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Posted by MandyM on October 31, 2001 at 23:03:58:In Reply to: 6 mo. old & 30 min. naps posted by CJ's Mommy on October 31, 2001 at 12:49:04:
My baby girl is 7 1/2 months old. She falls asleep on her own in her crib at night (I sid by her crib until she's asleep, sometimes sing; so she's not exactly on her own I guess). But for naps I rock her to sleep.
She's the same way, with 30-minute naps. The schedule I find that usually works is bedtime at 8pm, wake up about 7am, then first nap about 10am. Sometimes she can't make it, she is more tired than usual. Then I'll put her down maybe at 9am-9:30. If she wakes up and seems fine, wide awake, and happy, I might "let" her get up. Many times, though, she's awake but rubbing her eyes, etc. Then, if I make sure I get to her soon, I'll just pick her up, rock her (sometimes she wants to eat), and she'll either fall RIGHT back asleep (which she wouldn't do in her crib), or she'll be asleep within about 15 minutes of rocking.
I haven't found that rocking her for naps interferes with night sleep; she FINALLY sleeps from about 8pm to between 4-7am before waking up!
Another thing I've noticed - if she lies on her back and does BIG stretches (arms way up, legs straight out); that usually means she's ready to wake up, and won't go back to sleep.
She used to be up only about 2 hrs at a time; now she can sometimes only stay up 1 1/2 to 2 hours before her first nap; but between naps 1 and 2, she stays up easily about 3 to 3 1/2 hours (usually). And after her last nap, the same or longer.
Some days, especially if she only has 30-minute naps without going back to sleep - I'll give her 3 naps, the last one being about 4 to 4:30 pm. Then she can stay up until bath at 7pm, bedtime around 8pm. Even if she has a nap around 5-5:30, if she needs it, as long as she has at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours between last nap and bedtime, it doesn't seem to interfere with night sleep.
Another thing I've noticed is that if she does go right back to sleep (about 5-20 minutes after a short nap), sometimes that second sleep will be an hour long, actually.
If you don't want to rock him back to sleep for naps, try 3 naps; or an earlier bedtime, maybe, so more sleep at night? Sometimes also, when my active baby is a bit cranky, she's mostly just "bored", and a walk or other change of scenery helps. If you go for a walk at 5pm and he falls asleep in his stroller for his 3rd nap, would that be okay with you? I read about how sleeping while moving isn't as "restorative", how babies shouldn't regularly sleep in strollers, etc. BUT - in my experience, with my daughter who until a couple of weeks ago was a HORRIBLE sleeper, naps at regular times or in regular places don't seem to affect night time sleep for her. The one thing that helped her (the only thing) was to rock her until she's very drowsy, then put her in her crib awake (at night only); then not pick her up until morning. When she wakes up and cries I'll go in, sit by her crib, sing, pat her a bit, etc. and stay there until she's asleep. Like I said I rock her to sleep for naps; or she sleeps in her carseat, stroller, etc. and at different times (depending on how tired she is more than anything else); and none of that seems to make a difference in her night sleep (unless she didn't get enough sleep during the day, or she didn't have more than 2 1/2, or more often 3, hours of awake time between her last nap and night sleep).
Long answer - hope it helps! Good luck!
- Re: 6 mo. old & 30 min. naps CJ's Mommy 07:17 11/01/01 (3)
- Re: 6 mo. old & 30 min. naps MandyM 14:39 11/02/01 (2)
- Re: 6 mo. old & 30 min. naps CJ's Mommy 16:41 11/02/01 (1)
- Re: 6 mo. old & 30 min. naps Max 14:19 11/05/01 (0)
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