# Hrs between last nap & bedtime?



## DaisyBee

How much time is your LO awake between waking from their last nap and bedtime?

I read in a book last night that babies should be awake for 4 hours between last nap & bedtime - so if they woke at 5pm from nap then they shouldnt go down til 9pm. What does everyone think?


Also - what do you do with your LO those last hours of the day? Megan is crabby and ready for bed at 6pm but we've realized that is way too early bedtime for her as then she is awake and ready for the day by 3am! So we are pushing bedtime back & try hard to keep her up but find its harder to keep her entertained those last couple of hours.


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## Cattia

Oh wow - if I kept LO awake for 4 hours before bedtime I think we would have serious meltdown on our hands lol! She goes to sleep at 7pm and I try to make sure she is awake from her last nap by 5pm, but 5.30pm at the latest, so minimum of an hour and a half. If she is awake for more than two hours before bedtime it is guaranteed that she will be in tears by the time she is half way through her routine because she gets over tired. For us a late nap really makes bedtime so much easier. I tend to live by the two hour rule though, as that seems to work really well for Abigail.


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## Raven24

my little one has napped later before but the latest he has woken up was about 7pm but ive never taken any notice of the time from last nap to bed time tbh.
he noramlly gets crabby about 8pm and cuddling and stuff doesnt seem to work so we just try and play with him and distract him till he just zonks out between 9 and 10.


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## Snowball

I kind of agree with that theory. Last night I made the silly mistake of falling asleep whilst feeding Ozze around 6.30pm. He nodded off aswell and woke at 7pm bright eyed and bushy tailed. He was then up till gone 10pm last night wanting to play and winging. 

Towards the end of the day i do things with Ozzie like reading stories and letting him come up and watch me get the older two ready for bed. It tends to keep him entertained for a bit although he's also a grouch after 5pm :lol:


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## Floralaura

Jacobs last nap is at 6ish for 1/2 an hour or so..he goes bed at 10.30..so i guess thats about 'right' then..
Its whatever works for you and your LO though, not what the books say is right..x


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## Sekhmet

4 hours seems like a lot to me. Because they say (and, IME with Lily, it is true) that sleep begets sleep, I always let Lily sleep whenever she wants. She sometimes even naps, wakes up and has her last bottle, and then goes straight to bed. So it could look like 7:15-8:00 nap, bottle, and to bed at 8:30.


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## Mum2b_Claire

That is going to be true for some older babies - in fact it's pretty accurate for Ruby now and has been since about 8 months. But younger babies are going to be way overtired after 4 hours.


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## sweetlullaby

My LO is 4 and a half months and about 4 hours awake is about right between lasnt nap and bedtime. 

Though I am struggling with him and bedtime/naps at the minute he battles his sleep like mad :dohh:


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## DaisyBee

I do agree that sleep begets sleep but it seems that if Megan has slept for her # of hours that she can sleep in a day that she just wont sleep anymore. :shrug: So if she naps all day she is up all night & vice versa. She would like to go to bed between 6 & 7pm and wake between 3-4am which is when she was waking for a bottle but lately it seems like she's really awake at this time & its taking her a while to fall back asleep - like it is a nap vs. going back to sleep. So if she wakes at 3 she isnt going back to sleep til 5am. This makes me think that she really should only be sleeping 9-10 hrs at night and then napping 4-5 hrs during the day. :shrug: So if I can get her bedtime pushed back to 8-9pm then hoping she'd still do the same # of hours and wake between 5-6am.

We used to start bedtime routine sometimes right after her last nap if she seemed very tired right after she wakes but usually try to keep her up for a little while or she seems like she has a harder time settling - like she isnt quite tired enough. So I'm trying to read her cues but also try to push bedtime back a bit at the same time.

We tend to base bedtime on watching tired cues & Then start bedtime routine otherwise she seems not quite tired enough to fall asleep. If we wait too long then she wont settle by herself. Last night she was in bed by 6:45 with last nap ending at 4pm. This is about the longest she's gone between nap & bed. Usually its closer to 2 hrs.

It makes sense that this would work better for older babies - esp. since they tend to drop their 3rd nap as well.

I'm thinking maybe taking a walk after dinner - she'd get her last nap in & then wind down before bedtime routine.


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## Emma1980

no way could i let Fin go that long, i would have hell to pay when trying to get him to sleep - the max i can let him go is 2.5 hours so i always try and get him to have a nap at 4pm - 4.30 then get him down in his cot between 630 & 7, sometimes he wants his cot earlier tho, and ive learned just not to bother fighting it, cos i always lose anyway!

As claire said tho - i think that would be about right for older babies, just dont think we're quite there yet hun - What time do you give megan her "solids"?


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## Babybug

There is no way we could do 4 hrs LO can do 2 hrs max, I just let her sleep when she seems tired and like the other lady said sometimes she wakes from a nap, has bath bottle then back to bed. She is always ready for bed at 6:30 or sometimes before regardless of how much sleep she has had in the day, although she does still wake for a night feed she sleeps till between 6-8 in the morning.


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## DaisyBee

Yeah I agree Megans not there yet - thats why I'm thinking a walk after dinner might help us push her bedtime back as she will sleep in her stroller.

She has cereal & veggies in the am and then cereal after her last nap which has been helping bide us some time before bedtime routine.

If she would sleep from 6-6 or 7-6 that would be wonderful - but she wont! Which is why I'm thinking the early bedtime has to go.


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## special_kala

If River sleeps any time past 4 she will NOT go down at 7 like she normaly does and will be up crying and screaming until 8.30 as she is overtired.

which makes no sense to me


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## DaisyBee

So do you think its worth keeping the 6-7pm bedtime & try to get her to go back to sleep at 3/4am when she wakes? It seems that if she wakes 6-7 hrs for a feed then she will bo back down easily - no issue..... But if she is waking after 8-10 hrs for that feed then she isnt willing to go back to sleep so it seems silly to fight her on that. But it doesnt seem right that she starts her day at 3 or 4am! LOL


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## sun

4h is way too long for us too! We don't have a real routine though except we try and get him to bed around 9pm. He then wakes up at 6-7am for a feed, then back down until 9-10am. (But today he wasn't up for the day until 11:15!!!) He isn't a great napper though (40min max) - but he will usually sleep in his stroller (OH and I go for a walk when he gets home from work) from 6:30-7:30. This doesn't affect his bedtime though!! He can only do 2h awake before he gets cranky and needs to sleep.

xx


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## QTPie

AlexWAked has his main nap of the day in the afternoon from about 1.30pm until about 4/4.30pm.... Then bath at 8/8.30pm, little massage, last feed (big feed) and in bed by about 9.30pm (as soon as he is fed, winded and asleep). He then either sleeps through to 6.30/7am or wakes up for a feed about 4am and then sleeps to 7am. He has done this since about 5 weeks.

We try to keep him awake between his big nap and his last feed (so 4.30 until 8.30pm) and it normally works (he may nod off for a few minutes, but that is it).

All babies are different though.

QT


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## britt1986

Oh wow! If I let my LO go 4 hours between the last nap and bedtime I think we would all loose our minds.

My LO usually can only manage 2 hours between naps and on occassion has gone 3 hours. He usually goes down for his last nap of the day around 5pm and sleeps til 6pm, up until 8pm, which is his bed time.

Usually in the 2 hours before bedtime he plays in his excersaucer or jumperoo for 10-15 minutes, plays in the floor with some toys and trys to crawl, and then bath at 7:30pm, then wind down time after bath, we normally just lay in the bed and "talk" to one another or watch tv.


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## third time

WOW - Lucy goes to bed at 7.15 most nights and I awlays make sure she wakes up at 5 at the latest so there's 2 hours, but try to keep her asleep until at least 4.15 or she gets overtired and won't go to sleep!!!


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## // arcadia

At the mo im puttin her down at 1 .. she wakes anywhere from 1.30 to 3 .. if shes been awake for 3-4 hours before bedtime its great as she is literally asleep by the time the bottle finishes so nice and easy .. if she wakes late from nap its more effort as she's still awake when put in cot .. saying that though she's been amazing past few weeks fussing for 10 mins then asleep for whole night :D

ETA she goes to bed at 6.20/6.30.


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## loopy loulou

Eve has only ever been able to stay awake for a maximum of 2 hours! And the gap between the last nap and bedtime is always much shorter. I feel soo lucky with her sleep pattern.. it couldn't be any better!!! And she goes off to sleep so easily, no fuss whatsoever.

Her typical day goes like this:

7:00am wake
9:00am - 10:30am - nap

12:30 - 2:00pm - nap

4:00 - 5:00pm - nap

6:30pm - bed

If she wakes later or earlier from her naps she just goes down again about 2 hours after waking, but is always tired and in bed asleep by 7pm at very latest.

DaisyBee - just noticed our LOs are exactly the same age!! I would suggest keeping the same bedtime, as it's good practice to get them to bed at this time. At least you have your evening! And at this age, she shouldn't need a night feed, so maybe try to cut that one out and then she may not wake at this time any more? It may be habit? If you really do need to feed her, just keep it really dark, don't interact, put her straight back in her cot etc.. (you probably do all this already!). She will hopefully learn that night time lasts a bit longer!

Good luck. xx


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## Lottieb1

My LO generally has a 30 min nap between 4 and 5pm, and then is asleep after his bath and feed by 6.45pm - and sleeps through til 6am. He can rarely stay awake longer than 2 - 2.5 hours between naps without getting overtired (16 weeks old0.)


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## Nickij

4 hours seems like a long time to me too. He was awake that long today - and was seriously crabby. He usually has a cap nap for about 30-45 mins around 5pm that just refreshes him enough for his bath, play with daddy and bottle and bed. He is usually in bed by 7.15-7.30 and asleep by 8pm


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## Seraphim

Daisy are you any clearer on a plan of action now? Cos I'm totally lost :rofl:


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## DaisyBee

loopy loulou said:


> Eve has only ever been able to stay awake for a maximum of 2 hours! And the gap between the last nap and bedtime is always much shorter. I feel soo lucky with her sleep pattern.. it couldn't be any better!!! And she goes off to sleep so easily, no fuss whatsoever.
> 
> Her typical day goes like this:
> 
> 7:00am wake
> 9:00am - 10:30am - nap
> 
> 12:30 - 2:00pm - nap
> 
> 4:00 - 5:00pm - nap
> 
> 6:30pm - bed
> 
> If she wakes later or earlier from her naps she just goes down again about 2 hours after waking, but is always tired and in bed asleep by 7pm at very latest.
> 
> DaisyBee - just noticed our LOs are exactly the same age!! I would suggest keeping the same bedtime, as it's good practice to get them to bed at this time. At least you have your evening! And at this age, she shouldn't need a night feed, so maybe try to cut that one out and then she may not wake at this time any more? It may be habit? If you really do need to feed her, just keep it really dark, don't interact, put her straight back in her cot etc.. (you probably do all this already!). She will hopefully learn that night time lasts a bit longer!
> 
> Good luck. xx

Yes - it is nice to have an evening! I'd been trying to cut out the night feed - lowering the oz. & giving her pacifier instead which I was hoping was going to work - but she's been dropping oz. during the day recently so when she's woken I went back to feeding her as I was thinking at least she was eating it sometime even though it was at night. (Some days she's only been drinking 20-24oz which didnt seem like enough as she used to have 30-35.) I do keep it dark, no eye contact, etc. and she has always gone straight back to sleep but the fact that recently she'll not get settled again for 2 hrs has been confusing me. :shrug: So I try to leave her in her crib - she will talk & laugh and kick her feet all happy and excited like she does in the a.m. when its time to get up or she then starts to get upset. I've tried rocking her to get her to sleepy point again but that didnt work either. I will keep trying!

Thank you for your advice & routine too btw! Although I have trouble keeping Megan up for even 2 hours most of the time which seems to confuse her daytime nap schedule. I try to get her to 1 1/2 hrs between naps but sometimes even that is pushing it.


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## DaisyBee

Seraphim said:


> Daisy are you any clearer on a plan of action now? Cos I'm totally lost :rofl:

:rofl: It is way confusing isnt it!?!? I dont think it helps either that no matter my intentions for any kind of schedule Megan has other ideas :shrug:


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## Fabmumof3

4 hours is a long time for a baby to go without a nap - my daughter would be crying and crabby or just zonk out anyway. Ive always went with letting my 3 sleep when they want to sleep and they are all good sleepers overnight (the youngest wants to get up at 5.30 but we take her into bed and she goes back to sleep till 8am). I kinda go by the 2 hour rule as well for her at the moment. Until they are much older i dont think keeping them awake longer without a nap before bed really works. Babies know what they need - food, entertained, sleep etc i always go by their cues and have had 3 contended kids who rarely cry.


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## smartie

No way could Callum go 4 hours awake time yet! He is usually only awake for 1.5-2hrs before napping for up to an hour. He usually falls asleep sometime around 5-6pm for around half an hour and then is bathed at 6.30 and most nights in bed around 8pm.


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