How many naps does your 6.5 month old have per day?

[margarita1979]

DS is currently having 4 naps a day. This seems like a lot for his age, but he's teething, so maybe he's just extra sleepy?

He gets cranky by 6:30 pm or so after his last nap (which is usually 3 to 5), so we put him down once more (usually asleep by 7). He then wakes up around 8 or 8:30 pm. He's still tired, but won't go back to sleep. We then face a 1 to 2 hour struggle to get him back to bed for the night. Right now, for example, DH has been upstairs for almost 2 hours trying to get him to eat, settle and sleep. He's still kicking away. For moms with babies that go to bed at 6:30/7, do they get up shortly after going down? If so, do you just leave them to self settle?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[stephie_corin]

Hi we were on 2-3 naps at that age. If he has taken such a long nap from 3-5 I certainly wouldn't be putting him down at 630-7 - he may be cranky for other reasons. I think if you don't let him nap past 4 you will have more luck at getting him down at 7. If you don't want to wake him up, aim for a later bed time. Good luck xxx

 

[Leesy]

My lo has 2 or 3 naps. He mixes it up each day as he wakes anywhere from 6-7.30am. If up at 6am first nap is at 7.30am so he will have 2 more that day, if up at 7.30am he only has 2 naps. bedtime is 6pm so he won't sleep past 3.30pm in the arvo. If it's 3.30pm and he is still asleep I wake him up.

 

[stephie_corin]

I forgot to say, try aiming for a 2.5-3 hour last waketime. Closer to 3 if he has taken a two hour nap xxx

 

[BUGaBOO]

Hi, my daughter gets tired and needs a nap every 90 mins like clockwork so that makes around 4-5 naps a day.
She gets up anywhere between 6 and 7am and goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm (depending on the last nap)
The first stretch of sleep seems to be the deepest and then she wakes every 3.5ish hours for milk, but recently has been waking up constantly (every hour) not sure if its the 6 month regression or teething or what but its awful!

 

[Pennyb]

Josh has 2-3 naps a day each one no longer than 30 minutes, he goes to sleep at 6pm. We don't let him nap past 4pm.

I did worry about the lack of sleep he has through the day as his naps are so short, but he is happy, not grumpy and sleeps well at night, so it must be what he needs.

 

[greenbeans12]

This is my son's "sleep routine".

10 AM - Wakes up

12 PM - Nap time (sleeps between 2-3 hours)

5:30 PM - Nap time (sleeps between 1-2 hours)

10:00 PM - Goes to bed

12 AM - He gets a dreamfeed and then sleeps through the night.

I hope this helps you.

 

[kelkel]

My little dude is. A little over 6mths he takes 3 naps a day.
Wakes at 6/630am
Nap. 830am (30-45 minutes)
Nap. 12pm (1.5hrs)
Nap. 4pm (30-45 min)
Asleep at 7pm

 

[margarita1979]

Hi we were on 2-3 naps at that age. If he has taken such a long nap from 3-5 I certainly wouldn't be putting him down at 630-7 - he may be cranky for other reasons. I think if you don't let him nap past 4 you will have more luck at getting him down at 7. If you don't want to wake him up, aim for a later bed time. Good luck xxx

He usually stays up a little later after having such a late nap, but he was exhausted by 7, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

 

[margarita1979]

I forgot to say, try aiming for a 2.5-3 hour last waketime. Closer to 3 if he has taken a two hour nap xxx

Thanks. We'll try that today. Even if he's super cranky? How do you keep your LO distracted during that time before bedtime?

 

[margarita1979]

Hi, my daughter gets tired and needs a nap every 90 mins like clockwork so that makes around 4-5 naps a day.
She gets up anywhere between 6 and 7am and goes to bed between 7pm and 8pm (depending on the last nap)
The first stretch of sleep seems to be the deepest and then she wakes every 3.5ish hours for milk, but recently has been waking up constantly (every hour) not sure if its the 6 month regression or teething or what but its awful!

This has been my DS lately - after about 90 minutes, he's rubbing his eyes, yawning and uninterested in anything I put in front of him. Yikes, every hour is rough. DS' sleep has been horrendous these last few days. Good luck!

 

[little_cookie]

This is my son's "sleep routine".

10 AM - Wakes up

12 PM - Nap time (sleeps between 2-3 hours)

5:30 PM - Nap time (sleeps between 1-2 hours)

10:00 PM - Goes to bed

12 AM - He gets a dreamfeed and then sleeps through the night.

I hope this helps you.

Midnight to 10am??! I hate you....

 

[minties]

Hiya, Sophie has been on 3 naps a day for ages now. She sleeps about 10 hours a night and 6 hours during the day with naps. She's up at 5am and down at 7pm.

She naps. 6:45-9, 11-1, 3-5.

 

[stephie_corin]

I forgot to say, try aiming for a 2.5-3 hour last waketime. Closer to 3 if he has taken a two hour nap xxx

Thanks. We'll try that today. Even if he's super cranky? How do you keep your LO distracted during that time before bedtime?

I think its really important to look at the overall day and night sleep. Obviously all babies are different, as evidenced by the replies, but if he is waking up and won't settle in the night he may be having too much day sleep. As a rough guide, he should be having about 14.5 total hours at his age. Most babies are within this range give or take an hour. So if you want him to sleep 11.5 - 12 hours at night, he should only have 2.5-3 hours during the day.

I stretched out my boy's awake times gradually. You can increase 15 minutes every few days. Just before 7 months I switched to two naps and he does 2.75, 3.25 and 3.75 hours awake times. He seems to be on the lower side of sleep needs. I would experiment with different awake times and find a sweet spot that allows him to be happy in the day and sleep well at night.

To be honest, once he was over six months I tended to ignore his tired signs if it's too early for a nap. I found he got used to the longer awake times very quickly and now our days are very easy.

If he is cranky I usually try distraction, and we also do a bath about an hour before bed and start winding down before bedtime. Do you have a bedtime routine?

There is a really handy sleep chart, I will try and post it for you.

Good luck!

 

[stephie_corin]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...cyas/mobilebasic?authkey=CPXE1bsO&pli=1&hl=en

I hope this is helpful for you x

 

[AmyS]

My LO will be 7 months next weeks (although she was born 5 weeks early). She is a cat napper, and only takes 30 minute naps usually (at daycare). On the weekends, I can get her to take hour naps if I hold her (bad habit), and then she usually goes 2 hours between naps before getting tired. This gets her about 3 naps a day. I try to end the last nap by 5pm and get her to bed between 7-7:30pm.

 

[margarita1979]

Thank you everyone for sharing your nap routines/schedules. I think DS is having a wonder week this week, so his sleep is a little all over the place.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/...cyas/mobilebasic?authkey=CPXE1bsO&pli=1&hl=en

I hope this is helpful for you x

Thank you for your replies and for this table - bookmarking it for future use. No real bedtime routine for us. We typically just go with the flow and based on his mood, since his naps are so irregular. I hate having to wake him up, so just let him sleep until he wakes. I'll be tracking his naps more closely once the wonder week passes.

 

[lily24]

My DD is 6.5months and her routine goes roughy like this..

Awake 7am-7.30am - 7oz milk
Breakfast usually porridge - 8.45am
Nap 9am - 10am
7oz milk - 11.15am
Cat Nap - 12.15pm - 12.45pm (30mins ish)
Lunch - 1.15pm
Cat nap (kinda think she's dropping this one now) 2.30pm-3pm
7oz milk - 3.30pm
Sometimes a nap at 4.30pm for 30mins
Dinner - 5pm
Bath - 6pm
7oz bottle 6.45pm
Bed for the night -7.15pm

Think because she only has short naps she is shattered by bed time so sleeps through well.

 

[katestar53]

My little man usually has two day time naps, one in the morning around 9-10:30am then one in the afternoon 2-3:30pm then bedtime at 8pm & usually up between 6-7am with one night waking Xxx

 

[Zephram]

My LO has been on two naps a day since 6 months. He usually has up to 1.5 hours in the morning starting at 8:30/9am and then up to 1 hour 15 mins in the afternoon at around 1/1:30pm. He goes to bed very early, asleep between 5:30/6pm and is up for the day between 5:30/6am. He wakes up a lot at night though, anything from 2-6 times, about 4 is average.

Also his nap lengths vary quite a bit. Some days he'll wake after 45 mins, some days he'll sleep twice as long, there's no rhyme or reason. He is awake about 2.5 hours, then nap, then about 3 hours, then nap, then about 3.5 hours then bed.