When Do Baby Naps Become More Consolidated?

eggmankate · March 2014

LO is 3.5 months and I feel like when we're with her on the weekends we need to be very conscientious of her nap time and working our errands around that. When we do go out for errands or a family function I feel bad because we're disrupting her naps. Also it just seems like so many naps and so little playtime. Essentially, they just nap so much at this age. Is there a certain age where the naps seem to be less consuming of the day--maybe because they're consolidated or because they need less sleep during the day? Or where you feel like you got the hang of it so you're not so worried about venturing out with the baby?

eggmankate · March 2014

Sing2phins said:

Will your LO sleep in the car seat? We get errands and nap time done that way quite often. I know some babies don't like carseat but mine nearly always falls asleep without fail, and always has, so we generally plan our errands to be during her naps.

Yep, but typically it's not going to be a long car ride and then she's awake once we get home. But yeah, I do like that at least she can rest in the car.

Kaymee · March 2014

Do you baby wear? DS2 will always wake up from the carseat once we arrive somewhere. But if I put him in the baby carrier, he will almost instantly fall asleep.

Also? I try to not plan my days around their nap schedule. That may sound awful, and I know it works for a lot of people. However, with DS1, we just sort of went with it, and now he's 4 years old and has always just adapted so well to our not to rigid schedule.

cagoldi · March 2014

We try to plan errands around his naps. My little Dude positively melts down when he's tired. He does fall asleep in the carseat, but we shop at a Super Target and farmer's market about 2 minutes from the house so that isn't enough time to lull him to sleep.

Usually we wait for him to wake from his morning nap. We'll change him and feed him immediately, then we head out to get our shopping done, take the cat to the groomer, get the oil changed in the car, whatever is on the agenda for that weekend.

That way we're back home by the time he's ready to nap again. I always keep my Ergo with us just in case he starts to get fussy.

bnan · March 2014

My LO was a lot like yours at 3.5 months and he would show tired signs as soon as 45 mins after waking. I felt like I was constantly battling with him over naps and never felt like I could leave the house without feeling guilty that I was messing with his sleep. Finally around 5 months I decided to try putting him on a nap schedule, keeping him awake for 2 hours between naps. I know all the books say to put babies down as soon as they show tired signs, but for my LO he does better when I actually keep him up a little. Now I feel a lot better about errands etc because I know his schedule and he has been much happier.

roo1oo · March 2014

I'm with Kaymee, my day doesn't revolve around LO's nap schedule. Mostly because his schedule is take a nap approximately 2.5 hours after waking. If he has a meltdown while at the store, so be it.

TiffanyBerry · March 2014

My daughter was one that needed to be home to sleep or she wouldn't, and if she didn't sleep, she'd fight later sleep all the harder. If I wanted her to get close to the minimum recommended hours of sleep - or just enough sleep to not be a hot cranky mess - I had to work around her naps. (No, she wouldn't sleep in the car, or in a carrier, or anywhere but a dark/quiet room.) And yeah, it was annoying as all heck for a few months.

I *think* she settled into three naps a day by five or six months, and then two a day until 16 or 17 months (but I forget when she switched to two a day). The shift to one nap a day was the most awesome one. Then we could finally DO things.

Dreamingmommy4 · March 2014

I personally just go about my business as usual and DD tags along. I NIP if she's hungry, change her when she needs it and I wear her in a Moby wrap or Boba so she can be awake and watch what's happening if she wants or take a nap if she wants. I hope that by doing this she will be flexible and not have a total meltdown if I can't keep her on a perfectly consistent schedule. That being said, some kids need the consistency and structure of a schedule. Just trust your instincts and do what works for your LO. GL!

eggmankate · March 2014

Dreamingmommy4 said:

I personally just go about my business as usual and DD tags along. I NIP if she's hungry, change her when she needs it and I wear her in a Moby wrap or Boba so she can be awake and watch what's happening if she wants or take a nap if she wants. I hope that by doing this she will be flexible and not have a total meltdown if I can't keep her on a perfectly consistent schedule. That being said, some kids need the consistency and structure of a schedule. Just trust your instincts and do what works for your LO. GL!

I like the idea of just going about my business. My DD is fairly easygoing to it's more of me trying to make sure gets enough sleep everyday since she averages 12.5-13.5 hours a day which is below the recommended 14-15 hours a day. If we go out then she's not going to be near that recommended sleep. I'm going to ask the Pedi about it next time we go in as she's not a fussy baby so maybe she just doesn't need that much sleep.

roo1oo · April 2014

I wouldn't worry about the number of hours as long as she's not a fussy mess. My LO has always been around 12-13 hours of sleep and is doing great. Just like some adults do fine on 6 hours of sleep while others need 9, your LO may just not need as much sleep. Also, since she's nearing the 4 month wakeful or may already be in it, you can expect her total amount of sleep to be less for a bit.

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