Talk to me about naps

[birch113]

So we've talked bedtimes, let's talk naps. I mentioned in the bedtime thread I'm trying to get LO into a routine to prep for daycare. I've been doing the Eat, Activity, Sleep routine loosely, but now I'm paying more attention to how long LO naps, and he naps for crap!! The EASY routine suggests he should have four 90 minute naps a day. He will cat nap (10 min, 20 min, maybe a bit longer) but he's nowhere close to those good naps. Then around 5:30/6pm he crashes when DH gets home and naps in his arms for a bit. I think I might be over stimulating him during the "activity" portion, and maybe not be catching him early enough for naps and he's getting overtired.

So, what does your nap schedule look like??

[nbateman5]

Almost 9 weeks here...LO takes awesome naps in her crib. When we had her in her swing or RnP she'd constantly wake after knocking out the paci or putting her hands to her face. We do the eat, play, sleep routine as well and as soon as I hear a whine or spastic arms I swaddle and move her to crib for nap time (no paci, white noise and turn on mobile). She takes hour and a half naps at least about an hour after she wakes (7am ish), then she's normally awake for about an hour and a half. Yesterday I took her to work and she was awake for 2 hrs straight and only took a half hour nap in the car so her late afternoon nap (230pm) was super long. I woke her after 3 1/2 hours bc I was scared of her not sleeping at night...well put her down at 10 and she's still sleeping at 5am so I shouldn't have worried too much. I also noticed that when she wakes after about a half hour to an hour during naps, if I leave her be for at least another 15 (she'll squirm and grunt and move her head) she'll drift off for another hour of good sleep. We don't have set times just follow her cues this far.

[rayray007]

Before this past weekend, when they napped like shit, and yesterday when they slept all day (to catch up?), our naps went something like this:
Nap 1: about 1 hour after they get up (say around 9) for 1 hour. Wake up and eat around 10.
Nap 2: cat nap sometime between 10 and 12. Usually around 1.5 hours after they wake up,but sometimes earlier if we go for a walk or car ride. This nap is usually short, maybe 30 min. Eat around noon.
Nap 3: 1.5 hours after they last woke up or ate (depends on when they napped and whether they ate right away when they woke up). Say, 1 or 1:30 pm. This "after lunch" nap is usually long:2-3 hours. Up bw 3 and 4 pm, eat. Eat again around 5 pm.
Nap 4: Cat nap (maybe). Up, get ready for bed and eat again bw 6 and 7 pm.
Eta: LOs are 12 weeks. Times are just an example, they aren't on a schedule and I follow their lead mostly.

[apsalartoll]

@birch1113 - Mine sounds like yours. There are cat naps that don't last longer than 15-20 minutes, maybe 30 if I'm lucky. There will often be a longer one at night, right around when DH gets home. She's a great sleeper at night, and she goes to sleep in her crib without any problems most nights. If I try to put her in her crib during the day, even if I know she's tired, she'll just cry until I take her out.

[danisgossipgirl]

Day sleep cycle naturally lasts 20-30 minutes. Babies that sleep longer are able to pass into more cycles without fully rousing. So it's biologically normal to have a crappy napper, but you can coax them into longer naps by setting the environment up for it. Different people have different techniques just like for night sleep. I don't expect my 6 w old to have such a solid routine so I'm lax at home now, baby sleeps in my arms, while babywearing, and in the rock n play. When she goes to daycare, she'll settle into a routine with them.

[liljsmomma]

Ugh nap schedule is whenever the heck lo falls asleep! But lately it's about an Bohr and half after she gets up she has a little 30 min nap then up for 2 hours then usually a longer 45 min nAp! But there bit good naps I have to go in a pop her paci back in her mouth so she'll sleep long the. 10 mins at a time!

[birch113]

Feb 10, 2015 10:05:40 GMT -5 vigorousbabymama said:

DD usually takes two good naps - 1.5-2 hr / each day. The first is about an hour or two after she wakes up for the day, so 8-ish, and then again sometime around 2. She also takes much shorter cat naps here and there. During the day (between 6:30a and 7p) she is almost never awake for more than 3hrs at once. After her last big nap though, all hell generally breaks loose. DH comes home from work around 530 or 6 and I think between thst stimulation and just her trying to wind down from he day, she gets extra cranky. We start trying to get her down for the night around 8 but that can take anywhere from 30 minutes on a good night to 2 hours on a rough night.

The biggest issue I'm having is getting her to sleep/nap on her own anywhere other than the Rnp or basinette in the pnp. She is not very good yet at soothing herself to sleep either so I'm worried that daycare naps will be a struggle. I'm imagining my poor girl crying and screaming her head off because I won't be there to hold her.

I'm really sorry! That's really stressful to think about. My LO still needs to be swaddles and rocked to sleep. I have the same worry!

[beevol]

DD was napping pretty consistently, but the past few days have been ridiculous. I'm thinking it's a wonder week thing since she's 8 weeks now. I've been tracking it which helps me at least feel like I'm not going nuts.

[birch113]

LO must have gotten all of your nap juju! He napped like a champ today! Praying it doesn't bite me in the ass tonight and that he still sleeps well....

[beckyrosen]

LO is pretty consistent in the mornings. We're up at 7 to get DS up for school. She doesn't nap until around 930 or 10 and that is usually a 1.5 hour nap. Other naps are not as predictable in timing or length yet.

[birch113]

Feb 11, 2015 3:11:06 GMT -5 mgk207 said:

LO is 7 weeks old, and for the past couple of weeks, has only been napping once per day for about three hours (usually 11-2). This seems abnormal to me! He will occasionally take other cat naps, but pretty much wakes up around 6:30, cluster feeds until 11, sleeps until 2, then cluster feeds until 8:00, with small play breaks. Then it's bed time. Anyone else only getting one long nap??

We had a few of those last week!

[birch113]

Feb 10, 2015 21:04:09 GMT -5 vigorousbabymama said:

Feb 10, 2015 20:59:08 GMT -5 birch113 said:

LO must have gotten all of your nap juju! He napped like a champ today! Praying it doesn't bite me in the ass tonight and that he still sleeps well....

Other experienced mamas have told me that sleep begets sleep. So, the better a LO naps the better he sleeps at night because he's not overtired. FX this is true for you and your little man.

You were right! LO slept 8 hours!!! He was out from 7:30-3:30. I'm pumping now and hear some grunty noises from the bedroom. I can't tell if he's up or just sleeping loudly (which he often does). Hopefully he sleeps until 6 so I can get a little more sleep after pumping!!

[birch113]

Feb 11, 2015 3:56:36 GMT -5 birch113 said:

Feb 10, 2015 21:04:09 GMT -5 vigorousbabymama said:

Other experienced mamas have told me that sleep begets sleep. So, the better a LO naps the better he sleeps at night because he's not overtired. FX this is true for you and your little man.

You were right! LO slept 8 hours!!! He was out from 7:30-3:30. I'm pumping now and hear some grunty noises from the bedroom. I can't tell if he's up or just sleeping loudly (which he often does). Hopefully he sleeps until 6 so I can get a little more sleep after pumping!!

He did! He slept until 6! Now what are the chances I can replicate yesterday's great naps and night sleep today???

[birch113]

Feb 11, 2015 7:14:42 GMT -5 @txaggie08 said:

Feb 11, 2015 7:08:05 GMT -5 birch113 said:

He did! He slept until 6! Now what are the chances I can replicate yesterday's great naps and night sleep today???

Teach me your ways! LO was up more last night than he has been in over 2 weeks.

For us, I noticed LO went down so much easier and slept so much better and longer on bath nights, so I decided to make the bath part of his nightly bedtime routine. Also, when he was waking up multiple times, I noticed he would start to fuss but not actually wake up. Sometimes he just needed a quick rock, or for his swaddle to be redone if he'd busted out of it. If he was still fussing after that, I'd do a feeding, but if that did the trick, we all went back to sleep. Soon after, he dropped a feeding, and soon after that, he dropped the 4-6am fussing.

I probably just totally jinxed myself for tonight. :-)

[birch113]

Feb 11, 2015 10:15:31 GMT -5 @txaggie08 said:

Feb 11, 2015 10:06:54 GMT -5 birch113 said:

For us, I noticed LO went down so much easier and slept so much better and longer on bath nights, so I decided to make the bath part of his nightly bedtime routine. Also, when he was waking up multiple times, I noticed he would start to fuss but not actually wake up. Sometimes he just needed a quick rock, or for his swaddle to be redone if he'd busted out of it. If he was still fussing after that, I'd do a feeding, but if that did the trick, we all went back to sleep. Soon after, he dropped a feeding, and soon after that, he dropped the 4-6am fussing.

I probably just totally jinxed myself for tonight. :-)

I hope you didn't! Maybe this will be your LO's new routine.

I've noticed that about bath nights too, but am so paranoid about his skin (DD has super sensitive skin) that I wasn't sure it was a good idea. Plus, I think the reason he sleeps better afterwards is because he screamed bloody murder through the whole thing...

I tried to calm him without feeding last night, but I'm guessing he may be going through a growth spurt (7.5 weeks - is that a thing?), so I'm hoping it will be better tonight.

Miles has sensitive skin, too. So far we've been good with Dr. Bronners for soap and Aveeno Baby lotion. He did not do well with Babyganics! I only do his hair every other day. His hair gets greasy, but his scalp is dry?! Also, every other day I half-ass it. I use just a teeny bit of soap, but mostly go through the motions. Have you tried music during bathtime? Miles would flip out, too, and that helped. He likes bathtime now, even without music. I think he's just used to it. He does cry when I take him out, but I think it's the temperature change, even though I wrap him up.

I swear Miles hit his growth spurt at 7 weeks!!! From what I've ready, 6 weeks is common, but it happens anywhere from 6-8 weeks. Hang in there!! Hopefully next week will be better....with more sleep!

[fergie17]

Our napping schedule sucks. He will not sleep past 45 minutes and most often it's cat naps. He's sleeping great at night. Usually 10-12 hours with 2-3 wake ups for feedings. I will I could figure out how to extend his nap time.

[bdk0186]

birch113 is his napping/nighttime the same?

[birch113]

Feb 14, 2015 11:31:32 GMT -5 bdk0186 said:

birch113 is his napping/nighttime the same?

We've had some hiccups. :-( we had one or two good nap days. On Wednesday we had friends over for dinner. I did his bath early, then he fell asleep early and was up two or three times during the night instead of once. Thursday night was twice I think, but then he had his shots yesterday and everything went back to crap. I ended up having him sleep on me on the couch from 4-7am because he was so uncomfortable and restless. My poor guy also got a fever this morning from the shots. We'll see what today and tonight bring. How are things for you?

[bdk0186]

Oh no! Hope he does better tonight. DD is 8 weeks and she was sleeping great last week with 2+ hour naps. The last few days she naps horribly. It's restless and short. My parents went home after visiting, DH went back to work, and yesterday she was at the sitter for the first time. I don't know but she is following the wonder weeks a little.

[birch113]

Feb 14, 2015 12:18:29 GMT -5 bdk0186 said:

Oh no! Hope he does better tonight. DD is 8 weeks and she was sleeping great last week with 2+ hour naps. The last few days she naps horribly. It's restless and short. My parents went home after visiting, DH went back to work, and yesterday she was at the sitter for the first time. I don't know but she is following the wonder weeks a little.

Thanks! I hope your LO does better, too! Those little schedule changes have such an impact! I really need to check out this wonder weeks business.