How long do you let your baby nap

[backseatdriver]

My daughter likes to take monster naps- 3-4 hours and often wakes just to eat and then goes back to sleep. When she does this it seems like she is more wakeful at night. I'm thinking I should try to wake her up more during the day and try to get in feedings every 2-3 hours. What do you guys do? Wake them or just let them sleep?

[Deleted]

I let him sleep but I try to keep him up after he eats around noon and later.

[Deleted]

We wake him every 1.5-2 hours during the day except for one longer 3-4 hour nap. He's also up for a while in the morning on his own accord (usually from 5/6a-10/11a) so he gets a decent awake time then. It's helped to get him to sleep longer at night and go back to sleep easier when he wakes up for his midnight bottle

[emmyg65]

I try not to let him go longer than 3 hours during the day.

[sgio7485]

I try to avoid longer than 3 hours during the day if I can, esp after noontime. It's all over if he takes a huge afternoon nap.

[heidih21]

Yep 3 hours during the day unless I'm out running errands I'll let him sleep until I can get home. But 4 is as long as he will go during the day before waking up. He is usually awake most of the day when we are just at home. We are getting 5 hour stretches at night!

[Jellypepper]

I'm working on waking her every 3 hours during the day. I let her sleep for a little over 4 hours yesterday and paid for it last night.

[FiliaRitae]

I try not to let him go past three, but that's partly because we're having trouble getting weight on him. He usually wakes up every one to two to graze anyway, though.

[LaBellaVida]

I never wake him. He will get up on his own to eat.
The older he gets, the more he'll have wakeful periods during the day.
Yesterday, last night, and a little so far today he's been up more.

[hazelnut]

I don't wake her, and she's been getting some really good awake time the older she gets. Although last night I let her sleep from 9-1:30 am in the momaroo without waking her, and I wish I'd have awaken her around 11 or 11:30 to feed her and put her to bed because at 1:30 she woke up spitting mad and hungry, and was ready to party after I fed her. I need to get her on a better schedule, but for now I'm just letting her run the show.

[funinthenorth]

I don't wake him but he wakes every 3-4 regardless. At 2.5 weeks he's just starting to want to stay awake a bit after feeding so maybe soon it'll be time to start thinking about trying to keep him up more during the days and hopefully get some longer stretches at night. Having said that he has given us a few long stretches at night at the exact times that we desperately needed it. Thank you little man.

[grumpycat88]

We wake him if it's been more than 3 hours during the day. He usually wakes up on his own though.

[kellimark]

Yup she usually wakes on her own at the 3 hr mark. I feed her burp then she goes on her floor gym so she can kick her feet. Then tummy time then back to sleep. She isn't usually up more that 1.5 hrs per wake period but I try to get her moving.

[megpie5]

I'll echo several PPs as LO usually wakes up on her own between 2-3 hours. Maybe once or twice she has kept sleeping and I just go with it.

[raven]

Same as several PP. She wakes up on her own anywhere between 1.5-3 hours, usually at the 2 hr mark. If she doesn't, I wake her up after 3 hours. We once let her sleep for an extended period during the day, and she was up until 2:30am! So far, at night, she sleeps for up to a 4 hour stretch before wanting a feeding.

[ShuShuBee]

I am still trying to figure out how to get LO on a more normal schedule. She doesn't go to sleep until midnight/ 1am , but then will have a solid 3-4 hour stretch of sleep. She was awake most of today so I am hoping we might be getting on a better schedule.

[tkr7c9]

From weeks 1-4 I woke her every 2 hours during the day to eat (she got onto the same schedule herself quickly) and she slept much longer at night. Now at 4.5-5 weeks she is going about 3-4 hours during the day and still keeping a longer stretch at night. I also have a bedtime routine and that seems to help.

[rodiesmum]

First two weeks was instructed to wake her every 2.5-3 hrs to feed her. After that I just let her sleep/nap for as long as she wants

[megan81112]

He won't sleep more than 2.5 hours during the day. Maybe 3. I just let him go as long as he wants. We have yet to have anything more than 3 hours during the day.

[lola918]

We've been hearing that you shouldn't wake a sleeping baby, and longer day time naps actually encourages good night time sleep. Infants are generally awake and fussy in the evenings, and that's true for us regardless of how well LO sleeps during the day - but when he's rested during the day the remainder of the night tends to go much better.

[alfiesMOM]

I don't wake him he generally naps 1.5-2 hours and maybe occasionally he will do a three hour! He isn't sleeping awesome at night... I am trying to keep him up a little longer before "bed" usually with a bath or tummy time. That is when we get out longest stretch which is only three hours.

[dashook]

Like many others, I also try not to let him sleep more than 3 hours at a time during the day. He usually naps for 1-2 hour stretches but there is almost always one nap per day that we have to wake him from because it starts to creep past 3 hours. He does okay with it being woken up though; we wake him gently by talking to him, rubbing his back, and slowly undressing him to change his diaper, after which I feed him, so really he doesn't have much to complain about

We have typically been getting a 2-3 hour and a 4-5 hour stretch of sleep at night out of him in the past two weeks (once we even got 7 hours!). Of course, he often is awake for 2-3 hours in between Still working on that.

[grommom]

Isn't this like asking where you let a 600 lb gorilla sit? (wherever he wants). I don't wake baby unless its by accident. Then again my big bruiser was born at 9 lbs 9 oz so they told me its ok not to wake him to feed.

[cherryfive]

We let G sleep as long as she wants when she wants. The only reason we wake her is to change a poopy diaper. She gained her birth weight back in a week so we're not worried about her eating too little. She sleeps 3 or 4 hour stretches at night after being up every hour from 11-2 (which works for us because we're night owls).