takes work to get there. I promise once she is down to one nap a day, you will have plenty of time for fun morning activities.

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