Naptime--do you wake your child when it gets too long?

[jamsmu]

DS has been sleeping this morning for over two hours. Usually, his am nap is about 1 hour to one and a half. Do you wake him/her up when it gets long or let him or her sleep? I'm worried that it'll mess up the afternoon nap.

[Rachels]

NO. If you wake a sleeping baby, you get a cranky baby who is then overtired and won't nap well. It's a mess. Better to let him sleep if he needs it.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[bluej]

I never wake a sleeping baby! I fear waking a sleeping baby!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I never have. I let her sleep when she wants to and wake up when she wants to. Some days she takes a three short naps, some days it is two longer ones. Once in awhile it is just one long nap.

The only exception to that is in the mornings when she goes to the babysitter. I very gently start changing her clothes and she wakes up. But then she takes a nap as soon as she gets to the babysitter's house.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[papal]

I don't.
I tip-toe around the house so she can sleep as long as possible!! And when she shows signs of stirring I rush in there and pet her and give her binky back to her so she can sleep some more. 50% of the time this does not work.. if she really wants to wake up.. nothing can make her take an extended nap.
And the more she sleeps during the day, seems like the calmer she is in the evenings, and the earlier she goes to bed at night.

[josephmama]

I don't wake DS if he's taking an extra-long nap- it means he needs his rest (or in my son's case often means he's getting sick). If he winds up having an early evening nap, though, I don't let him sleep that long and he's never minded (but he's very easy going in nature). But definitely not for a morning or afternoon nap.

[egoldber]

NEVER! The only exception is if an afternoon nap happens to go past 6 pm. I do wake her up then. But she is always extra cranky about it.

HTH,

[caleymama]

NOPE! On the few occasions that I have because of appointments or something my otherwise sweet-natured little girl is SOOOOO crabby. The rest of the day is thrown off (worse than it would have been had she taken an extra long nap). She gets to sleep as long as she wants to.

[amp]

I used to worry about this, but never wanted to wake him. I figured out that, in our case, it doesn't generally affect his later naps or nighttime sleeping, so we don't wake him up.

[AngelaS]

Yes! When my babies were under about 8 months and still nursing every 4 hours or so, I would wake them up when it was time to nurse. :D That way they got fed enought times during the day and knew that the LOOOONG sleep time was reserved for NIGHT TIME! :D

It worked great for us!