Naptime for 5 Monthold

Hi A.,
My 5 month old girl is exactly the same way. It has surprised me because when my son was a baby, he slept good at night and took two good naps (though I think his naps were pretty short before he started to crawl). He is now 2 1/2 years and is currently sleeping more hours than his baby sister (12 hours at night + a 3 hour afternoon nap).
My pediatrician said that he's noticed that babies who sleep good at night early on tend to be slow about napping regularly.
Also, you mention that she fights sleeping during the day. So does mine. I think part of it is that "wow, the world is so amazing that I don't want to sleep or eat or do anything that might make me miss any of it" attitude that 5 month olds can get. My baby has begun to stop eating to look at things or listen to a noises, etc-- easily distracted. It seems to me that is the same sort of attitude that makes her not want to nap.
Anyway, I think that it will work itself out over time. It sounds as if you are doing the right things: mainly, putting her down at a routine time, in a routine way every day. If she needs more sleep, she'll start to take it. And maybe she just doesn't need as much sleep as other babies (or in my case, as her big brother). . .
good luck

I agree with the others. My son did the same thing at 5 months. He did two naps, 30-45 minutes max, and that was it. I asked my pediatrician about it b/c all of the books say that babies should be sleeping more, and his response was, "The problem with babies is that they don't read the baby books." He assured me that babies can have widely varying sleep needs, and as long as your baby is happy and healthy, she's fine.

As a side note however, I did find that when my little guy started crawling, his naps suddenly got a lot longer b/c he is so much more active. Now, at 10 months, he is sleeping 11 hours at night and does 2 naps of about 1.5 hours during the day. At 5 months, he slept maybe 9-10 hours at night, and only took 2 30-45 minute naps.

That is how my daughter was and I let her be. She wasnt ever overly tired and she developed as she should. She stopped taking naps all together at 13 months when she self weened but the hours she slept every night did increase some. Maybe she isnt fighting sleeping as much as she just doesnt need to sleep or isnt tired. Is she cranky during the day? If not I would let her do as she is.

Are you consuming much caffeine? If so, you might want to reduce or eliminate it and see what happens after a couple of days.

It sounds like she is getting enough hours, just be happy you get a full night.

You may try waiting a little longer till you put her down for naps so she will be more tired and sleep longer. Just go with her clues, you sound like you are doing great with routine.

Enjoy her in every stage, they grow fast.

S.
Mother to Kai
www.HomeWithKai.info

Most of my kids didthe same thing. Just be glad she is sleeping through the night. She must not need more sleep.

First of all-congrats on your great sleeper :) Making it through the night is major and you both get to start the day rested. Enjoy it while it lasts. For many kids, if they're great night sleepers they aren't great nappers. Once in a while you get lucky and you get a kid who likes their rest :) Maybe that's your girl. I'd try being really mindful of her patterns. My girls liked to go down in intervals and when both were 5 mos old they'd begun to nap at 9 and 2 pretty consistently. And nap for 2hrs+ each time BUT they were up in the night losing about 3 hrs from 7-7. Your girl might be getting what she needs at night and then 2 45's-but the fact that she fights rest means that she's overtired, like you missed her window when she'd go down without a fuss. Try to watch her: if she's up at 6am, I'm guessing she'd be sleepy by 8:30. Try to see how she's doing around then. I read once that when they rub their eyes and yawn that they're overtired, and I used to use those as my signs that it was time for a nap.

Kids are so much more flexible than we think. Try this 2 and 1/2 hrs of awake time and see if she'll nap better for you. This may effect her solid night sleeping...I recommend "The SleepEasy Solution" for support. Worked miracles in our house :)

good luck