Usual nap length?

[jenfl]

How long does your LO usually nap for? I'm just curious -- my impression from baby books is that 1-2 hours is "normal", but I get the feeling most around here aren't seeing that normal.

Sprout usually naps for 30 minutes, but gives us a 1-2 hour nap every few days.

[Knitting Mama]

For the most part, Cecilia naps for over 2 hours either swaddled in her swing or on me, but there are definitely times when either she wakes up early for one reason or another (gas generally) or her nap is abbreviated by outside stimulation (like when I trip over stuff-- which is constantly-- and make enough noise to wake her up). Generally if I catch it early enough I can get her back down.

[jenfl]

I guess it also might be interesting to know how long they sleep at night; even though Sprout takes short naps, he sleeps 7pm to 7am (with wakings, of course).

[Knitting Mama]

Cecilia generally sleeps from about 8-9 pm to 5-6 am, with 1-2 wakings for nursing. Last night, on the other hand, she was up every 2 hours with bad gas pains.

[rhiOrion]

Judging by the papers that daycare gives me every day, she sleeps mostly 30-45 minute naps, with occasional longer ones thrown in. At home I don't really keep track, it's crazy making.

[Pepper44]

Ada sleeps for 30 min. to an hour in arms or up to 2 hours in the mei tai.

At night she has been mixing it up lately. She goes to sleep at 7 or 7:30 but sometimes wakes up at 8:30 and stays awake until 9:30 or 10. She always wakes up around 7 a.m. to pee and we get up for the day.

[OneWithTwo]

so maybe it's because J was preemie or something...but he only wakes to eat. period. If I want any cute pictures I have to snap them right after he eats. Unless someone is keeping him awake which only works 20% of the time.

[loveneverfails]

I have zero clue how long her naps are, how often she naps, how long she nurses or how often she nurses. And she doesn't wake up most nights between 10 and 7. She's alive and thriving, I'm awake and have 4 other kids, so I figure we are doing fine.

[nikirj]

This is hard to answer, because she naps differently when we're out and about, will fall asleep in her carrier every time, has dramatically different length naps depending on circumstances, I don't pay attention, etc, etc, etc.

I can usually count on one nap that lasts over an hour every day. What time that nap happens varies. Usually it runs into the 2 hour range, even. But other than that one stretch, it's little 10-15 minute catnaps several times a day. And a really solid night-time stretch that I am very grateful for.

[jsh7809]

S sleeps from about 9pm to 7:30 or 8am, with 1-3 wakeups (last night there were a million due to gas pains, last night SUCKED!), then wakes up to poop and sometimes eat, grin at me, get diaper changed, and falls back to sleep from about 9-10. Then takes another shorty nap around 11 or 12. So I am still having trouble telling when we are actually waking up for the day, and since I am usually a late riser, I think this is part of my problem! She's always happy to keep going back to bed with me till about 10 or 11, so I keep doing it.
I'm wondering if once I start getting better at actually getting up and playing with her at that 8ish wakeup call, instead of getting back into bed to nurse some more and take naps, if her naps and so on will even out a little more. But I'm too lazy to do it.
She's sleeping fewer hours in a row at night here but I don't know if it's the 4 month regression yet (we're only at 14 weeks). I'm trying to stay patient and calm, but, man, do I miss sleep!

[Peace+Hope]

i put 60 mins, cause that's where we are right now, but charlie is all over the place! until recently he was sleeping a 45min-1 hr nap just after getting up in the morning, then 2 2-hr naps. then he went through a time when he'd sleep 5 hrs straight in the afternoon. i miss those days... lately he's been doing only 2 1-hr naps, both in the morning.

today though he took a one-hr nap in the morning and just now went down for a second nap at 1:30. hoping he sleeps for longer. he's so much happier come evening if he sleeps longer/more during the day.

soooo hot at our house, already it's 82 in here, no AC . i wonder if heat is impacting his ability to sleep. pretty sure development is - he's working really hard at turning over!

[Carita]

if we put her down, 30 min tops, if we hold her, we can get up to 2 hrs!!!

the pattern as of late is short morning nap, long after lunch nap, short PM nap

I have started to insist that if we are trying to get things done during a nap time that it be the AM or late PM nap. The after lunch nap is when DS naps too and its the most reliable to snuggle her without interuption (usually my web surf/soap opera time LOL) & get her the big nap that she needs. This works out best for both of us because if I try to put her down thus giving her 2 short naps in a row, she is MISERABLE.

[ivymae]

I voted 60 minutes, but it's really 45 or so, which is the normal sleep cycle of an infant. 45 minutes, then a short waking period, and then more sleep - the trick for us is helping them not wake up completely after that cycle, and eventually teach them to self sooth, and then their cycle will lengthen. Adults sleep cycle is closer to 90 minutes, meaning we all wake up during the night, we just have learned not to wake completely up. it makes sense evolutionarily that waking up often would benefit an infant (the need to eat, stay close to a protector).

Becky is getting better about self soothing, thanks to that trusty thumb. Good god, i am so thankful she's my third and sleeps like this, because my first two STILL wake up constantly, fight bedtime, wake up at dawn, etc. Some kids are wired for sleep, others are wired for sound.

[GreenTeaGinger61]

I put 30 but it's really a wild guess. Like other moms have said a lot depends on what's going on. For example, she did lots of little cat naps upon waking this morning but then took an hour long nap (only know because we were waiting for her to wake so we could go to the pool). She stayed awake in the pool and is now sleeping on me. She'll likely wake up a few more times to nurse but will pretty much be asleep from now until 5 or 6 (barring gas pains).

Usually she goes down at ten and sleep fittfully until I go to bed around midnight (my noble plans for early bed time has not happened LOL). Once there she usually sleeps until five and if I"m really lucky 6. Once she wakes up then we'll do lots of nursing sessions until 9 or 10 when I finally give up and get up. But honestly I have no real idea as I don't have a clock in my room

[bubbamummy]

Molly sleeps a TON still. She will fall asleep at 7pm wakes at 10pm, 4am then 6am and sleeps until around 10am. She will then nap again at noon until 2-3ish...basically she sleeps all day, like a newborn still. DS did too at this age. I have sleepy babies.

[snoopy5386]

I put 30, but it is generally 30-60 and is entirely situation dependent. In the carseat whether in the car or the stroller, moving or not she naps for almost exactly 30 mins - to the point that I could set a watch by it. Which makes our 3-5 hour roadtrips back home tons of fun. This last trip I swaddled her to see if it would lengthen her nap but no dice.

At home swaddled in her crib or swing it is generally 45 mins, as someone else said, one sleep cycle. Sometimes I can catch her and get her back down, sometimes not. Every once in a while she'll go longer on her own, up to 2 hours or so.

In a carrier she'll nap for a long time, but I don't tend to wear her for naps unless we are out and even then it's been so bloody hot that it hasn't been happening. But on Friday I did - she napped for 90 mins in the Beco, transferred to the carseat and slept another 30 mins there - crazy!

At night she generally goes down between 8 and 9 and wakes to nurse between 3 and 4 and then a few times after that until she wakes for the day. On her own she'll wake between 9 and 10, but frequently I have to wake her earlier to go somewhere.

[jsh7809]

This thread is making me feel a LOT better! We get 30-60 minute naps a few times a day, but usually I have to work hard for em (or get in bed with her). I was under the impression (stupid "average 3 month old sleep patterns" tables!) that most other babies did at least 1 hour naps, often more. S hasn't napped for 2 hours in a row since she was probably 1 month old. She's a very alert baby, and when I see her coming up from that 45 minute sleep cycle, I do try to soothe her back to sleep but usually it's like "wait, I was missing the action!" . And when she gets into a deep, deep sleep, she takes a WHILE to wake up often, which can be kinda weird... she's just like her father in that sense. I just pop right up when I wake up (super light sleeper).
And it's really funny (ha ha argh) to try to pin down what they're "usually" doing these days, isn't it? S was getting better at sleeping from 9 or 10pm to 2 or 3, then not up again until 6 or 7. I thought we were so close to having 1 or fewer wake ups! Now she is doing more like 9 or 10, 1am, 3am, 6am, and 7:30 or 8. Then up for pooping and back to sleep till 9:30.
But I think her naps may be getting just a touch more predictable (finally!): today it was something like: up at 9am, naptime 11-12, play, walk, nap 1:30-2, play and hang out, nap with mama 3:30-4:30, errands, nap in the car and swing maybe 6:30-7:15. Now she's been asleep since about 8:30 (it's 9:30ish) but she'll probably need settling again at least once.
It's really only recently that I can even try to move her into the swing from the car seat without getting screamed at.
Progress!!
Or, 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

[sew_crafty_girl]

If I'm home and we're going from nursing in arms to laying her down, about 30-45 minutes if I'm lucky. If we're out and about 1-2 hours. Sometimes when I lay in bed and nurse her then sneak away maybe 30 minutes.

She's still all over the place though. I had a nap with her in the bed yesterday and snuck away after an hour and a half and she kept going till the 2 1/2 hour mark.

So ya, my favourite days are days out. I leave her asleep in the carseat in the house when we come in from a car ride and she'll keep sleep for an hour.

Naptimes suck. Days when I'm dying for her to nap she doesn't.

[mom2happy]

My dd just has little cat naps about 3-4 times a day. Like others said, they are longer if she is out or in the carrier.
Sometimes she will throw me a bone and take a 1&1/2 hour nap and I feel like I havent seen her in ages.
She doesnt have a schedule. Her sleeping during the day is random.
At night she goes to sleep around 10:30 and wakes up at about 3am then about 7. Sometimes she'll go back to sleep and sometimes not.

[finn'smama]

Originally Posted by nikirj

This is hard to answer, because she naps differently when we're out and about, will fall asleep in her carrier every time, has dramatically different length naps depending on circumstances, I don't pay attention, etc, etc, etc.

Yes! Very hard to answer. I'm unsure about length of time, but he sleeps best at home, in our bed. If we stay home in the afternoon, he usually gives me at least a 2 hour stretch. If we're out, or he's wrapped, 20 min. to 1/2 hour. He has a catnap in the evening and doesn't generally go to bed for the night until 9:30 or 10pm, wakes once or twice and then up for the day at 9 or 10am. He's a pretty sleepy baby though, and his longest awake/alert time is in the evening.

Originally Posted by jsh7809

So I am still having trouble telling when we are actually waking up for the day, and since I am usually a late riser, I think this is part of my problem! She's always happy to keep going back to bed with me till about 10 or 11, so I keep doing it.
I'm wondering if once I start getting better at actually getting up and playing with her at that 8ish wakeup call, instead of getting back into bed to nurse some more and take naps, if her naps and so on will even out a little more. But I'm too lazy to do it.
!

Just wanted to say Henry is on the same schedule, but I'm out of the bed usually by 8am at the latest. Even if I try and really rouse him, he's back to sleep in half an hour. Just enjoy it since you won't be able to lay in bed till 11am with subsequent babies

ETA Henry also seems to be the only baby I've had who can actually put himself back to sleep after that 45 min cycle. The other day he napped downstairs and I was by myself so it was quiet and after about 45 min. he started to fuss and toss and turn and even cry out a bit. I thought for sure he was just done his nap, but sure enough, he just settled back down and slept for another hour. I don't know if this is because he's my third and I don't/can't always get to him at the first sign of being awake (like my first!) or if he's just a better sleeper.
And the usual disclaimer - I'm NOT letting him cry, he just fusses and adjusts himself, but he definitely makes noise, opens his eyes, etc...