nap routine

helloaustin123 · February 2016

do you have a nap time routine you try and follow? what is it? has anyone fully transitioned to crib for naps?

gipfish · February 2016

Jane doesn't seem quite ready for a nap routine yet at 14 weeks, as she still needs quite a bit of help to stay asleep during the daytime when she doesn't have melatonin in her system to keep her asleep. I have heard that around five months is when babies are typically able to start taking naps in a crib on more of a schedule.

SJFTCA · February 2016

LO will be 13 weeks tomorrow. He begins his naps at the same time every day (8:30, noon, 3:00). Each nap begins 1-1.5 hours after he is fed. He's on a schedule (which I realize is not for everyone), so I know he is full and dry when he begins his nap.

I take him in the nursery, put him in his sleep sack, turn on white noise, and rock in the glider while I read him a book. Then I put him down in the crib. I'd say 90% of the time, he goes straight to sleep. He's now rolling both ways, so if he wakes up during his nap, he will now roll to his stomach or side to finish his nap. I try to leave him in the crib for at least 45 minutes. Today, he has lasted 1 hr and 20 mins, 1 hour, and now going on 1.5 hours for his final long nap (he sometimes catnaps for 30 mins in the evening). Some days he naps better or longer than others, and the whole rolling thing will sometimes mess him up. If he rolls intentionally, he's fine. But if he rolls accidentally and then can't roll back, he's screaming until I come to help. Bless his sweet little heart.

jdal1206 · February 2016

No schedule here but LO tends to want to take a nap about 1.5/2 hrs after he eats...right now I'm not having him nap in his cosleeper, I let him nap right on my chest or my arms. I can tell he is getting sleepy when he rubs his eyes...then it's on my chest, paci in his mouth a few little bounces and sweet smiles and he falls asleep...he generally takes 1.5 hr naps still. I've tried laying him down in his cosleeper for naps and he falls asleep alright but he generally only lasts about 30min then he's fussy again so for now I'm fine with him napping with me (I know this may not be for everyone but it is totally working for us right now). He is also a pretty good night time sleeper and will sleep in his cosleeper no problem, I'm not sure why daytime naps are different but as I said this is working for us and I'm loving all the daytime cuddles!

kdoak2015 · February 2016

DD naps 1-1.5hrs after waking and usually naps 1-2.5hrs depending on where she's napping or her surroundings. Up around 8-9ish back down for 10:30 up for noon, back down for 1:30ish up for 3 then usually up for a long stretch and then a short nap in the evening. Sometimes our days vary but for the most part this is how it is.

MercyC1130 · February 2016

Right now my little guy is going through a won't nap with out mommy phase. Lol.
I kind of like it though.

Generally, if I see him starting to tell me he's tired, I'll close the curtains and put on some ocean sounds or lullabies. He nurses to sleep still, though a handful of times hasn't.

Ceridwen77 · February 2016

My DD wakes, eats, plays for about 1.5hrs and then is ready for a nap. She only naps about 40min at a time though.

MoRay05 · February 2016

No schedule. I'm just following his lead for sleeping and eating. He is a cat napper though. He takes a few 30 mins naps and one 2-3 hour nap each day. Sometimes he takes his long nap late morning other days it's after lunch.

Lolo427 · February 2016

We follow the Easy schedule so her wakeful periods are anywhere from 45-1.5 hours. It depends if she didn't finish the nap she just had. I play certain playlists for her naps depending on time of the day. I think she got defiant when she heard the same music for every nap and would fight it. But swaddled, rocked/bounced, usually asleep on me or crappy/shortened nap in the P&P (but that doesn't happen too often). But my girl's sleep patterns are very similar to @MoRay05

poupoule · February 2016

The only consistency is at night. She goes to bed between 9 to 10 pm and wakes up between 6 to 7am, straight.

She naps in the crib, in the stroller, in the rock n play.
I do two naps in the stroller during the day, on outing in the morning around 10am, and one around 2:30pm in the afternoon.

She stays awake an hour to an hour and a half, from 7am to 5pm, and dows many little naps between 40min to 2h30. Then at night between 5pm and 9pm she will be drowsy for an hour or 2 but we can't manage to get her to nap longer than 20min.

I know her days will change again, so we are just following the flow. She has never been swaddled.

doodleoodle · February 2016

LO has wake periods of about an hour and sleeps for about 30 minutes apart from one long hour- 2 hour nap, usually. The longer nap can be at any point in the day. She won't sleep unless someone is holding her. It takes a lot of coaxing/bouncing/swaying/walking/rocking to get her to relax and settle down to sleep. She fights it so hard. Sometimes the only way to get her to relax is to give her a small bottle (probably not the best habit to form, but you do what you gotta do!). It has to be quiet and dark because she's a little busy body and doesn't want to miss anything

thefithuntress · February 2016

I wouldn't say I have Basil on a schedule, but she definitely has ME on a schedule. She's 11 weeks.

During the day she is currently ALL about being worn for naps. She eats, sits in my lap for a little bit, plays, then starts getting fussy. She fights her nap for 5 minutes or so then passes out in the wrap. Her naps range anywhere from 30 min to 1.5 hours; like previous posters she gets one or two long ones in, usually in the late morning, then at 3pm.

We also go for a walk around 5:00/30- sometimes she naps, sometimes she doesn't. BB is sleeping through the night now around 9pm-7am, give or take 30 min.

ShianeNicole · February 2016

Elliot is 11 weeks. sleeps all day and night. Usually after her bottle she's awake 30 mins to an hour tops. Then she sleeps until her next bottle. 3 to 4 hours later. She sleeps 8 to 10 hours at night. I try to keep her awake with her playmat, bounce seat, tummy time, etc. She just gets fussy and wants to sleep. Every now and again she will be a happy camper for 1.5 to 2 hours. Loves those times. Full of smiles and lots of exciting kicking

lindsayp916 · February 2016

We follow Babywise, so my LO has very consistent days, especially if we are at home. Wakes at 8am, nap 9-11, nap 12-2, 3-5 and 6-7, bedtime at 8pm and she sleeps til 8am. She's 14 weeks now so her wake time is starting to extend some, mainly in the afternoon. But as soon as I see those sleep cues, down she goes!

ColoradoHiker · February 2016

We're just following the routine Rhys has set for himself. He'll eat around 7:30am or so, stay awake for a bit while I eat breakfast, then take a 30-60 min nap. We play, do chores, etc, and generally he has another hour long nap around lunch, and then about 2hrs close to dinner. He usually naps again, then we feed him one last time and he'll sleep from 10-4 or 5am. Rinse and repeat.

This changes a bit if we go out, but overall this is what his pattern is right now.

bellie1223 · February 2016

We follow a loose schedule which was pretty much determined by the queen herself. It's basically eat, play, sleep and she has on average I'd say wakeful periods of 2 hours. After that she starts to get cranky. We usually have her nap in her bouncy chair since she likes it and we're supervising so I'm not as strict about being flat on her back. However, I'd like her to start getting used to her crib so we have started trying to do at least once nap a day there. I've found a routine to naps keeps her sleeping longer so we usually just do an abbreviated bedtime routine: swaddle, white noise and some singing or rocking.

My husband (he's home with her during the day) jokes that she sticks to her schedule very well until acted upon by an outside force, like the other day he finally got her to sleep in her chair when the dog walked right up and sneezed in her face, then he couldn't get her back to sleep and she was super fussy the rest of the day. I felt bad for him but at the same time that visual is hilarious!

cdepperschmidt · February 2016

DH and I both work Monday through Friday, but DS has created a consistent daycare schedule. He eats every two hours and takes three naps while at daycare. Then he takes his last nap on the way home. On weekends i just follow his cues. He eats when he's Hungry and gets put down for a nap when he is sleepy. His wake periods are 2-3 hours depending on the length of the proceeding nap. We do have a strict bedtime routine though.

GoogleMD · February 2016

We also work, he sleeps in a crib when my mom has him during thr week. On thr weekends it is just my DH, LO, and I so we just take our cues from him. We will sometimes put him in his crib but honestly we (read mommy) hold him for a lot of naps since we don't see him as much during the week. He also takes a few cat naps in his swing.

rachswi · February 2016

GoogleMD said:

We also work, he sleeps in a crib when my mom has him during thr week. On thr weekends it is just my DH, LO, and I so we just take our cues from him. We will sometimes put him in his crib but honestly we (read mommy) hold him for a lot of naps since we don't see him as much during the week. He also takes a few cat naps in his swing.

I'm home all the time with my son and I still will hold him for a lot of his naps! I just love the cuddles and he still sleeps better when he's being held than anywhere else.

Naps are pretty much anyone's game around here unfortunately. No matter how consistent DH and I try to be, LO runs his own show. Of course, part of the problem right now is he's had a nasty cold for over a week and he's pretty congested so even when he sleeps it's not good sleep which means he's pretty much always tired and cranky. He slept a large portion of the day yesterday so I'm hoping that means he's finally on the mend.

smnewby · February 2016

bellie1223 said:

We follow a loose schedule which was pretty much determined by the queen herself. It's basically eat, play, sleep and she has on average I'd say wakeful periods of 2 hours. After that she starts to get cranky. We usually have her nap in her bouncy chair since she likes it and we're supervising so I'm not as strict about being flat on her back. However, I'd like her to start getting used to her crib so we have started trying to do at least once nap a day there. I've found a routine to naps keeps her sleeping longer so we usually just do an abbreviated bedtime routine: swaddle, white noise and some singing or rocking.

My husband (he's home with her during the day) jokes that she sticks to her schedule very well until acted upon by an outside force, like the other day he finally got her to sleep in her chair when the dog walked right up and sneezed in her face, then he couldn't get her back to sleep and she was super fussy the rest of the day. I felt bad for him but at the same time that visual is hilarious!

Our dog has sabotaged many naps! Our LO never goes back to normal afterwards! So infuriating!

Lolo427 · February 2016

Anyone's baby develope a new witching hour? Over the past 4-5 days even after JUST waking from a nap DD loses her mind between 9-10. She was just fed and was playing, sends no sleep cues, and just loses her mind until I or DH can get her to sleep. Not sure what the deal is.

ETA: in the morning...putting an 'a.m' would probably help.

mmmynyx · February 2016

It's her schedule not ours. Just small little hour naps here and there after 10am once she's up for the day. Her longest nap is for 3-4 hrs and it's usually between 12pm-4pm. She puts herself to sleep for those and I leave her there. I usually notice her getting sleepy though and prop her up on a pillow on our bed, give her a pacifier, and within 10 minutes she's out.

Ceridwen77 · February 2016

My DD will now only sleep for 30min max during the day! What am I doing wrong with her? She sleeps well at night, for 12hrs with 2 wake ups where she's only awake to eat (sleeps through her diaper change). I hope she's getting enough sleep.

rachswi · February 2016

Ceridwen77 said:

My DD will now only sleep for 30min max during the day! What am I doing wrong with her? She sleeps well at night, for 12hrs with 2 wake ups where she's only awake to eat (sleeps through her diaper change). I hope she's getting enough sleep.

I've started rocking DS as soon as he wakes up from a short nap to see if he's still tired and just woke because he couldn't get himself to another deep sleep state. Sometimes he's tired and goes right back to sleep other times he's pushing off me and looking around so I know he's really done napping.

Ceridwen77 · February 2016

rachswi said:

Ceridwen77 said:

My DD will now only sleep for 30min max during the day! What am I doing wrong with her? She sleeps well at night, for 12hrs with 2 wake ups where she's only awake to eat (sleeps through her diaper change). I hope she's getting enough sleep.

I've started rocking DS as soon as he wakes up from a short nap to see if he's still tired and just woke because he couldn't get himself to another deep sleep state. Sometimes he's tired and goes right back to sleep other times he's pushing off me and looking around so I know he's really done napping.

I try this too and she fights it! Her eyes will close/roll back in her head and then she'll open them wide. I know she's still tired but she won't go back to sleep. She'll ultimately start crying and then I'll feed her.

hlz128 · February 2016

My son refuses to nap. He will sometimes fall asleep on the boob but it's usually short lived and he liked to roll his face into my elbow then gets mad. I've tried going into his room and my room. I've tried his RNP, PNP, and his crib and nothing. He is very tired and is showing all the signs of being sleepy but no matter what I've tried he will not take naps.

kylaprecious21 · February 2016

My DS is also a cat napper during the day...but he sleeps more at night. He goes anywhere from 8-10 hours between his last feeding. Then sleeps another 3 or 4 hours until it's time to wake up for the day. So we've accepted that as his schedule!

helloaustin123 · February 2016

Yep mine is definitely still a cat napper too! We've successfully transitioned to crib naps but she'll still wake up at thirty or forty five minutes on the dot!

Pontot31 · February 2016

Ceridwen77 said:

My DD will now only sleep for 30min max during the day! What am I doing wrong with her? She sleeps well at night, for 12hrs with 2 wake ups where she's only awake to eat (sleeps through her diaper change). I hope she's getting enough sleep.

You're not doing anything wrong! That sounds perfectly normal to me. I'm pretty against over scheduling babies this age. My son will sleep longer ebbed being worn or laying next to me but usually he takes a bunch of 45 minute naps a day.
As long as she's sleeping at night I wouldn't worry.
She will find a pattern with in the next few months.
My DD eventually took a shorter morning nap and a long afternoon nap and then slept 14 hours at night with maybe 2 wake ups.
I'm not one to push schedules or force sleeping. We go with the flow so that way our kids can handle change and being out and about. I've had friends who were basically trapped in their homes all day because of nap schedules and I don't want to be that way!

kmd91 · February 2016

Every time I think he is getting on a more set routine he mixes it up. However, for the past week he's gone down for a nap between 4 and 4:30, which has been so great because it's allowed me to make dinner in peace. With that said, I don't anticipate it lasting. He's got a very set bedtime, but his daytime naps come at whatever time they come. On the bright side, he's finally accepted napping places other than mommy 90% of the time. (Though sometimes I snuggle him for a nap anyways if I don't need to get anything done. Cause let's be real, mommy needs baby snuggles)

Lolo427 · February 2016

kmd91 said:

Every time I think he is getting on a more set routine he mixes it up. However, for the past week he's gone down for a nap between 4 and 4:30, which has been so great because it's allowed me to make dinner in peace. With that said, I don't anticipate it lasting. He's got a very set bedtime, but his daytime naps come at whatever time they come. On the bright side, he's finally accepted napping places other than mommy 90% of the time. (Though sometimes I snuggle him for a nap anyways if I don't need to get anything done. Cause let's be real, mommy needs baby snuggles)

Hooooowwwww did you manage to get baby settled elsewhere for naps? My girl will accept DH putting her in the P&P for naps but will lose her mind if I attempt to. She just AlWAYS naps on me. Super impressed and super jealous.

Ceridwen77 · February 2016

Pontot31 said:

Ceridwen77 said:

My DD will now only sleep for 30min max during the day! What am I doing wrong with her? She sleeps well at night, for 12hrs with 2 wake ups where she's only awake to eat (sleeps through her diaper change). I hope she's getting enough sleep.

You're not doing anything wrong! That sounds perfectly normal to me. I'm pretty against over scheduling babies this age. My son will sleep longer ebbed being worn or laying next to me but usually he takes a bunch of 45 minute naps a day.
As long as she's sleeping at night I wouldn't worry.
She will find a pattern with in the next few months.
My DD eventually took a shorter morning nap and a long afternoon nap and then slept 14 hours at night with maybe 2 wake ups.
I'm not one to push schedules or force sleeping. We go with the flow so that way our kids can handle change and being out and about. I've had friends who were basically trapped in their homes all day because of nap schedules and I don't want to be that way!

Thanks! I don't want to push schedules either but after reading about all these long nappers on here I worried something was wrong. DD is doing great otherwise so I guess this is just "her" and we will continue with her letting us know her schedule.

Today she had a 20min nap, 45min and then a 1hr 50min. Of course the last long one was while cuddling with me, but I don't mind.

NovemberSno · February 2016

We kind of just go by LO'S mood. But we have discovered to try not to let her stay awake more than 2 hours at a time. She becomes Medusa if she does. Lol.

kmd91 · February 2016

Lolo427 said:

kmd91 said:

Every time I think he is getting on a more set routine he mixes it up. However, for the past week he's gone down for a nap between 4 and 4:30, which has been so great because it's allowed me to make dinner in peace. With that said, I don't anticipate it lasting. He's got a very set bedtime, but his daytime naps come at whatever time they come. On the bright side, he's finally accepted napping places other than mommy 90% of the time. (Though sometimes I snuggle him for a nap anyways if I don't need to get anything done. Cause let's be real, mommy needs baby snuggles)

Hooooowwwww did you manage to get baby settled elsewhere for naps? My girl will accept DH putting her in the P&P for naps but will lose her mind if I attempt to. She just AlWAYS naps on me. Super impressed and super jealous.

I wish I had a good answer for that. I'd mostly just accepted my fate as his naptime location. And one day shortly after he dozed off I really needed to go to the bathroom. I gently put him down in his bed expecting to have to console him in a couple minutes, but he just stayed. After that I started doing more naps on his own and it's worked out well. My son just randomly decided he was a big boy and didn't need me for naps anymore, haha.

Lolo427 · February 2016

Complete and utter AW but I just dealt with a hour and a half with my girl essentially crying it out due to being overtired. She's been up since 5:30 and I tried EVERYTHING, but she just wouldn't settle; What a hot mess. Naps suck.

bellie1223 · February 2016

Lolo427 said:

Complete and utter AW but I just dealt with a hour and a half with my girl essentially crying it out due to being overtired. She's been up since 5:30 and I tried EVERYTHING, but she just wouldn't settle; What a hot mess. Naps suck.

That's one of the hardest things, I've found, when you KNOW what they need and they just won't go along with it. I just always go down the list: hungry? Wet? Gassy? Hair wrapped around digit? Uncomfortable outfit? Obviously you are tired but won't go to sleep! That's when the earphones come out and I just walk her around the house. Short story long, I feel your pain!

rachswi · February 2016

Lol DH and I just went to a restaurant because we were hungry and LO was being grumps. I knew he was exhausted because he's only taken a 20 minute nap since he woke up at 7:30 and usually by now (5 hours later) he's into his second 45 minute nap of the day. He was fussing so I turned him around so he could see around the restaurant (I figured if he wasn't going to sleep, he could at least be distracted by a new place)... He fell asleep basically dangling over my arm. If only he'd fall asleep with that little effort at home!

His sleep has been so messed up thanks to a combination of a cold, teething, and now thrush. Yesterday I had to wake him up because he'd been napping for almost 4 hours and I really didn't want him to confuse day and night. Now today he basically passed out from sheer exhaustion. I know in a typical day he's not getting enough sleep but it usually takes so much to get him to fall asleep. Sometimes it takes an hour and a half to get him to sleep for 45 minutes

nycmommy13 · February 2016

No set naptime. He tends to fall asleep around the same time each day, though. Once in the morning about 2 hours after he wakes up and once in the late afternoon. Sometimes if he takes a nap in the early afternoon, he needs one in the early evening. Then I have to try and get him to sleep because he doesn't fall asleep easily for that one.

chadsfiance · February 2016

I feel like we are doing something wrong too. Olivia will not take long naps unless someone is holding her, but at night, she will sleep in her crib without too much of an issue (thankfully!!). I do her last feeding at 9:00pm, put her down around 10:00pm (have to keep her upright for a bit after feeding) and then my husband usually wakes her around 4:00am or 5:00am to feed her. There are so many opinions...we have heard not to wake her, but also to wake her because she needs to eat every so often. So, for those of you who's LO's sleep from 8-8 or whatever, is that straight through or do you wake to feed at some point? If she is napping and it's time to eat, do you wake your LO or just let them sleep? What we have been doing is working for us, but that doesn't mean it's right, LOL.

VexedMommy · February 2016

chadsfiance said:

I feel like we are doing something wrong too. Olivia will not take long naps unless someone is holding her, but at night, she will sleep in her crib without too much of an issue (thankfully!!). I do her last feeding at 9:00pm, put her down around 10:00pm (have to keep her upright for a bit after feeding) and then my husband usually wakes her around 4:00am or 5:00am to feed her. There are so many opinions...we have heard not to wake her, but also to wake her because she needs to eat every so often. So, for those of you who's LO's sleep from 8-8 or whatever, is that straight through or do you wake to feed at some point? If she is napping and it's time to eat, do you wake your LO or just let them sleep? What we have been doing is working for us, but that doesn't mean it's right, LOL.

First, I envy you guys so much. lol. That said, my understanding is you do not need to wake baby to eat once they have regained their birth weight and are producing wet/dirty diapers each day.

bellie1223 · February 2016

VexedMommy said:

chadsfiance said:

I feel like we are doing something wrong too. Olivia will not take long naps unless someone is holding her, but at night, she will sleep in her crib without too much of an issue (thankfully!!). I do her last feeding at 9:00pm, put her down around 10:00pm (have to keep her upright for a bit after feeding) and then my husband usually wakes her around 4:00am or 5:00am to feed her. There are so many opinions...we have heard not to wake her, but also to wake her because she needs to eat every so often. So, for those of you who's LO's sleep from 8-8 or whatever, is that straight through or do you wake to feed at some point? If she is napping and it's time to eat, do you wake your LO or just let them sleep? What we have been doing is working for us, but that doesn't mean it's right, LOL.

First, I envy you guys so much. lol. That said, my understanding is you do not need to wake baby to eat once they have regained their birth weight and are producing wet/dirty diapers each day.

My understanding as well, our ped told us to stop waking her up once she regained birth weight. She still wakes up to eat every 4-5 hours at night though and doesn't go more than 2-3 during the day

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