Naps?

[SonnyH]

My little girl is 9 months on Saturday & is currently firmly fixed in the following naps:

Wake up between 6am-7am
Naps - 10am for 1.5 hours
Naps - 2.30/3pm for 30-45mins
Asleep for the night at 6.30pm

This works fine, I’m more than happy with her napping & the amount of sleep she gets. She doesn’t feed overnight but often wakes up a couple times as she’s wiggled into an uncomfortable position!

However, a few people have suggested it’s more restorative for babies to have their long naps shortly after lunch? And also then easier as they transition down into one nap.. so is it worth me trying to move her naps? And potentially totally disrupting them?

Thanks for any info!

 

[LoraLoo]

Nope... leave her be, she will transition into one, lengthier nap in her own time, she's sleeping now when she needs to sleep and that's what's important.
Also, forcing sleeptimes wont make a bit of difference to her waking during the night.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would just leave it. There really is no manual on these things. If it's working, it's working. Mine slept about an hour each nap. There was never a 'long' nap. Sometimes that's just how they are. If she is sleeping well at night (mine was still waking 2-3 times at 9 months, including for feeds, and sometimes taking an hour or more to go to sleep at bedtime, so sounds like she sleeps great), then I wouldn't mess around with it. It will likely shift a bit in the next 6 months or so anyway.

 

[cupcake.]

That sounds like a good schedule actually, i would not change it. It actually sounds a lot like my DD sleep schedule at around that age.

To have her nap after lunch would mean she‘d have to be able to stay awake from morning wake up to lunch which she most likely can‘t yet. That would be a one nap schedule and while lots of Babys can do it at a year old, the average age for that transition is at about 15-18 months. My Daughter is now pretty set in her one nap schedule at 15 months and she started transitioning right after christmas so at 13 months but actually we‘re still kind of transitioning as her morning awake time gets longer and we‘re getting out of that earlier bedtime stage.

But at 9 months your baby has plenty of time still so I‘d enjoy the routine you have going now and don‘t worry

 

[jessmke]

I'd leave her, that was pretty much my daughter's exact sleep schedule until she was 18 months and went to only one nap. Her longer nap was almost always in the morning when she was on two naps.

 

[Zephram]

No, don't mess with the naps! It's working for her and for you so everything is great.

My first in particular always had his longest nap in the morning. Even when he dropped down to one nap he still slept in the late morning and not after lunch like most other kids did. That's just the way he was, it worked for him and for me, so we were happy.

There is literally no point struggling to change her natural pattern, it will only cause you both grief.

 

[SonnyH]

Fabulous! That’s pretty much what I thought.. I shall leave well alone! I quite like putting my feet up in the mornings :-D although it’s a shame that most baby classes run in the mornings ..!

My next challenge is getting her to nap in other places than her cot! Sleeps like a champ in it but nowhere else! Not the car, pram or arms! Its quite restrictive .. I’ve got between 11.30 & 2.30pm to do lunch & get out of the house before I need to be back so she’ll sleep! :-/

 

[wildflower79]

Sounds the same schedule as my dd2 was on when she was younger. She then transitioned herself into one longer nap on an afternoon as she got older.

I have no advice about getting her to nap out of her cot. Both my 2 naturally napped in the pushchair from being very young and flatly refused to nap in the cot! It's definitely a lot less restrictive when they do that though 😁

 

[cupcake.]

My next challenge is getting her to nap in other places than her cot! Sleeps like a champ in it but nowhere else! Not the car, pram or arms! Its quite restrictive .. I’ve got between 11.30 & 2.30pm to do lunch & get out of the house before I need to be back so she’ll sleep! :-/

My daughter is the same! I actually just accepted that I need to be home for naptimes, but I know how restrictive it is so I feel for you

 

[jessmke]

My next challenge is getting her to nap in other places than her cot! Sleeps like a champ in it but nowhere else! Not the car, pram or arms! Its quite restrictive .. I’ve got between 11.30 & 2.30pm to do lunch & get out of the house before I need to be back so she’ll sleep! :-/

My daughter is the same! I actually just accepted that I need to be home for naptimes, but I know how restrictive it is so I feel for you

I'm home for nap times, and although it's a bit restrictive, it makes our lives so much better! Mine will sleep in the car/stroller, but it's never long enough so they end up grumpy and horrible the rest of the day! I'd rather plan my day so I'm home at nap times and then they are at least pleasant children to be around when they are awake. The only time we let them nap in the stroller is when we are skiing because we can be out for 2+ hrs and the gentle rocking of the stroller while we ski allows them to have a good nap. We go out in both morning and afternoon for several hours each, it just takes planning to make it happen.