Infants 6m+ ...describe sleep schedule (melly918)

melly918 · August 2013

For those who have older infants, can you describe their nap and bedtime schedule? We are trying to get DD on a schedule but with both of us off until after Labor Day, we have been kind of all over the place in terms of nap times and bedtimes. The poor baby has been fighting bedtime like it is her job. I am trying to figure out the best schedule for her naps and what time to put her to bed once we are back to work. The biggest issue I am having is the afternoon nap. DH is jome with her all day and he has to take her with him to pick up DS from school at 2:30 and swap cars with me at my work, so I won't be home until 3pm. I don't want to put her down for a nap in the late afternoon because I would like to put her to bed by 7pm at the latest. I plan to wake her around 6 am for the first nursing session before I go to work. What I would like to know is what your LO's daily routine looks like and if they are able to fall asleep easily at bedtime.

adoxyinherear · August 2013

Bedtime became easier for us once we had a consistent routine. Dinner at 6, bath at 6:30, jammies, two stories from daddy, then nursing and bed. I introduced some music to soothe her at night when I stopped nursing her to sleep, and she's very good about going down - unless there are extenuating circumstances - without a fuss.

Naps are a different story. She fights naps SO HARD. She fought them when she was taking two a day, and now she fights the one she takes. Part of our problem is scheduling... sometimes we just can't be here when she is "supposed" to take her nap, and she falls asleep in the car or I miss that narrow window between peacefully going to sleep and acting like a crazy person on their 37th wind. But I know this is me. When I've really committed to staying home and getting her to nap at approximately the same time every day (between noon and one), she's taken a good long nap, usually an hour and a half to two and half hours, and she doesn't fuss much, if at all. But I've been bad about this lately, so I've thrown her off.

DD also doesn't sleep through the night, and I know that's a contributing factor for all of our sleep-related problems.

JulyMomma2U2 · August 2013

This was DSs routine from about 4 months until almost a year (since 1 year, he's changed and only takes 1-2 naps/day)..

Wake up 6am.. first nap between 8:30-9:00am.. usually 1-1.5hrs. Second nap around 12-12:30..again, usually 1-1.5hrs and then a 3rd nap around 3:30-4:00pm for about 45min-1hr. Bedtime routine is started between 7-7:15 and he was always in bed by 7:30-7:45. He would go through periods of doing great putting himself to sleep without an issue, and then occasionally we'd have a stretch of a week or so where he'd go back to fighting naps and bedtime, but those happenings usually occurred along with other developmental milestones. What seemed to work for him was every 2-3 hours after being awake he'd go down for a nap.. if we pushed him too long, he'd get overtired and then would scream terribly at bedtime.. first signs of sleepiness we'd put him down. The 4pm nap was never an issue for us because even if he slept until 5 it was still 2 1/2 hours before bedtime, so he was ready. HTH. PS around 11 months, he started going 3-4 hours in between naps.. he sleeps in later (usually until 7-8, which is mostly just because I've been home on maternity leave for the past 8 weeks), and only takes 2 naps a day.. occasionally he skips his afternoon nap, too, and will just take a late morning/early afternoon nap.

katigox · August 2013

To be honest, my DS changes it up on me since birth, that I say there is no set schedule of when he's actually sleeping in the day. We aim for either 2-3 hours after he wakes up from a previous nap - but it's about a 50/50 chance of him either falling asleep or not. Period. No matter how tired he is, or how consistent we are.

He is a nap striker for sure.

Magically, he went from waking up as many as nine times a night from birth to 8mo. to now (being 9 1/2 mo.) to STTN. Sometimes there's a random MOTN, but honestly, I cannot find myself complaining about his nap schedule (so it's nbd to me if he doesn't fall asleep well during the day), when he sleeps at night kwim? He usually goes down at night, fairly easily, unless he's teething. Then he gets extra snuggles

Every baby is different. And obviously they do benefit from a nap schedule, and we are consistent. But even with everything in place, he still decides whether to sleep or not to sleep . . . though I do hope all of us Mama's get the sleep we need soon! If only we could go on thirty minutes of sleep at a time =P

Mom2anAngel2 · August 2013

We don't have an exact schedule, but DS usually naps 3 hours after he wakes.

He usually wakes up around 6 am, which means he is usually ready to nap by 9 am. He generally naps for 2 hours, occasionally 3 hours.

His afternoon nap is usually around 2 pm. Again, he sleeps from 2 to 3 hours. Bed time routine starts at 7 pm with a bath, bottle brush teeth and bed.

melly918 · August 2013

Thank you, ladies! DD seems to need her naps consistently or she is too overtired to fall asleep at night. You all have given me ideas about how our routine should look like. Only time will tell what works best for her and we won't know until we go back to work. I'm gonna miss summer.

orangegoggles · August 2013

We finally settled into a routine, well, most days!

6:00-6:30 wake
Exactly 2 hours later- morning nap for about 1 1/2 or 2 hours until about 10:00-10:30
Nap at 1:00 or so for about an hour or hour and a half
Sometimes takes a cat nap at 4:30 for a half hour but it depends on if he needs it. if he doesn't take it I will start bedtime a half hour earlier
5:00/5:30 dinner
6:45- bedtime routine and bottle
7:00-7:15 asleep for the night

I agree that the drop off time messes with things but it could work if you started the afternoon nap earlier and maybe added in a cat nap before bed if needed.

DS is almost 8 months and goes down easily as long as we're keeping with the schedule. If we're late, forget it. Melt down city.

weddedwife · August 2013

Hi!

DD is 8 months. Here's what her schedule looks like:

Wake 7 to 7:30ish.
Nurse & nap around 9 to 9:30, for about half hour to 1.5, depending.
Lunch around 12:30 to 1:30, table food or baby food.
Nurse & nap around 1:30 to 2, for 45 min to 2 hours, depending.
Nurse around 4-5.
Dinner around 6:30-7, baby cereal and table/baby food.
Diaper, pjs, book around 7:45 or 8. Nurse then bedtime.
She wakes 2+ times during the night, nurses both times. Lately she's been up way more. Teething?

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Infants 6m+ ...describe sleep schedule (melly918)

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