12 week old naps WWYD?

pkaren · November 2013

First of all, I know I'm super lucky to have a LO that sleeps so much! B doesn't sleep great at night yet, Despite our bedtime routine, once I put her in her crib she's up within 10 min, I put her in her swing and she falls asleep there and then I transfer her to her crib later. She's up once or twice throughout the night to nurse, then up for the day between 6 - 7 am (despite if she got up to nurse at 5 or not, but that's a whole other issue!). She usually takes her first nap about an hour, hour and a half after waking. She takes all her naps in the swing and sleeps in her crib at night.

My issue is with her napping. Saturday night she fought sleep and didn't go down for good until 1:30am. Up for the day at 7, then took her first nap at around 8....she then slept until 2pm and she only woke up bc I stopped her swing. She was up for an hour, then back to sleep in the swing. She slept for another 3 hrs and I stopped the swing to get her to wake up. I thought she was just extra sleepy bc of the bad night.

Today, it's now almost 1 pm and she's been napping since 9 (4 hrs). I can see her 45 min sleep cycles, she rouses, opens her eyes for a second then goes back to sleep. When she wakes up in the morning, she's smiling and cheery, doesn't seem cranky.

My question is: should I be waking her from her naps or let her sleep for hours and hours during the day? I feel like she's sleeping too long. She's a great napper, but she is hard to get down for the night, bedtime is usually 7 or 7:30. Should she be going to bed earlier do you think? Should I be putting her in her crib for naps now?

Thanks for any tips or advice!

Mmm79 · November 2013

Ah, the swing nap. That thing was GOLD. A used to take 3 hours naps in that thing at around 2-3 months old. That being said, once we hit the 3 hour mark, I would do little things to try to get him to wake up on his own. I would first turn off any white noise or music we might be using and wait five minutes or so to see if that would do it. Then I'd stop the swing. Typically by that point he would wake up on his own. I believe in trying to avoid actually waking the baby up, but creating an environment where s/he can wake up on their own is different. I don't think I ever let A sleep for more than 3 hours at a time during the day. At 3 months, he was taking one "bouncer nap" about an hour and a half after he woke up, then the swing nap in the mid to late morning then a car seat nap in the afternoon (I'd get myself a latte and drive him down by the beach).

We started trying to transition to crib naps at around 4 months, since that's what was happening at daycare. I have to be honest, it has never been as good with the napping since we did that. A is now the king of the cat naps, with most lasting just 35 minutes. When we first started transitioning him, I'd try the crib first but if he would not go down, I'd resort to the bouncer, swing or car. My rule was- and kind of still is- that we should try to get A to sleep in his crib, but that the most important thing is that A nap. He is a great overnight sleeper, though.

katharine25 · November 2013

I'm just thinking of all the things I could get done in a 4 hour nap, that wasn't on me......

JulyMomma2U2 · November 2013

DS2 is a sucky napper. He cat naps for about 30-40 minutes. Always has, since he was 2w old! But, he sleeps 13 hours straight at night (for the past 5 weeks or so). Because his nap length didn't change regardless to where he naps, I often just put him in the crib hoping that maybe the quiet will one day allow him to nap longer.. he's been "napping" in the crib since shortly before he was 3 months.

In your case.. I would likely do as PP suggested and not physically wake the baby, but instead just slowly change the setting around where she is asleep so that she wakes on her own.. I'd say 3 hours would be my max.. and, I usually don't let him nap past 4:30 (we start bedtime at 6:30-7:00 and he's usually asleep by 7:00-7:15). He's also prone for getting that second wind, too.. especially if he nods off on me.. keeping him up from 5:30-6:30 is SO hard some nights.. but if he does doze off then getting him down for the night is way tougher.

delino · November 2013

That's a lot of napping. I would maybe first try to get her to sleep in the swing with it turned off. Then try to transition to her crib.

adoxyinherear · November 2013

At that age we were definitely still letting DD sleep whenever, however long, and her bedtime was quite late, usually around 9:30 or 10. We never had a swing, though, she's always slept in a PnP or a crib.

I've tried to be as relaxed about sleep as I can, because stressing about it hasn't changed anything. My inclination would be to NOT wake her if she's legitimately tired, and if she's waking up cheerful, she's getting good sleep. I do remember reading that some babies are often ready for bed as early as 6:30, though, and the difficulties they experience going down for the night are because they are often already overtired when we are putting them to bed. Once we did get a bedtime routine in place for DD (and figured out her bedtime was MUCH earlier than when we were putting her down), she went down so much easier, awake, and put herself to sleep. I'd encourage you just to watch her for her earliest cues of sleepiness in the evenings, and put her down as soon after that as you can. If you have to abbreviate your normal nighttime routine, or if you want to make note of when she gets tired and try to start her nighttime routine earlier the next night, maybe do that, instead.

It may also be that she's just used to swinging to sleep... totally normal! I'd recommend reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution for some helpful tips on easing her out of this habit (even if you choose to let her cry, this book is just plain useful for sleep information).

Best of luck! Sleep is so hard!

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