Does anyone have guide lines for sleep training?

Ximena M · September 2012

I'm visiting from the April 2012 board. My LO is six months old and does not sleep through the night, although I'm not worried about this as she goes right back to sleep after feeding and diaper change. My concern is naps. She fights naps everyday. I can get her to take three or four naps, but they only last 15-20 minutes. She will get really fussy and unhappy for hours. On the days that she does nap well she is a different person. I heard that sleep training can help.

DeniseRN · September 2012

Is she getting overtired? That can really make sleep rough. What's her schedule? How does she go to sleep?

At six months, LO should be taking two long naps, maybe a third short nap around dinner time.

IIRC, DS 1 would wake about 730, nap 9 to 11, wake from 11 to 1, nap 1 to 3, wake 3 to 5, nap 5 to 6, bed 7 or 8 around that age.

That schedule continued until around 8 months or so, and then the late nap dropped.

I would read a science based sleep book, like Ferber. It's not all CIO. Maybe you could help identify a correctable problem like schedule or being overtired so you don't need to sleep train.

ncbelle · September 2012

The first thing I'd try would be an earlier nap - if you wait too long, babies tend to fight sleep and not sleep as long - counterintuitive but true! The No Cry Sleep Solution is a good read (the no cry nap solution might also be worth checking out since naps are more the issue).

boilerup227 · September 2012

ncbelle:
The first thing I'd try would be an earlier nap - if you wait too long, babies tend to fight sleep and not sleep as long - counterintuitive but true! The No Cry Sleep Solution is a good read (the no cry nap solution might also be worth checking out since naps are more the issue).

At the same time... sometimes no matter what you do your baby may wake early from naps. I have done everything for DS in terms of trying to put him down earlier/later, going in when I know he is going to wake to resettle him, etc. and nothing works. His morning nap is 30 minutes NO MATTER WHAT. All naps used to be between 30-45 minutes. Just this week, his afternoon nap has been lengthening to be between 1 1/2-2 hours. Hopefully this will be the case for you as your LO ages.

KateLouise · September 2012

boilerup227:
ncbelle:
The first thing I'd try would be an earlier nap - if you wait too long, babies tend to fight sleep and not sleep as long - counterintuitive but true! The No Cry Sleep Solution is a good read (the no cry nap solution might also be worth checking out since naps are more the issue).

At the same time... sometimes no matter what you do your baby may wake early from naps. I have done everything for DS in terms of trying to put him down earlier/later, going in when I know he is going to wake to resettle him, etc. and nothing works. His morning nap is 30 minutes NO MATTER WHAT. All naps used to be between 30-45 minutes. Just this week, his afternoon nap has been lengthening to be between 1 1/2-2 hours. Hopefully this will be the case for you as your LO ages.

This for us as well with DD2. Occasionally we'll get 50minutes out of her for her morning nap, but rarely. It's frustrating because she wakes up grumpy and I feel like it sets her up badly for the rest of the day.

NYGirl02 · September 2012

The No Cry Nap Solution has helped us extend our naps from 30-40 minutes to about 75-90 minutes in many cases. Not always, but it has helped. I think the book is a good, easy read and is worth a try.

icebaby1 · September 2012

my sons over a year old and we are yet to get him to sleep all night. We tried meals right before bed no naps during the day, more naps during the day. In the end some babies are just stubborn. When Ben was between 4 and 7 months we got like 3 naps a day out of him, but they were never longer than 30 minutes. Now he takes 1 nap a day and it can range from 1 hour to 3 hours... Wishing you luck though!

BriDaily · September 2012

Have you tried napping with her? It is helpful is you are breastfeeding to do that.

DeniseRN · September 2012

What about wearing her for naps? Mine will nap for hours in a carrier. You don't have to do it forever, but maybe as a step in establishing more total hours of sleep

chardonnay24 · October 2012

Sleep training did nothing to improve the length of naps for us. He took 30 - 40 minute naps until he transitioned to 1 nap at 15 months. Even now, I'm lucky to get more than an hour out of him.

Sleep training did help him go down easier, but he really didn't stop fighting naps until recently. There were many car ride naps in our past. Good luck!

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