6 month old Naps still bad!

[Riley's mama]

This is a little redundant, because I have posted on the subject before, but my 6 month old daughter is still having troubles with her naps. We have had success with Ferber at night, she goes to sleep around 8:30, wakes around 4:30 for a feeding then goes back to sleep until around 7 or 7:30. Then I feed her around 8 or 8:30 (usually closer to 8).

Any suggestions as to when I should put her down for a nap? I have been trying to watch for signs (yawning, rubbing eyes, etc), but even when I do that she does not want to go into the crib. I have been putting her in the crib usually around 9:30. The times that I have tried earlier she seems to have tummy troubles.

I don't know if I should just keep doing what I'm doing and hope that eventually she will get the hang of falling asleep in the crib. It's just really hard to hear her cry, especially if it's because I'm doing something wrong!!

Also, it seems that for the morning nap, she wakes up really cranky and is not happy until I feed her again. The problem is that she usually only sleeps about 30-40 minutes so I won't feed her again for a while!!

Has anybody had this type of situation? If so, do you think I should let her cry a little bit to see if she'll fall back asleep? I never know if I should do that or if I should just take her out.

Ugh, I wish there was some kind of parenting tutor or something. :)

[WatchingThemGrow]

I only have a second, but that's about the time we try to get them on a nap schedule at 9am and 2 pm. It lasts for us with that pattern of daytime sleep until about 14ish months until they start to transition to one nap per day -which takes another couple months to get settled that way.

I know the frustration! Oh, our kids sleep 7:30ish to 7am-ish. I think the rule of thumb from Weissbluth (maybe) is about 2 hours of wakefulness in the am before the morning nap.

[ahrimie]

Oh, our kids sleep 7:30ish to 7am-ish. I think the rule of thumb from Weissbluth (maybe) is about 2 hours of wakefulness in the am before the morning nap.

I love Weissbluth and read his book here and there all the time. Checking for sleepy signs is good but some babies have very very subtle signs so it can be hard to catch.

Lately, I'm nursing before and after naps and she seems to be very content and has slept through the night 2x in a row (knock on wood)! I used to only do after naps but this seems to be working out better for us. DD wakes up around 8am and by 9:30, she is already up in her room and we nurse. She gets sleepy while she nurses sometimes and if she does, I'll let her suckle a bit and then take her off. She usually wakes up if I take her off but I'll let her do both breasts (because we always do both for feedings).

Wake times should only be 2 hours around that age but that also includes the time it takes them to fall asleep. At that age, it was really more like 1 hour for us. DD couldn't stay awake 1.5 hrs before getting cranky.

Have you tried just playing in her room with her? When I tried to institute regular naps, I got a lot of protest too. I started spending more time in her room with her. We would read books or I brought some toys in there and we played for a bit. I even had her lay in her crib while I hung out and played (but this usually didn't last too long because she didn't like the crib). I wanted her to associate her room with something fun and good. I only had to do this a few times and she was good. Try that.

GoodLuck!

[Riley's mama]

Thanks for the advice. I will try to spend a little more time in her room, I think that will help.

So, since my LO slept from 9:30ish to about 10:40 this morning, should I put her down for another nap around 12:30? In other words, does the 2 hour rule apply all day? It seems that some sleep charts suggest moving toward only 2 naps per day around 6 months. She is still taking 3 naps a day. Is that something she will do herself or do I need to try to adjust her schedule??

[ahrimie]

Yes, I'd put her down by 12:30. Do you have a routine? It doens't have to be too rigid but I've found that having some sort of sequence helps. Once I notice that it's too long or something then, I take something out and if she's okay with it, I leave it out. We used to read a book everytime before she went to bed but there were many days when she would be so tired so I just leave that out all together now.

You might want to go through a book or nurse her in her room before you put her down. I do the last step always in her room.

[Riley's mama]

At what age should I be trying to give her only 2 naps a day? I tried it yesterday but she didn't seem too happy with it!

What age did y'all switch from 3 to 2???

Also, when did they start *really* sleeping (like how you, WatchingThemGrow, said 730-7)?

Thanks!!!

[KrisM]

My older kids both went to 2 naps at about 8-9 months. That's when they really got on a schedule and were consistent about napping.

For night, all 3 have done 7:30-6:30 or so since about 6 weeks. Not without waking, but that is night time for them. DS1 was close to 4 years when he was consistently not waking us up at night. DD was about 11 months when she did (which was about a year before DS1...Grrr). DS2 is only 6 months and he gets up about 10:30, 2:30, and 6:30 to eat. He ususally then sleeps until maybe 8 or so.

[ahrimie]

I think that really depends on the baby. My baby seems to sleep a lot more than other babies similar age that we know. She's always slept 12-14 hours at night (entirely through the night mostly) and naps 2-3x day, usually for 2 hrs for the first two and 1 hr for the last. In the beginning though, she used to nap 3-5 hours for EACH nap. We only get to do a 3rd nap if there is time still left in the day, LOL!

Right now, my LO sleeps around 7:30pm and wakes no earlier than 8am. Today, she woke up at 10:15!

[Riley's mama]

Ok, so I guess maybe I will wait on trying to move to 2 naps. I will also see if she responds well to the 2 hour window.

I still am having trouble knowing whether to pick her up when she makes noise or if I should see if she will get herself back to sleep. The other day she took a 2 and 1/2 hour nap (I let her cry a little bit in the middle), but today it was only 1 hour and 15 minutes. I wonder if I let her cry a little bit more today if she would've fallen back asleep....

I guess maybe it's just trial and error, but has anyone had this happen (where she will wake up for a few minutes and then go back to sleep during a nap)? If so, will she eventually not wake up and just sleep for the whole time?

This is all such a mystery to me!! And yes, it's definitely frustrating.

[brigeet]

I guess maybe it's just trial and error, but has anyone had this happen (where she will wake up for a few minutes and then go back to sleep during a nap)? If so, will she eventually not wake up and just sleep for the whole time?

This is all such a mystery to me!! And yes, it's definitely frustrating.

I totally feel your pain! My son Sean is 8 months right now. I feel like we're always in transition with sleep too. For most of his life he would only take 30 minute naps. He is finally taking longer naps in the afternoon now (2 hours). I am a Weissbluth fan too, although it's not as easy as he makes it out to be sometimes.

Throughout all of my son's sleep patterns and transitions, the main constant I have seen is that a 2 hour window of wakefulness works best, or else he gets overtired and can't sleep. Only very recently has he started lasting longer than 2 hours awake.

I have also found that putting a few relaxing items in his crib helps. I can put him in pretty much wide awake and he will just grab one of his soothing items and play with it or suck on it till he starts getting sleepy. Anything he likes to suck on helps since sucking is soothing. Sean likes to suck and chomp on washcloths and teethers.

My son wakes up in the middle of naps too. He has an internal timer set at 30 minutes. I guess I have gotten used to his noises and use the noises to determine if I will get him or let him try to go back to sleep. If he cries immediately after waking, it means he hasn't slept enough. If he wakes up happy and cooing then he's slept enough. That is probably pretty universal. He doesn't always go back to sleep when he's tired, but I try to at least give him the chance. Lately (last few weeks) he's been much better and only makes a short howl in or two in the middle of a nap and falls back asleep immediately.

I am a schedule person and my son has only just gotten into some sort of a schedule the past two weeks. We have always had routines but now we have more of a schedule. Oh and he takes a 3rd nap still too! Weissbluth said a smaller percentage of kids take 3rd naps. I can't remember if there is a set time when it goes away. Sean sometimes misses his third nap if his second nap starts too late or goes too long. On those days we just make sure bedtime is a bit earlier.

[Riley's mama]

Thank you so much to everyone who replied! Naps are going a lot better now (knock on wood). They are not all perfect but much better than before. Using that 2 hour window really helps and seems to be the right time to lay her down. I have also been following a nap time routine more closely!