Napping - Oxford, NY

My 14 month old still gets up at least once a night. Each child is different. You just have to let them be who they are. They'll grow up soon enough. :)

I would say wean him off the pacifier and try to get him to fall asleep on his own and he will stay asleep longer. Don't go in and pop the pacifier back in his mouth. As long as he is calm, leave him in there by himself. Let him figure out how to fall back to sleep on his own and give him some time. He is old enough now to fall asleep by himself. You can go in if he is crying but don't rock him to sleep or you will have to do this for a long time. You should also set a regular nap schedule. He should be waking up around 7, napping at 9 or 9:30 and then again at 1 or so, and if he is still tired, maybe a 1/2 hour nap around 4, but don't let him sleep past 5. Then he can go to sleep at around 7, or even 6 if he has had a long day. It's ok if he only naps an hour. Maybe that is all he needs. My son only takes hour-long naps and seems fine. At night, don't go in and check on him unless he is crying- not just whining. You have to differentiate between the two. Going in interferes with his ability to go to sleep and stay asleep. The more you check on him and help him, the less likely he will be to stay asleep.

my LO is 9 1/2 months old and has always been a very irregular napper. Sometimes she sleeps long hours and then sometimes 20-30 minutes, and then sometimes will refuse them all together. If she is constantly yawning or rubbing her eyes I will stay close to home and keep trying to get her to nap (even if they are short ones). I find if I am a nap nazi than she sleeps very well at night with hardly any wake up. A little CIO helps...but only for short amounts of time...no more than 30 minutes for naps. He will ABSOLUTELY grow out of this...when he will may be a few weeks to a few months... My baby slept so well at night up till 3 months old...then she woke up most nights at least 3x a night till she was 7 months old...then she started sleeping longer for naps and nightime more often (but not always) from 7-9 months. Always blame teething I say! But, do watch if your little one is playing or significantly happier if you come to him when he cries at naps...CIO would definitly help him to sleep more in this case. Check out Marc Weisbluth's book on sleeping...very resourceful...yet I still did things my own way and adjusted them to my situations. And some hopeful thoughts...my baby is finally at 8 months old sleeping 10-12 hours a night..with a little help from CIO and an early bedtime of 7pm.

Dear A.,

I think he may be getting older and does not require as many naps during the day. I am the owner of a childcare center and I have a few babies currently the same age. They usually arrive around 7:30 a.m. and take a short nap around 9 or so. Then in the afternoon the sleep after lunch for around 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I am not sure if they are sleeping through the night consistantely, however I know they do the majority of the time. I would try to keep him stimulated when he is awake and maybe don't try to nap him as often. I would only put my kids in the crib for sleep and not play this way they would always associate the crib with sleep. When he wakes at night try to soothe him without feedings and see if you can get him to sleep through the night. As long as he is being fed enough during the day he shouldn't require night feedings any longer. I would make sure you have a set bedtime, make sure his little tummy is full and try not to pick him up or feed him at night. If he is not crying and is just playing in the crib that means he is not tired. I think by adjusting his schedule a little he should be fine. Babies change their sleep schedule for the first year many times. You can definetely start setting some type of schedule, however I think you need to still remain flexible until his body grows, and sleep requirements change. Good Luck!!!

As babies get older, they can stay up for longer periods without getting tired. So he might not be tired yet when you put him down the first time. Try doing it a bit later, when he seems to be getting tired, and then another nap when he gets tired again. Take a note of what time he's getting tired and establish a schedule based on that. Then make sure to stick to it - if he knows what to expect, it helps him get to sleep faster. Until, of course, he gets older, and can stay up for even longer without napping! I don't remember when my daughter switched to 2 naps a day, but I know by 14 months she was down to one nap a day at 11am for 2 1/2 hours. At 19 months (now), she takes a nap at 1pm for 1 1/2 hours.

As for waking up twice a night, my daughter did that until she was 8 months old, then we "ferberized" her and in one week, she was sleeping through the night. whoo, hoo!

My son is 8.5 months old and he is the same and always has been a very little napper! he is perfectly healthy, when he's tired he naps, when he's not he's up - and he's a very happy baby!
I think as long as your baby is not cranky all the time from lack of sleep, i think you should just go with it.

When they are so little you can't really tell them "fall asleep", you can certainly set the mood and help him go down (to a certain extent b/c you do not want to create bad habits that feel good for you/him and be stuck rocking him to sleep until he's 5) and if he's tired he'll sleep!

I think its more exhausting to us moms than to them b/c they go down when they are ready. When he gets older, and has more of an understanding of what you are saying, then you can start setting more fixed "napped times" for him.

im thinking he gets 3 naps a day? try to get him to only take 2 naps in the day. maybe start the morning one a little later, then the afternoon one a little later, then no early evening nap. make sure you arent putting him to sleep too early in the morning.

but honestly, from the way you describe him being happy and playing, i wouldnt worry at all. babies cry when the are woken up too soon so it sounds like he is happy and not bothered by it. my first daughter never slept, only like 20-45 min naps. i added all her sleeping and it was 2-3 hours less than the average. but thats all they are, is an average. some babies more and some babies less. she was just very alert.

it probaly is just a phase where he may be trying to figure out how to sleep less and lose a nap. babies change all the time, and with teething, growth spurts, body aches, learning new things, they are always changing their sleep. and some babies dont sleep thru the night, esp when breastfed till much older.

from you about me, it sounds like you are loving motherhood. i would highly suggest you stay away from cio techniques. there are many studies to suggest negative effects, but there are no studies at all to prove comforting children harms them in any way. he sounds very good natured so dont do anything that could take that away. babies are only young for so long, do what you can to help him sleep but if he is happy, just enjoy him. he will let you know if there is a problem. good luck

I believe my daughter transitioned from several naps a day to only 2 naps a day at about that age, perhaps try putting him down for 2 naps per day instead of 3 or 4. We used to do a 9 or 10am nap, and then a 2 or 3pm nap. She always went to bed by 830, and we got up between 6 and 7am. She would generally sleep an hour or two at each nap.

Good luck!

His schedule is changing. He may need to be taking fewer naps now (there is just too much to do now that he's a big boy). Try keeping him up a little longer (even if he's fussy) to stretch out the time betwen naps. So if he gets up at 7am and then naps at 9:45 and sleeps until 10:15, keep him up until about 2/2:30 and then put him down. The idea is to try to get two 1.5 to 2 hour naps a day. So the naps will probably be a bit longer than an hour so you may be able to get more done (or nap, too). Good luck!

It may help his night time schedule as well. Do you pick him up and feed him at night? Assuming he's getting all his nutrition during the day, you may want to try to soothe him in the middle of the night without picking him up.

Perhaps you need to think about starting him on a regular nap schedule. When my 2 were that age, I scheduled their naps, from about 9am to 10 or 1030, and then again from 1-3 or 330 with bedtime at 7. Sometimes they were more tired and napped earlier and sometimes would go to bed earlier. it worked out great because I had a little time to myself during the day.

As long as he seems happy and content I wouldn't worry about it. He knows how much sleep he need. My son is almost 6 months and after being a champion sleeper for about 2 months is now waking up in the night and sleeping less often during the day. It may be a phase or just that they are getting older and don't need as much sleep. I miss those night s where he sleeps through though!!

Sounds like its time to remove a nap and move the others around.

A., First of all congrats it sounds like he is a sweet little boy. My youngest was like that as a baby and now she is 4 and is still really sweet. I don't think anything is bothering him because at his age if he is upset he will let you know. Two naps a day will be good for him I think. Now the problem with him waking up. I don't want to sound like someone who knows more about your baby than you do, because there is no one that does. So just bear with me if it sounds like I am scolding I promise I am not these are just ideas. I would stop the rocking, at least on a regular basis. I used to have to rock my son to sleep and then lay him down without disturbing him and before long he was up again. It took me a long time to break both of us of that habbit, because I enjoyed it as much as he did. Finally I would lay him down give him his blanket, rub his back for a couple of minutes and leave the room. I would sit outside the door and if he started crying I would give him a minute or two, walk back in the room, but not to him, to the dresser or the changing table. He would see me and stop crying. Then I would leave again, give him a little more time if I had to go in again I would tell him I love you now go to sleep cover him up and wait outside the door again. It took some time but he realized that I wasn't going anywhere and that he was safe where he was. During the day the best way to get him to take the naps that he needs, is to tire him out. It will not take long. Do tummy time, where you lay them on their bellies and you lay on your and have them do things with you. Shake a rattle, play with blocks, work on rolling over, or crawling, wherever he is in his development, work on that. I would suggest doing 2 naps, 1 in the morning after breakfast or shortly there after and another after lunch. This way he has a full belly and has had his excercise. I hope this has been helpful and not some long winded know-it-all speech. If you decide not to use this, that is fine, I just wanted to let you know what I did. No matter what I hope you enjoy this great time with your beautiful son. This time is the best, pretty soon he will be talking and walking. Someone once said to me and I thought it was really cute and very true, "You spend the first 2 years teaching them to walk and talk, and you spend the next 16 years telling them to sit down and shut up"!

Hi A.,

My son's naps got worse at around 6 months, as well, but improved when I switched him to 2 naps instead of 3 per day. We usually shoot for 10AMish and 3PMish, but find what works for your and your son.

My second piece of advice is to not drive yourself crazy over napping. Even though he usually naps well, my son still sometimes wakes from a short nap (30 minutes). I used to worry that if he had a short nap, he wasn't getting enough sleep, we would have a horrible afternoon, his night sleeping would be affected, etc. because so many people and books feel that naps shorter than 45 minutes don't count as a nap. Well, I have spent MANY days trying to force my son back to sleep after a too short nap to no avail, just lots of screaming. In my experience, getting him to go back to sleep in the night is MUCH easier than getting him back to sleep from a short nap. So I'd definitely try for 10-15 minutes to get him back down after a short nap, but after that, it may not be worth the scream-a-thon that may ensue.

Best of luck, and congratulations on having such a happy baby!

I do think that this is a phase he's going through, but I also think that your instincts are right on target here! He isn't getting enough sleep, though he seems to think he's just fine. :) This is a very exciting time for a baby. My son was all over the place at 6 months, learning to crawl and becoming independent! It makes it harder to sleep, so now's the time to give him some help.

First of all, I think twice a night is a lot to be waking up at this point. Once or none at all is definitely possible now for many babies. When he wakes up at night (and after naps), don't go in at first. If he's mildly fussing or just chatting (or playing, crawling around, etc.), then don't get him! My son will fuss a little at night, and talk to his teddy bear, but then fall back asleep. I only get him if he cries hard, for more than 2-3 minutes. Unless he is teething or sick (when I soothe him much more, of course), he usually sleeps through the night without any help!

Also consider taking away the pacifier. Awful, I know. He'll have a rough few nights! But it's not helping him soothe himself, and that's the key to good sleeping. Then again, plenty of mamas LOVE their babies using pacifiers. So go with your gut, here!

At naptime, make a commitment to at least 2 naps a day (if not 3). Put him down around 2 hours after his prior waking, and don't get him for at least 45 minutes. If my son is being difficult with his naps, I figure that at least he'll have the down time in his crib this way. And 98% of the time, he'll actually fall back asleep after waking up too early. If he is really wide awake and fussing after 45-60 minutes, then I go get him. But it's so good to give him the chance to fall back asleep on his own! Also, over-tired babies don't sleep as well. I don't think he's ready for really long wakeful periods yet. Good naps lead to good night sleeping, which leads to good naps...etc etc.

Good luck! Enjoy this wonderful 6 month old craziness! Soon he'll be crawling and standing and walking...it's just absolutely incredible.

Well, I think you sound like a great Mommy! There isn't too much you can do, if he is happy, eating well and gaining weight. Then he is healthy and growing. It is alright to let him play quietly in his crib, he is still resting and you can watch him on the monitor to be sure he is fine. Perhaps it is time to start solids? Maybe he needs a little more in his tummy to sleep thru the night. Consult your Dr.
Just keep enjoying that beautiful baby boy, it only gets better!
MR

I have a 8 month old and still get up 1-3 times a night. We haven't weaned her at night yet. We started sleep training to get her to go to bed without a bottle which was successful, but then for a week she went from 2-3 good naps to waking up every half hour. The books say they will sometimes do that during developmental changes. She's back to napping 1.5-2hr naps now. But we're in the transition from the 6-9 month 3 naps/day to the 9-12 month 2 naps/day. Don't worry! hang in there! Keep doing what you're doing. 1st time, try to put him back down, if he stays awake. Get him up and then put him down again 1-3 hours later depending upon his sleepiness cues.