17 Week Old Nap Routine

I did the eat-play-sleep formula with my first after someone gave me that book. Screwed me and baby up. Worst sleeper of all my kids.

Baby#2 on, we just were busy with child #1, and followed him around and were busy - babies just fell asleep when tired. Fed when hungry. No rigid routine. I never looked at clock. I enjoyed it so much more and babies seemed much easier. Followed their cues.

I used to do one big last night feed before I went to bed - my husband would often bring them to me in bed - so even if they went down at 8 pm, they got replenished at say around 11 pm. Then they'd sleep till early morning - say 5 am or so. It took a while, but that worked well for me at night.

My babies all slept differently. So hard to compare. The times in between will stretch out over time. Mine often slept in bouncy chair - favorite place for them to nap, with noise going on around them.

Okay so four months old (had to stop and do the math.)
Every baby is different, and there is no such thing as normal. Even when you do get into a bit of a routine, boom, they hit a growth spurt, or a developmental milestone and you're back at square one.
None of my babies slept as much as some other babies did, they were just too curious about the world I guess.

My boys are 7 & 10, and I honestly don't remember much of when they were 17 weeks old. I think my youngest might have napped for longer spurts, but I know my oldest didn't.

I just followed their cues. I was a SAHM, so I did have the advantage of a flexible schedule. I know that as they approached their first birthday they had a much more consistent schedule and around their first birthday they were both taking just one (3 hour) nap.

Kids are different. As long as he isn't over tired (you can google symptoms of being overtired if you want to check) and his "routine" is working for you, don't worry about it. If it any time his "schedule" is not working for you you can explore ways to tweak it.

Babies change. Nothing is normal. If he's sleeping for those good hours at night, be thankful.

And just as a helpful hint, stop going by weeks. It confuses people. You should go by months at this point. And then years once you get past 1.

my dear, no one else can tell you what your baby's schedule *should* look like. babies are as individual as clouds. it sounds as if you're very tuned into yours and aware of his rhythms. he's practically a newborn, he's just not going to adhere to any arbitrary schedule (and certainly not one dictated by anyone who doesn't know him) for any amount of time.
it can be exhausting parenting a tiny baby, no doubt.
relax and enjoy your baby. switch off with daddy (or someone else if that's not an option) so you can get some uninterrupted sleep from time to time.
but don't faff about with him trying to get him to sleep to order. babies just don't.
khairete
S.

You can try different things and see if another method works better for you, if you are dissatisfied with what is going on now.

I can only speak for my personal experience, and I found that as long as I followed the eat-play-sleep method my kids slept fabulously at night. My son still didn't nap much more than 45 minutes without semi-waking during his daytime naps. If I left him alone instead of trying to pick him up instantly (assumed his nap was NOT done, and let him fall back asleep), he would nap for another 30-45 minutes many times. AT night, once he was asleep for the night he stayed asleep until morning (which around 5 months old was 9-10 pm until 5:00 a.m., then he'd feed and take another nap before I'd get him up for "the day.") Same with our daughter, only she napped for longer periods during the day than my son did. She went to bed maybe at 8:00 pm and slept for 7-9 hours before waking for an early morning feeding, followed by a short nap and getting up around 7:00 a.m. for the day.

I think you will find that if you try the eat, play, sleep schedule, and give it a bit of time, that your baby will nap for longer periods, and you might be able to eliminate the cat-napping to some extent. If not, you might at least get more uninterrupted hours of sleep during the night. On this schedule, my daughter slept for 7 hours a night by 10 weeks old. Reliably. My son was similar, but it took him a little longer. He was reliable to 5 hours by 12 weeks, though he was a breast fed baby and daughter was on formula.

They usually don't get into the two nap routine until six months or so.

You are in a wonder period, so there is no normal. Google wonder period. On top of that, it sounds like your baby is overtired. You have to teach them how to sleep. Get the baby whisperer book. Your LO should be on a three nap schedule till around 6 months, fyi. The last nap would only be 30-45 minutes, but the other two should be at least an hour.

All kids are different. Sounds like he sleeps great at nights, and goes down well at other times, just for shorter periods. So, I wouldn't worry about it.

Babies don't sleep on schedule. They sleep when they get tired. SOme babies will start a growth spurt and they'll sleep nearly 24 hours per day. In child care we don't even have babies on a schedule. They sleep when they are sleepy.

As they get older, closer to 10 months old we start getting them down to one nap per day. We have things for them to do like have tummy time, play with toys, things that will keep their mind awake and stimulate them. Then we feed them lunch and put them down for a nap, at this point we were also getting them down on cots instead of baby beds. They usually sleep several hours and then wake up. They move to the toddler room when they have their first birthday and that room is on a schedule so they have to be ready for that.

I think you will do fine, let him sleep when he needs to sleep.

At that age my son simply slept when he was tired. Whenever it was, wherever is was - in the stroller, in the car, on a mat on the floor. His routine (his, not mine) generally went - wake screaming as if starvation is imminent, eat, play/smile/be awake for a bit, fall asleep. Repeat every 3 hours between 8 am and 11 pm. I don't think he ever napped in his crib until he was well over a year.