In the last few weeks we have had trouble getting our little girl to take naps. We have an established routine, we lay her down and she will just play with her hands or paci for over an hour, never falling asleep. This typically happens with the morning nap and then she will take a good 2 hour nap in the afternoon. But if she sleeps an hour in the morning than she will just play in her crib in the afternoon. We leave her in her crib for the duration of her nap time so she is atleast "resting", but is there anyting else we can do?? She goes to bed at 7:30pm and wakes up at 8am. She is able to put herself to sleep by herself, too. What can I do about these morning and afternoon naps???
Thanks for all your responses!! I actually had my daughter's 9 month well check and we are going to try to let her just take an hour nap in the morning and then see if she will still take another nap in the late afternoon. BUT... if that doesn't work then we are going to shoot for an early lunch and then move her to ONE nap!! I am thinking that it is time for ONE nap, too!! :)
My son did the same thing! He was SO tired in the morning so I couldn't just cut it out immediately. It was suggested that I start moving his morning nap a bit later each day so that eventually he got used to only an afternoon nap. That worked out pretty well, although it was tough b/c he really wanted a morning nap! It did eventually work and he got used to it.
My babies all switched to one nap a day around 7 months. Depending on the business of the day, it was often early afternoon. Eventually our little ones become more wakeful and nap less. Sounds like your baby has hit that age. :) If this is the case, no need to confine her to quiet time during the nap she is giving up. It can shift to play time and learning, which may make her have a better nap later. Good luck!
Hate to say it but she may just be ready to give up her naps. Continue to give her 'quiet' time so can nap if is sleepy enough. Good luck!
My daughter only sleeps for about 10-11 hours at night and then will take two naps during the day, usually totally about 2-3 hours. Totaling all her sleep, she gets around 12-14 hours during the day. Your little one gets that at just at night! If she is happy and is okay with being awake during the day, I'd say just cut out one of her naps entirely. If you want to give her two naps, shorten her night by an hour or two. But I would say that if she's happy during the day without the two naps, just give her the one.
She is probably getting too old for 2 naps a day. I have 4 children ages 5-16 and they all stopped napping twice a day between 6 and 9 months of age. She will probably still need this morining "down time" like she is already doing or she will be cranky, but it sounds like her body has already figured out what it needs! Good Luck!
If she's not fussing, and is still taking at least one nap a day AND putting herself to bed at a reasonable time-then I say leave her to it!!! Keep putting her down, so she does "rest" and you can rest too. My son had a 45 minute nap in the morning and then a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon and went to bed easily in the evenings...but that changed when he was about 10 months old He stopped taking his morning nap and we went solely to the afternoon nap, with no other change in routine. Something that people underestimate is a child's ability to entertain themselves, and if you daughter can be calmly in her crib for some quiet time, even if she's not sleeping, then just appreciate it and enjoy it! There are too many other things to worry about. Good luck!
Ya know, all three of my kids dropped their morning nap at around 8 or 9 months old. I think it might just be the norm.
Good luck!
You might consider consolidating your naps to just one during the day. I know it seems a little early, but it really sounds like she doesn't need 2 naps plus all the sleep at night. You can still have some "quiet" time at another time in the day where she plays quietly by herself. Don't stress about how much sleep she is getting. As long as you are giving her plenty of opportunities to sleep and she can put herself to sleep then you are on the right track.
Have you tried making her room darker? My little boy always slept better when it was darker, similar to bed time.
Some kids don't need a lot of sleep. None of my kids ever took long naps. When my daughter was a baby, she would sleep 1/2 hour here and 1/2 hour there, but I don't think I was ever able to put her down at a regular time every day. And now, she is 9, and she loves to be up all night.
I know, as a new mom, you read about how your baby is going to sleep twice a day, and sleep all night. Sounds good, you'll get breaks. But what if your baby doesn't need it? What are you going to do? Force her to sleep? It doesn't work. I had to learn to just watch my daughter. If her eyes started closing and she started looking sleepy, I calmed her down and managed to get her to sleep a little bit. But there were no regular times that I could count on, and she didn't even sleep through the night until she was 4 years old! This is just the nature of some of the new babies coming in right now. They don't need a lot of sleep, and we can't use "the old ways" with them. We have to deal with each one, individually, and adjust our routines to fit them, and not us. Inconvenient, I know, but so what? It is what it is, and it isn't a problem...
And I thought my daughter could run on little sleep. She may just not rquire as much sleep as most.some and is outgrowing her morning nap a little earlier. My daughter was down to one nap at 12 mths. I would say try doing her morning nap on hour later than than the norm but if she is not takingthe afternoon nap if she takes a mornign nap then I would say start skiping it entirely. It sounds as if she is getting enough sleep totally for the day. Wish my daughter would sleep till 8. I felt that once they are napping one hour at a time it is a good indicator to remove one of the naps. You may have to make her afternoon napper a little earlier untill she adjusts some to the new schedule.
sounds like it might be time to move to ONE nap a day. My son was a little over one when I did this but he went from two 50 minute naps a day to one THREE HOUR nap a day. I wished I had done it earlier because the three hour time block was fantastic - I could actually get something done! so I'd try for a mid-day nap and a slightly earlier bedtime!
