nap timing for an almost 6 month old

[seafox]

he'll be 6 months in a little over a week. He used to only be able to be awake for an hour/90min at most, (before getting cranky) and would sleep 45min at a time. So for a while there was about 4 naps a day, he'd wake at 5am and go to bed around 7pm. My husband would usually put him down around 3/330 for his last nap so that I would be able to nurse him on awakening when I get home from work. It worked pretty well! He gets about 13hours a day (we've tried for more to no avail) despite being super active (he's already crawling, albeit with some flopping) he just isn't needing more sleep.


anyway. his naps have gotten somewhat longer, and his awake time happiness and he sleeps a bit later in the AM (YES!) so he'll wake at 6/630am, go down for his first nap around 9, sleep 90min or sometimes 2 hours, and then that's where things get odd. The mr. usually tries to put him down after he's been up for two hours and/or gets cranky, this for the last few weeks has meant a nap at 12:30pm or 1pm waking up at 2/2:30.

then what?! putting him down at 3pm after that would obviously not work, and so we've been sometimes keeping him up, and putting him to bed at 6pm, but that often means awful 'awake ready to play' time at 2am which *sucks* and is very unlike him. So the last few days we've been putting him down for a last nap around 4pm - and its weird, we have to *wake* him at 5pm, and he's super groggy/sleepy. But sleeping any more I think would totally screw up his bedtime. He wakes up and is happy/alert until around 8 where we get him down again, but its harder than it was back before we had this weird nap schedule (we often have to bounce him to sleep, sometimes I can just nurse, but not when he has that late nap) We do have a bedtime routine so we start 'winding' down at 7pm.

should we drop the last nap and keep w/ the 6pm bedtime (he usually is exhausted by then, up for 4 hours) and just hope that the 2am bizarre wakeup goes away eventually? or should we move his midday nap later even if he's cranky for the last hour of his awake time before it?


suggestions? What's usual for a 6 month old, napwise? thanks for reading this now-novel

[Maluhia]

I'd check against the charts in No Cry Sleep Solution and my guess is drop the last nap and try to cuddle/nurse/pretend to sleep if the middle of the night waking is for play only in his mind....

[coraljean]

I remember 6 months being a strange nap transition time for us as well. My little one eventually just dropped his morning nap and starting taking one long nap from 1-4 at around 10 months. If I were you, I might try to extend the amount of time before he takes his morning nap (I find this is often is easier to do if you go do something interesting, for us this is the coffee shop or baby storytime at the library), so that he takes his afternoon nap a little later, and then instead of an evening nap, just putting him to bed (for the night hopefully) when he gets sleepy. I know it's a lot easier said than done. I probably wouldn't wake him from naps though since that will just make him cranky, and I don't think it is really good for anyone to have their REM sleep disturbed. The other option you have is just to let him do what he wants and maybe accept that he goes to bed a little later in the evening, which might turn in to him sleeping in later too.

Not sure if this helps or not, but good luck! This phase didn't last very long for us, and now we are on a pretty nice schedule.

Coral Jean
Mama to Dylan 12/20/08

[JLKMneely]

My baby just turned six months last week and we are having all the same issues you are. We have tried every sleep position, place and time in the book. I have torn my hair out trying to get him to sleep during the day for longer periods of time. A friend of mine recently gave me th Baby Sleep book by Dr. Sears. It has worked wonders for my sanity. I am not sure how I got through my first child without it. You should really check it out. Good luck and happy napping!

[seafox]

I definitely want to stop needing to wake him. I kept assuming it would be just a 45min nap like usual, but its almost like he's more ready for 'bedtime' than that. So the 4pm nap is definitely out, its too weird!

DS is tough since if he IS tired, he's VERY cranky and crying and its hard to keep him awake. A walk is a good distraction though.


I think what we are going to do is no matter what happens all day, aim for a 2pm start of nap. If its 45min, ah well, 7pm bedtime is still okay (up for around 4 hours before it) if its two hours, 7pm bedtime is good also (3 hours awake before it) either way its better than going to bed at 8pm after being woken up at 5pm.


this morning he got up earlier than usual, 530am, and was tired by 7pm (fell asleep nursing) so I let that nap happen. I think he'll be doing 3 naps today. I think aiming for 3 naps on wake up early days and 2 naps on days where he sleeps better (until 630?)

when he gets up too early (530) he's tired much faster also (can't be up more than 90min) but when he gets up at 630 he can be awake until 9, easily. So that's also something to take into account.

but I think the mr. can extend his middle-of-the-day awake time as needed to start a nap at 2pm with a walk or some kind of distraction, and that might work.

I hope the transition to just 2 naps a day and always-longer naps happens soon!

[SoxMama]

Right around 7 months my DS went from 4 naps to 2. It fit roughly into the 2-3-4 pattern where after waking for the day he would take the first nap after 2 hours of awake time, then take the second nap after being awake for 3 hours and bedtime 4 hours after the 2nd nap.

Honestly the pattern works so well for DS that at almost 15 months he still somewhat fits into routine. Although, he's in the middle of going from 2 naps to 1 so when he wakes at 6:30am he gets 2 naps and when he wakes after 7am he is ok to just take 1.

I think you have the right idea though. I would stretch the 2nd nap until at least 1:30 or 3 hours after he woke up from his 1st nap. On the days that he wakes early stick with 3 naps if that's what he needs to get through the day.

I'm probably the exception here where I think it's ok to wake babies from naps to help promote good night sleep. Naps will change and eventually fade. IMO it's more important to protect the nighttime sleep which lasts forever.

Good luck!!!

[ktmama]

Hi from the June DDC! We are in the same boat here, but ds will always sleep at 7:30 pm no matter how long that 4:00 pm nap is. It seems to just take the edge off so he can get through dinner and bath and share the nighttime routine with his sisters. Also, when I "need" him to wake up (for example, when I have to go pick up one of the girls when he's sleeping), I've found that just opening his door and making noise so he can wake up on his own makes for a MUCH happier baby than actually waking him up.

[midnightmommy]

Save your self some guessing and get the No Cry Sleep solution book. The sleep charts in there are very helpful. Since mine is sitting right here.(We've been doing the six month shift here as well) I'll post the six month suggested sleep...

Number of naps-2
total length of naptime hours- 3-4
Nighttime sleep hours- 10-11
total-14-15

Get the book though. I got the toddler one when my son was having sleep problems, and it saved us! I bought the baby one some time ago when I was doing childcare. You can get it really cheap on amazon.

[dachshund mom]

DD fell into the 2-3-4 schedule at 6months. Then she had a bad round of teething (4 at once) and was insisting on a third 6pm nap, moving her bedtime to 10pm or later. I found it was easiest to just roll with it rather than try to keep up a cranky baby in the evening or putting her to bed early and having her wake up at the crack of dawn. So for a month she took three short naps and slept less at night. Now she's gone back to two on her own.

It is a problem when she wakes up too early. She wants to go back to sleep within an hour then needs that third evening nap. If she wakes early, we go out and come home right at 11 so she stays up (and distracted) and stays on her routine.