Remind me of how newborns settle into a nap routine.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

My DC is nearly 5 weeks old and is starting to show signs of when her nap routine will be.  I'm noticing a pretty solid sleep in the mornings and maybe one around 4:30 pm.  What does the sleep routine look like as a newborn grows a little older?  What did your child's nap routine look like once it started to be come predictable?  If other life requirements (other kids and etc.) require the parent to disrupt an infant's sleep, when would you start to tweak the baby's routine?  

For instance, my infant is falling asleep around 9am.  If that could be stretched to 9:30 or even 10am it would be great because it would avoid the baby's nap being interrupted during morning car-pool for my older child.  When would you start to try to influence an infants schedule?  

Also, can you remind me how many naps an infant takes in the early days?  Right now baby takes like 5 naps...if you can even call them that yet.  She just sleeps a lot.  Once she has a predictable routine is it typically 3 naps in the early months?  

Thanks for your help!  

[StarCat]

my lo is 6 weeks.  We are still in the sleeps a lot stage, too.  but i am noticing that he takes a solid nap in the morning and a solid nap in the afternoon where he pretty much doesn't wake up no matter what. even if we are out and about as well as several other smaller naps through the day but he wakes up from these easier and if disturbed.   as of right now it doesn't seem like the time is really locked in so I am guessing that your routine can kind of dictate when the nap is. 

[DaisyMae08]

My four month old was taking 4 short naps/day until recently.  Usually one early morning, one mid-morning, one early afternoon, and one late afternoon.  Now he's starting (finally) to take longer naps and so on some days only has 3 naps.  They're tending to be around 8:30 or 9:00am, noon, and 4pm roughly. 

[IdentityCrisisMama]

DaisyMae - thanks for the times.  I had it in my head that 4pm was an odd time for a deep nap but that's what my DC seems to be tending towards so it's nice to see that there are other kids doing that as well.  How long are your DC's naps?  What time does she/he wake up in the morning?  Are you doing anything special for the naps?  Swaddle, rock, nurse to sleep, hold?  Do you have any errands that you have to do around nap time?  If so, how is that working for you?  

StarCat - I'm finding a similar pattern as you.  What time is your LO's morning and afternoon nap?  Do you plan on tweaking the times?  If so, how do you plan on doing that?  

With my DC#1 I basically just planned my life around her - lucky child.  This baby is going to have to be a bit more flexible but I also want to be sure she gets enough good uninterrupted sleep.  Also, she will be cared for by my mom on some days starting in September.  I really think my mom needs the baby to have a predictable routine.  I know it's a long way off but I figured the sooner we start to move in that direction the more peaceful the transition will be.  

[DaisyMae08]

I swaddle and rock him every time and if he's hungry, then I nurse him too.  He's not always hungry at naptime though, depending on how the day has gone, and gets really angry if I try to feed him when he's not ready to eat. 

His naps are anywhere from 45 minutes - 2 hours and 15 minutes long.  Usually the morning one is 45 - 75 minutes the noon one is 75 minutes - 2 hours, and the 4pm one is about an hour.

[gemasita]

DS is 3 months old but I find that he's awake for about 1.5 hours in the morning before he's tired again.  So to tweak the nap time, we have to tweak the wake-up time (which isn't always possible!).  So maybe you can look at the wake times and expect that your LO will go a predictable amount of time being awake before he needs to nap again, instead of just looking at the amount of time he naps.

DS is something like, awake at 9am, asleep from 10:30 - 12:30, awake til 3 or so, asleep from 3-4:30, then another "cat nap" at 6 sometimes before bed at about 9.  He sleeps about 12 hours (8 hours, eats, 4 more hours) so I can usually predict when we'll be up for the day based on when he goes to bed.  It does change every day.  Some days he's in bed at 8 and some at 10.

Lately, DS is sleeping in the swing during the day but when I am on the go, he sleeps in the Moby wrap, which is wonderful so that being out doesn't get in the way of him sleeping.

[sweetiebird]

My two were completely different in their sleep/naps as infants/small babies. My eldest could barely be awake for an hour or maybe an hour and a half and then would sleep for about 1.5hrs, rinse and repeat all day. DS2 was the king of 30-45 minute naps. As I had an older child, when DS2 was an infant I just did what I was going to do and he slept in a sling or wrap, while on the go. The first 3 months were great for that. Then slowly he started to be able to sleep in his crib for naps, and then he only slept for 45 min so would have 4-5 naps in a day. This lasted until he was maybe 5 months or so, and then he went to about 3 naps and in the past 2 months is down to 2 naps, and he is sleeping longer (1.5hrs or so). My approach was to put them down/get them to sleep when they were tired and rinse and repeat until the day was done. I didn't (and don't still) have set nap "times". It all depends upon when they wake up for the day. By September, your little one will be how old? 4-5 months or so? By then, IME, babies start to get (or have already) into their own routine. HTH a bit :)

[kittn]

they start developing routines around 6 weeks or so(not all but a lot) it will be a few days of napping at the same time and then it will occur to you "baby has a morning nap" the am nap is usually the first to be noticeable.then afternoon then early evening. by about 3-4 months most babies fall into a three nap routine. For the families we work with we advocate three naps with the first and third being about an hour or so long (by 4-5 months) and the middle about 2hrs. best time to tweak the nap is when you see it starting to form a pattern. the schedule following is what we give parents to shoot for by 4-5 months. mind you we work with multiples and more main stream parents.my job (as I see it) is to help teach babies to sleep so parents don't get frustrated and CIO. this schedule is not meant to rigidly followed its only a guideline .its also based on a formula fed baby (most of our babies we work with are FF) so it may need to be tweaked according to your babes needs. we recommend no FF baby goes more than 3.5-4 hrs during the day without eating. 3-3.5 if your BF exclusively to ensure baby is getting enough to eat during the day. so when baby starts sleeping they aren't missing feedings. we follow a very lax version of this idea here. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE FOLLOWED RIGIDLY! ALSO BEFORE 3-4 MONTHS BABY SHOULD EAT AND SLEEP WHEN NECESSARY (ok thats my disclaimer)

7:00 - 8:00 am - Wake, change diapers, change into clothes and eat

8:00 - 9:00 am - Tummy time/play time. Engage them..rattles, fine motor play

9:00 - 10:00 am - Nap (OK to nap in swing, bouncy, in living room etc...) Breakfast for you!

10:00 - 11:00 am - Wake, change diapers and eat

11:00 - 12:00 pm - Tummy time and play time.

12:00 - 2:00 pm - Nap (in crib, lights off, shades down) Lunch for you!

2:00 - 3:00 pm - Wake, change diapers and eat

3:00 - 4:00 pm - Tummy time and play time

4:00 - 5:00 pm - Nap (OK in swing, bouncy in living room etc...)

5:00 - 6:00 pm - Wake change diapers and eat

6:00 - 7:00 pm - Non stimulating play, bouncy w/ toys etc.... Dinner for you!

7:00 - 8:00 pm - Bathe or wipe down, Pajamas, song or book - lights down, no TV

8:00 - 9:00 pm - Feed babies in darkened room, no stimulation, little talking

9:00 - 11:00 pm - Sleep

11:00 - 12:00 am - Dream feed, change diaper mid feed if tired at this time. Full feed

12:00 - 4:00 am - Sleep - get back to sleep if they wake before that...let them wake themselves

4:00 - 7:00 am - If you can no longer hold them off, feed them, don’t change unless dirty, sleep

7:00 - 8:00 am - Wake, change diapers, change into clothes and eat