October 2015 Moms

Exhausted close to bedtime.. Nap?

What do you do when your LO is exhausted and it's too late for a nap bc it's so close to their bedtime? Ours turns into a monster if she's awake more than 3 hours (that's pushing it) but it usually takes her a little bit to fall asleep for a nap. So she got up for her nap around 3:30 today and right now she is MISERABLE. absolutely miserable. It's pretty similar timing everyday this is just today's example. She goes to bed at 730. What would you do or do you do if this happens to you? Take a short nap around 530? Put her to bed early? I just put her to bed now because she can't keep her eyes open any more. Usually she sleeps from 7:30-630 but I'm sure she'll be waking up tonight for another bottle since it's pretty early.

Re: Exhausted close to bedtime.. Nap?

  • edited May 2016
    Personally I let LO take another nap... But then again sometimes she goes to bed at 10 or 10:30 and wakes up at 9-9:30 and that works for us ... That's my fear is that she won't have eaten enough and wake up in the middle of the night anyways ... When she wakes up from that last nap I get her ready for bed, feed her and have her back to sleep usually within an hour to an hour and a half. 

    I always give her a bath before bed so she always knows when it is bed time. 
  • I usually let her take like a short 15 min cat nap or try to distract her. Honestly though sometimes LO naps 4-5 and still goes down around 630-7 .
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  • ktlanyktlany member
    If LO gets her last nap early in the afternoon I try to get her a small nap around 5/6. We take a walk or go for a short car ride bc I know those wil put her out for maybe 20-30 mins. That holds her over until 7:30/8 bedtime. She's easy tho and has never had a super tight schedule. 
  • Ah thanks for everyone's input. So last night I put her to bed super early at like 615 bc she was just soo exhausted. I thought for sure she'd be up but she still slept til 615 this morning! Couldn't believe it. I put her down for a nap at 4 tonight to try that approach so we'll see what happens tonight haha I can't take cranky sleepy baby.. I need my happy smiley babe!! :):)
  • tvistetviste member
    My rule of thumb is to wake baby by 6 no matter what time they fell asleep (unless it is going to be a late night). 
  • You might want to stick with that super-early bedtime, sounds like it worked well!  My son needed a super-early bedtime - he went to bed at 6:30 pm until he was around 2.  We started at a 7:30 bedtime and kept moving it back earlier until we found a time that worked.  My family thought we were crazy but he slept great and that's all that mattered to us!
  • @tviste wake by 6 am or pm?.. @vamomtobe now she's waking up at 5-530 in the morning so I'm still trying to figure out what bed time is best. 5 is way too early for me haha BUT it's straight through so I'm really not complaining just gotta figure this out :-/ 
  • beeblybeebly member
    Mine has the same schedule - bedtime between 6:30 and 7:30 pm, wake up between 6 and 7 am. She usually has three naps a day, and the last one is often late (starting at 4-5pm) but always short. Then she's reliably tired again by bedtime. I would follow your LO's indications - if she seems tired, put her down. If she sleeps through the morning, hooray. But with my daughter, I've found that she'll turn it into a quick nap if it falls anytime before 6.
  • @beebly that's almost identical to how things are going here. The late nap was scaring me for a while because I didn't know how it would affect her nighttime sleep but it's been going great, and she's not overtired. 
  • The days LO has early naps, or refuses to take a 3rd nap, we put her down for bed early.  Usually her last nap is around 3:30-4:30ish and goes to bed around 7:30.  Yesterday she decided to only take 2 naps, with her last one ending at 2:15.  We put her to bed at 6:30.  It may not be for everyone, but we play kids songs cartoons on the tv to buy us an extra 15 minutes of keeping her up when we need to.  For us, it's easier for everyone if our days are varied a little bit depending on what she does.  The only downside is she was awake at 5:30 this morning, but she'll probably take 3 naps today.
  • I have a friend with two little ones and both had extremely early bedtimes. She did dinner by 530, baths, and both were in bed by 630. They both slept through until about 630-645am. This continued up until the kids were like 3 years old! I guess it just depends on what works for you! My girl wakes from her last nap at 6-630, eats dinner, bathtime, and has her final nursing session by 830 and she's out for the night.
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