6 month old routine/schedule & 30 minute naps

UMichGirl · December 2012

What is your 6 month old's day like? We are trying to get more regimented with DS because I think the predictability will help him (and us). Our major issue though is that he only naps for 30 minutes--you can set a timer by it--so by the middle of the day and on he is an absolute fussy mess. Each nap he wakes up more and more overtired. We've tried going in and soothing him back to sleep, rocking him, going in at the first sign of waking, etc. Nothing works. He naps for 30 minutes. It wouldn't bother me if he woke up HAPPY but that is definitely not the case. So it's hard to create any kind of routine or schedule when we are trying to get him to nap so often throughout the day!

How did you set up a routine/schedule, and anyone else still having the issue of 30 minute naps? I'm at my wits' end and ready to call the pediatrician for advice even though we see him in less than 2 weeks!

gitiggr · December 2012

How long is your LO up for between naps? DS went through a phase of 30 minute naps, but once I started paying attention to the clock and getting him down between 1 1/2 to 2 hrs after he last woke up he started sleeping for longer stretches. If I waited for any sleepy signals it was already too late.

mben1119 · December 2012

For Ds, he worked out his routine and his nap issues on his own. The cat naps were a long and painful phase, but a phase he did outgrow on his own.

UMichGirl · December 2012

gitiggr:
How long is your LO up for between naps? DS went through a phase of 30 minute naps, but once I started paying attention to the clock and getting him down between 1 1/2 to 2 hrs after he last woke up he started sleeping for longer stretches. If I waited for any sleepy signals it was already too late.

He is usually up 2 hours before going down...maybe I need to try even less time! I know if I try too early though he thinks it's play time in his crib though.

LolaBelle515 · December 2012

DS has been on the same schedule since 5 months. I'll post it below.Of course, every baby is different, but here's what we've done that has worked--I wish you al lthe best and hope something works for you, too!

I would echo PP and suggest putting LO down a little earlier--closer to 90 minutes of wake time.

Also, do you have a video monitor? Sometimes, LO will wake up from a nap and I will think he is ready to get up and go and get him...but, by watching him on the video monitor, I've discovered he puts him back to sleep after 15-20 minutes of talking/fussing (and sometimes crying). He can sometimes go back to sleep for over an hour after doing that. As long as he isn't screaming, I will let him try to work it out. Now that we have done this for a while, we can tell if he is going to go back to sleep (ie: if he's up on his knees, I know he's up for good...if he's fussing but still on his stomach, I know he's going to fall back asleep). If you are willing to let him cry for a bit, it's entirely possible that he will go back to sleep and nap well on his own.

When we first started working on naps, we also used a crib soother. Do you have one? Some of them have a remote, so if LO wakes up, you can hit the remote from outside the nursery and it will start up. It amazed me how quickly LO learned to operate it and how mesmerized he was by it. It would regularly get him back to sleep without our help. Well worth the $40 or a garage sale trip!

Here's LO's schedule, if it helps:

awake between 6:30 and 7.

Nurse at 7

playtime til 8

Solids at 8

Down for nap between 8:30 and 9

Sleeps for 45-90 minutes

Plays until 11

Nurses at 11

Solids at 12:15

Down for nap at 1pm

Sleeps for 90-120 minutes

Nurses at 3

Mini nap (in the car or in the stroller) from 5-5:30

Solids at 5:30

Nurses at 7

Down for the night at 7:30

stemms8810 · December 2012

UMichGirl:
gitiggr:
How long is your LO up for between naps? DS went through a phase of 30 minute naps, but once I started paying attention to the clock and getting him down between 1 1/2 to 2 hrs after he last woke up he started sleeping for longer stretches. If I waited for any sleepy signals it was already too late.
He is usually up 2 hours before going down...maybe I need to try even less time! I know if I try too early though he thinks it's play time in his crib though.

I think that's ok if your LO wants to play in the crib for a little bit before going to sleep. I see it as you are showing him it's 'quiet time' as I like to call it so he gets the message that it's rest time consistently each day. And I also agree with trying to lay him down sooner. I thought my LO would be going longer stretches between naps now but around the 1.5 hr mark he's rubbing his eyes.

rubber_chicken · December 2012

my almost 7 month old only takes 2 30-minute naps a day. she's in daycare and none of the babies in her room nap any longer than this.

however, she sleeps 12 hours at night - 6:30-6:30. i think trying to get your baby to nap more is a losing battle - i would work on getting him to sleep more at night.

stanfordt04 · December 2012

A&B September 17:
Maybe my kiddo is the odd ball but when we stretched out her awake time and decreased the number of naps, her naps got longer. She's awake (comfortably) about 2.5-3 hours between naps.

nope not an odd ball! my LO was taking five naps a day averaging about 30 minutes each... i decided to stretch out the time between his morning nap and afternoon nap (put a solid feeding and bottle feeding in there) and now he sleeps almost two hours for each... and a thirty minute evening naps on most days.

same amount of sleeping time... just less naps during the day.

UMichGirl · December 2012

rubber_chicken:
my almost 7 month old only takes 2 30-minute naps a day. she's in daycare and none of the babies in her room nap any longer than this.
however, she sleeps 12 hours at night - 6:30-6:30. i think trying to get your baby to nap more is a losing battle - i would work on getting him to sleep more at night.

He usually sleeps about 11-11.5 hours at night total. He typically does really well at night. So I wouldn't mind the fact that he only takes 30 minute naps--if he woke up happy. But he doesn't, and he just gets more and more fussy as the day goes on until we're all ready to strangle ourselves in this house by the time he goes to bed lol!

Danaz1 · December 2012

LolaBelle515:
DS has been on the same schedule since 5 months. I'll post it below.Of course, every baby is different, but here's what we've done that has workedI wish you al lthe best and hope something works for you, too!I would echo PP and suggest putting LO down a little earliercloser to 90 minutes of wake time. nbsp;Also, do you have a video monitor? nbsp;Sometimes, LO will wake up from a nap and I will think he is ready to get up and go and get him...but, by watching him on the video monitor, I've discovered he puts him back to sleep after 1520 minutes of talking/fussing and sometimes crying. nbsp;He can sometimes go back to sleep for over an hour after doing that. nbsp;As long as he isn't screaming, I will let him try to work it out. Now that we have done this for a while, we can tell if he is going to go back to sleep ie: if he's up on his knees, I know he's up for good...if he's fussing but still on his stomach, I know he's going to fall back asleep. nbsp;If you are willing to let him cry for a bit, it's entirely possible that he will go back to sleep and nap well on his own. nbsp;When we first started working on naps, we also used a crib soother. Do you have one? nbsp;Some of them have a remote, so if LO wakes up, you can hit the remote from outside the nursery and it will start up. nbsp;It amazed me how quickly LO learned to operate it and how mesmerized he was by it. It would regularly get him back to sleep without our help. Well worth the 40 or a garage sale trip! nbsp;Here's LO's schedule, if it helps:nbsp;awake between 6:30 and 7.Nurse at 7playtime til 8Solids at 8Down for nap between 8:30 and 9Sleeps for 4590 minutesPlays until 11Nurses at 11Solids at 12:15Down for nap at 1pmSleeps for 90120 minutesNurses at 3Mini nap in the car or in the stroller from 55:30Solids at 5:30Nurses at 7Down for the night at 7:30nbsp;[/quote
This is almost the same as my ds except formula instead of nurse . I did a little cry it out for naps if he wakes up crying he's still tired he will cry or fuss for about 5 minutes and go back to sleep