Naps, schedules etc etc

[QDB]

14 week old ds is really a good sleeper. He is rounding out hour number four of a nap right now. Some days he sleeps the more normal hour, hour and half naps but some days like today he sleeps forever.

I laid down with him for the first two hours of this nap and he nursed three times during those two hours so it isn't like he is not eating...

Is he just growing - sorting things out or should I work on waking him up and getting him more structured napwise?

I am inclined to just let him sleep but will that backfire on me in the future?

Looking for real life experience here - books are no help.

Thanks!

[Heavenly]

Never wake a sleeping baby IMO unless they haven't eaten in many hours. My daughter did this at the beginning and the stupid midwife told me to wake her after two hours and she never did long naps again until the past couple of months (she's 9 months old). Let sleeping babies lie!

[TieDyeMom]

I would agree. My dd is 10 1/2 mo and we have never really had a nap schedule. She works herself into one but I take my cues from her. Usually about 2 hours after she wakes up she goes down from 1/2 hr to 2 hrs depending on how she is feeling and how tired she is and then usually around 3-4pm she goes down for about an hour. I find the better she sleeps during the day, the better she sleeps at night.

At the beginning it was hard because my dd never slept (she would catnap while bf'ing) and then be up til about 1am. But I believe most will figure out a good schedule for themselves if you let them. I think the key is to be mindful of their cues. As soon as I see something to indicate she is heading towards the "I'm done" stage I run with it. And when she is sleeping I let sleeping babes lie....even if it's been quite awhile and I need to keep fighting the urge to continue checking on her

[NewMoonMama]

In the first few months dd used to nap those big 4 hour stretches. Now I'm lucky if she does anything but catnap all day. She does still have days when she takes a nice long nap, like today, but for the most part she just naps for 15 min. here and there. I sure do miss those marathon naps.

We've never had a structure or schedule as far as naps are concerned and it has worked out well for us. I'm a big believer in following her cues. She sleeps and wakes whenever needs to. She usually sleeps well at night no matter what her naps were like during the day.

[sea island mama]

Definitely let him sleep! And get as much rest as you can while he's at it. If he gets hungry, he'll wake up. Ds is only 12 weeks & has already slept a couple of 8 hour stretches at night (& several 5-7 hour stretches) .

[QDB]

thanks mamas!!!

just what i wanted to hear...that my instincts are correct - i too just read his signals - he really is rather clear just takes me clueing in :>

why is it almost all books make me doubt my instincts? seems to me, baby books are kinda evil -and i'm a librarian!!

thanks, again ;>