establishing a routine while dealing with catnapping

[llwr]

Is this even possible? I mean, I'd never purposely expect catnaps all day, but if I allow for a real nap and she doesn't take it, then she's overtired by the time the next nap should occur. If we just go with the flow, feeds and naps are vastly different from day to day.

DD2 is 5 months now, so we're out of the newborn stage and I don't think a flexible routine should be unreasonable. Actually, we were doing better routine-wise a couple of months ago. My girls really have trouble with the transition from newborn to baby sleep. We all really need some more structure.

I'm working on the sleep issues, but I don't know how far I'm getting. Does 30 minutes in bed, followed by 30 minutes trying to get back to sleep and another restless 30 minutes of sleep in my arms even help to break the cycle? The Pantley books make it sound so easy, but it just isn't!

[maptome]

You sound like me. I go with the flow, which means bed time is sometimes at 8:30, sometimes at 10:30. And we do have a routine where babe is awake 3 hours, 1st nap, awake 3 hours, 2nd nap, awake 4 hours, bedtime. We've had this same routine since LO was 5 months.

[JMJ]

That was a difficult time for us since DD was getting to the point that she wasn't sleeping well when we were out. She would doze off, but she'd wake up after 10-30 minutes and then not go back to sleep for hours even though she was crabby and exhausted. What worked for us was for me to make sure that we were home to nap in bed together for one of her daily naps (usually the afternoon nap). For the rest of the naps, she could catnap anywhere. I would just wear her around wherever we were if she was tired, and she could cuddle or sleep or whatever she wanted. I scheduled outings almost every morning and planned to work around the house in the afternoons, taking a break to nap with my baby in the afternoon. At night, we go to bed around the same time because DH has to get up and go to work early in the morning. We try not to let her nap too late in the evening, and if she's not ready to sleep, she just plays or nurses or cuddles until she is ready. It's not a strict routine, but it's enough to keep us sane.

[odoole]

Originally Posted by JMJ

What worked for us was for me to make sure that we were home to nap in bed together for one of her daily naps (usually the afternoon nap).

Same here. 5 months is when we started to do more of a routine with DS and he really needed it. I still have to lie with him or at least be nearby for one nap per day, and as long as he gets that one good nap in, catnapping for the remaining parts of the day seems to be just fine and he stays in a pretty good mood.

[sunshynbaby]

I started a bedtime routine with ds a month ago (at six months) and he is still a bit unpredictable with naps. The only issue I have with his randomness is that if he naps after 4 it takes close to an hour to get him to sleep compared with 15-20 minutes when he doesn't take that late afternoon nap. I figure he'll hit a routine on his own soon... And then change it, lol! The bedtime routine has saved my sanity, though. We start at 6:30 with a bath, massage, books, then nursing down (add rocking and lullabies on the challenging nights). I know he will be asleep sometime between 7-8 rather than the crazy random bedtimes (anytime between 6-11!) he was doing before.