My daughter does not take regular naps(only takes about 1-2 short "cat" naps for about 30min). However, she is not crabby during the day and sleeps very well at night(about 11-12hrs). I have asked her md about this situation and he suggested trying to make her naptime routine similar to her nighttime routine. Which I tried however, it worked sometimes and not others.Admittedly,I haven't steadly tried a naptime routine.
So, I asking you ladies if you have any suggestions? Any tips/tricks that you use to help a bad napper get some sleep.
If she's sleeping thru the night, getting a couple cat naps in, and not crabby, I would just leave things as they are for now. Her sleep schedule seems to be working for her =)
I'm in the same boat with a 6mo.old little girl too. What I've been doing the last week or two is making it mandatory that we are home after lunch time, no errands, no interruptions. I lay down with her sometimes and nap too which is like OMG amazing never made enough time to do that before. But I'll lay her down just like I do bed time with her bottle,blankie and rub her head if I have to. Because it's not being interrupted and were not out runnig errands and this and that she's been sleeping really good she took a 3 hour nap yesterday. If I don't do this she takes 15-30min cat naps too.Not real crabby but is constantly napping and waking up and unpredictable. I like the routine.
We have always had a set schedule for naps and my son is now 3 and takes 1 nap daily from 12:00 - 1:30 (or around that). When my son was 6 months old he woke up at 6ish, took nap#1 at 10 and nap #2 at 2, then bed at 7 and he used to sleep for 12 hours each time and then sleep 11 hours at night.
If your daughter is sleeping good at night and not a crab I might not mess with it though, it may make bedtime harder. She may be getting just what she needs. You could maybe try to make sure her 1/2 hour naps are at the same time each day and maybe she will just eventually start sleeping longer on her own.
I don't know how old your daughter is, but she may be ready for only one nap a day. My daughter sleeps 11-12 hours at night, is really active in the morning, and then take her nap from 1-3 every single day either at home in her crib or by my mom's house on the days I work. The point is that naptime is always at 1:00, right after lunch, and it's always in a crib. The other thing I do, is put her in her pajamas for her nap. We don't let her take her nap in her regular clothes. Pajamas equal time to sleep. It's been working since the day she turned 1 and she's 2 now. Good luck!
Wow! I am trying to imagine a 6-month-old being up nearly all day long. It exhausts me. But maybe that's because I'm not seeing only a 12-hour day. It seems to me that if 12 hours at night and 2 small naps during the day is keeping her happy and keeping you happy then you should just enjoy that. As for me, when a 6-month-old baby seems to be getting tired, I sit and rock her and sing until she falls asleep. Sometimes when I do that, she fights so hard to get back up that I eventually decide she was not really tired. If she plays happily, then she probably wasn't.
My son didn't start taking long naps until after 6 months either. I used the two hour rule: babies nap about two hours after each waking period. My son wakes at 7:30am so I put him down for a nap at 9:30am (although he'll fall asleep closer to 10:00am). He'll sleep until around 11:30am, so his next naptime is at 1:30pm. This has been his schedule for a few months now.
If she's not too crabby, I wouldn't worry too much!
6 months is not too late to start a nap routine. I think if you stay steady with it, it will work. I believe this is about the time that a schedule started to work with my daughter. She still takes two naps that are close to two hours a day each. (she is 14 months)
Here is what worked for us - my daughter was a terrible day and night sleeper till 7 months, when I goot too fed up and got the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". It suggested a regualr every day naptime routine, that is always the same, similar to the edtime routine. Also, room darkening curtains or shades, so it seems like evening in the room, and white noise, like a small fan going, and some music. All these things halped tremendously - we fixed her nightime sleep first, and the naps followed, and since your baby already sleeps well at night, it could just be something simple....the curtains to block the light, the fan/white noise (to block out other household or outside disturbances), or just being consistent.
Oh, something else I learned form the book, the first nap of the day should start no longer thna 1-2 hours after getting up for the day! I was floored at that suggestion, but I tried it anyway, and it worked wonders! She would get up by 7 and be back down by 9, and sleep 2 hours, be up from 11-1, and then go back down for 1-2 more hours, and sometimes even take a third nap, and then go to bed at 6 p.m.!!!! Also, watch her for sleepy signs, yawning, slowing down, gazing off in to nowhere....if you wait till they are rubbing their eyes and tugging their hair and crying, it is too late and they are over-tired, which will make it harder to get them to sleep and they will not sleep as soundly or as long as if you catch them in that very first yawn!!!
Good Luck!
Jessie
P.S. we also had to let our girl cry it out at night, but since you have night already down pat, you won't have to deal with that. But I am happy to say, ever since that first week of "sleep training" we have had a great sleeper, who loves her bed and loves to sleep at naps and bedtime!
If she's not crabby, and she's already getting that much sleep she's probably not tired enough to sleep any longer.
