Hi all - you have helped me out in the past, and I've got another question for you moms out there.
My little girl is almost 7 months old. She takes 3 naps a day - usually anywhere fom 30min - two hours.
The problem is two-fold:
She always wakes up in the middle of her nap - about 30-40 minutes into it, babbles/cries for about 20 minutes, and then falls back asleep. She never has a consolidated nap, so she is often tired when she wakes. If she wakes and won't go back to sleep, she is even crankier!
Secondly, her third nap of the day she often babbles for OVER an hour. She just won't sleep. No crying - until about 60 minutes or so into the nap. At this point I go get her. It is usually 4 pm, and I'll put her to be around 5:30pm - no joke because she is SO tired at that point. Then she is awake at 5:30am!
I don't know how to fix this! Anyone have any thoughts?
I am guessing she only needs two naps a day, but since they are often short, she'll be awake from 1 in the afternoon til bedtime - and it's not pretty.
Help!
Thanks for the suggestions. I did cut out her third nap and just give her 2 naps, and still an early bedtime, and things seemed to work itself out overtime!
My son has been waking up at 5 for months and no matter what time he goes to bed he always is up at 5. You could try putting her down for an early nap in the morning and then a nap after lunch and try to stretch bedtime out to 6:30-7
Hi, when you put your daughter down for a nap is she visibly tired? do you put her down for a nap cause it seems like the right time to do schedule one or because she needs it? my son takes two naps a day. he wakes up around 8 naps at 11-12 then again usually around 3:30-4:30. when i first started putting him down for naps i was choosing times when i thought seemed logical (10, 1, 5) it turns out he wasn't really fully tired and would nap sporadically and wasn't getting fully rested. i started to take cues from him and began putting him down not when he would get cranky or cry (those cues could mean anything) but when he rubbed his eyes/snuggled with me. not only did he fall asleep faster, but he would take a longer nap. maybe she just isn't tired when you lay her down. what a great thing though that she can have fun on her own for an hour!:) Good Luck!! Meej
Hi...I'm a mom of 3. 5 yo boy, 4 yo girl and 11 mo old girl. I would definitely say that she is ready to be cut to only 2 naps per day.
If she's laying there for that long, she isn't tired enough to sleep. Try first stretching the morning nap a little later each day and she'll get used to it. and the same with the pm nap. she'll get used to it and start taking longer naps.
Hi G.,
It sounds like she's waking up at the end of her REM cycle which last about 30-45 minutes. When my babies have done that (one is now 4yo and the other is 9 mo), I would find them often waking up but upset about it so I went in there and nursed them for a few minutes to soothe them and then they would fall back asleep.
E. P.
Hi G.-
I have 2 young kids, my son (almost 4) was a terrible sleeper-- we struggled with him for years, and my daughter (almost 2.5) is much better, but still wakes at night sometimes... What I found with both is that transitions in sleeping seem to be the toughest-- it sounds like your daughter may be ready to transition from 3 naps to 2. For me, these transitions did not happen overnight; it can take a few weeks for them to adjust to their new schedules (same thing when they drop to one nap). Most kids drop their 3rd nap around 6 months (my daughter was 9 months, but still sleeping well at night). Try to keep her up an extra half hour in the morning, extending the time slowly, then the same for the afternoon (my kids used to nap at 9:30 and 2:30ish), then bedtime around 7. There may be some cranky/overtired days as she adjusts.
Also, I recommend Ferber's sleep book to anyone with questions about child-sleeping regardless of what your thoughts on cry-it-out are (I think it works for some, but not all kids, and not good for all parents). There's good clinical info on sleep needs and patterns-- my son did that waking after 30-40 minutes for a LONG time, and the book explained how most kids have sleep cycles that last that long, so when their body is in "light" sleep they wake up. She will learn to sleep through those too. I know sleeplessness (and the crankiness) that goes with it can be unbearable-- hang in there and good luck!
Hi!
I would suggest 2 naps a day. I have a 12 month old daughter. She has been napping from about 9:30 to 11:30 and then again from about 2ish-4ish. She then goes to bed between 7:30-8:00. This has been our schedule since she was about 4 months, and seems to have worked like a charm. Good Luck!!!
I have never heard of a 7 month old on a 3 naps a day schedule. (sorry, although how nice you got this this far!) Get her into a mid-morning nap/mid afternoon nap schedule and see if it makes a difference. I would bet on seeing a change.
good luck.
Hi,
I think a lot of your problem is too much napping! She should be taking two naps a day at this point. A morning nap about 10:00 am to 11:30 or so, and then an afternoon nap at about 2:30 which may last a bit longer.
Make sure you are keeping her busy enough to actually be tired. If she's not active enough she won't be tired. Wear her out so she's sleepy. If she's laying in her crib babbling, then she doesn't need to sleep and you should be using that time for interaction and learning.
Both of my girls were down to one afternoon nap a day by the time they were 14 mos old. I always made sure they were getting 12 hours at night and then 2-3 hours during the day. That same amount is what your daughter needs- just spread into 2 naps a day instead of one.
3 naps is just too much to expect her to sleep.
Good luck!
-S.
all sounds normal to me...
It's probably time to let go of one nap. If she's cranky, try distraction, a change of pace...sit outside on front lawn, go for stroll in carriage, take a bath...
Bedtime sounds very early.
I can't believe she sleeps 12 hours at night...count your blessings!
Could be your wee one is ready to transition out of the third nap, and I think it's probably about time. She should then go to 1 nap in the morning and then 1 in the afternoon. For us the times that worked were 2 hours after she awoke in the morning she would go down (usually between 8 - 9a) and then she would go down in the afternoon sometime close to 1pm.
Good luck!
Holly
