Scheduled naps?

amwhite08 · February 2013

My pedi and doctors office philosophy recommends scheduled naps, even at B's age, which is 2 months. We have a pretty consistent wake up time, within a half hour, and the same with bedtime. But naps are kinda whenever he gets sleepy during the day, and I'm only seeing a slight consistency between days. Like a mid morning sleepiness, around 10ish and another in the mid afternoon. But whether he naps for 10 min or 2 hrs depends and sometimes he has additional cat naps. Do you mommies have scheduled nap times? How rigid are you? I just think 2 mo is a little young to get him on a super strict schedule. Hey kid: it's 10am, close your eyes and nap!

fennyann · February 2013

2 months does seem a bit young for scheduled naps. My LO is almost 3 months and his naps are not consistent. He is starting to stay awake longer during the day so that is making it more difficult. I just put him down when i notice him getting tired. The only thing that is consistent is his bedtime routine and that works great for him but other than that...I agree 100%. It's hard to tell a 2 month old to nap on demand. haha

kieannb · February 2013

Way too young IMO. A is the same way, she can nap for 2 minutes, or 3 hours.. Usually the long naps are if I'm holding her.. They fall within an hour to an hour and a half of her being awake. That's close enough to scheduled for me until she's older.

shella923 · February 2013

AMwhite, I'm with you on this one. Your LO's sleep schedule sounds very similar to mine. I was wondering this myself!

Sprite2012 · February 2013

My LO is the same. Some consistency, but nothing "scheduled". His bed time and wake up time are pretty scheduled though. I have no idea how I would put a 2 month old on a nap schedule. I'm curious what others will post on this thread!

amwhite08 · February 2013

I was thinking of maybe just journaling everyday for 2 weeks on when I see him getting tired and what naps he's taking a what time and how long his naps are. Hoping Ill see a general pattern and can then work off that. Other problem, he sttn in his crib, but for some reason will not nap in his crib. So he naps in his swing. I feel like a terrible mom for not getting him to nap in his crib, but a nap is a nap! Swing, crib, parachute, whatever works, right?! Ha!

Sprite2012 · February 2013

amwhite08:
I was thinking of maybe just journaling everyday for 2 weeks on when I see him getting tired and what naps he's taking a what time and how long his naps are. Hoping Ill see a general pattern and can then work off that. Other problem, he sttn in his crib, but for some reason will not nap in his crib. So he naps in his swing. I feel like a terrible mom for not getting him to nap in his crib, but a nap is a nap! Swing, crib, parachute, whatever works, right?! Ha!

We must have the same baby. All of this, exactly. Except that I have been tracking his naps for the past 3 weeks. There is very little pattern :-(

This and that · February 2013

I have baby H on a 3hour cycle, but the times themselves differ based on his wake time.

chpswife · February 2013

Honestly, I wouldn't force what the pedi says. I tried when DD was this young and got so frustrated. They will put themselves on a schedule and why force a baby to sleep when their just not....... It took me a couple months to figure this out the first time. Didn make the same mistake this time.

starsinger17 · February 2013

amwhite08:
I was thinking of maybe just journaling everyday for 2 weeks on when I see him getting tired and what naps he's taking a what time and how long his naps are. Hoping Ill see a general pattern and can then work off that. Other problem, he sttn in his crib, but for some reason will not nap in his crib. So he naps in his swing. I feel like a terrible mom for not getting him to nap in his crib, but a nap is a nap! Swing, crib, parachute, whatever works, right?! Ha!

We have the same problem. When I go to lay him down in his crib during the day he starts to fuss but whether he's asleep or not as soon as he's put in his crib at night he's quiet until 5 or 6, but refuses to nap in there!!!

NYC129 · February 2013

We don't have a set schedule either. We just follow LO's cues for when she's tired. At the first sign of a yawn or if she starts getting cranky without reason, we take as tiredness and start to put her down. We track her sleep periods and there is no pattern yet.

persephonerose · February 2013

At our 2 month visit our pedi recommend the EASY method. After a week I was ready to scream. It was anything but EASY. D just was not ready to Eat, play, sleep. He still Eats, play, eats, maybe sleep maybe play, eats then sleeps. I found it easier to go by his cues than a method. If he starts showing more signs of being able to nap without eating I might try EASY again, but for now I just follow his lead. Which is probably why I am so tired!

MeliH2011 · February 2013

I agree with the other moms, 2 months is probably too young for a rigid nap schedule. Our babies never had a "schedule" in the womb and I think at 2 months they are still adjusting to living in our world at all, much less developing a daily schedule. Every baby is different. My little boy changes his "routine" about every 3 days. As soon as I think I have him figured out, he switched it up on me. At night I do try to get him to bed by 8ish (it all depends) and we have been waking up about 8am (again, it's only been 3 days - could be different tomorrow! haha). As far as daytime napping, he will take a long nap if he falls asleep in the car and I'm out and about. If we're at home he only naps for a half hour tops. Hopefully once he's sitting up, crawling and eating solid foods, he will wear himself out and be more consistent with napping.

I say, do what is right for you and your baby. If he is sleepy, let him sleep. If not, let him play. They're just so young to be given so many rules already! They'll have rules the rest of their lives!

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