How many naps per day?

[nic]

My DS just turned 9 months old and his sleep pattern seems to be changing again. He usually takes 3 naps during the day and go to sleep between 7:30-8:00 and generally wakes around 7:00 am.

The past several days we've been putting him to bed at the same time but he sits and plays in his crib for awhile before he goes to sleep. I don't know if he's doing this becuase he knows how to go from laying down to sitting up by himself or because he's slept too much during the day. He's also started getting up earlier and earlier.

He's been learning alot of new skilling lately so I'm sure that it playing a part in his sleep.

I told his daycare provider to try 2 naps during the day in hopes that he'll sleep better at night.

How are is your child and how many a day do they take generally?

[mommydearest]

DD is 6 months. We had eliminated the third nap, but in the past 3 weeks, she brought it back herself by necessity. Her bedtime had been moved earlier, but when she added the nap back, we had to push bedtime later. DH was happy about the later bedtime because he doesn't get home until 6:30 and wants to spend time with her.

7:30-up
9:00-11:00 nap
1:30-3:30 nap
7-7:45 nap
10:00 bed for the night

[ellidew]

My ds is 8.5 months old.

7:00-7:30 He gets up
9-10:ish he'll take a 30-40 mins nap
2:30-3:30ish he'll take a 1-2 hour nap
5:30ish he takes another 30-40 mins nap
8-8:30 he goes to bed for the night
He still wakes for 1 bottle a night usually around 1:30.
I guess you could say he naps 2-4 hours per day and we allow him to dictate when that will be.

Is he not sleeping well once he falls asleep? Is he going to sleep on his own after he plays in his crib? If he's going down fine and not fussing to sleep and then sleeping through the night (or getting up for a bottle) then i'd say you don't have a problem and not to worry about it.

How long has he been getting up earlier? I find ds goes through spurts of random sleep. Sometimes he'll sttn for a couple of days in a row and then he'll wake up at 6am ready to play for a couple of days in a row.

[Ericka_Jarett]

DS is 10 1/2 months:

wake time varies usually, but for the most part it's 9am (plays for 1 hour usually in his crib before I get him out)
Up til about 12-1 and down for a usually 3 -3 1/2 hour nap from 12-3 or 1-4pm (sometimes falls asleep with his bottle while I hold him, other times I just put him in his crib with music and he plays for a few mins and then falls asleep)
Up usually the rest of the day unless he seems tired around 6-7pm will take usually 45 min nap then if needed. Bed anytime between 8-9pm usually

[MichelleRenee]

DS is 8.5 months old. He has been on the same sleep schedule since he was about 4-4.5 months old.

Wake up: 7:00
1st nap: 9:00 (1.5 hours)
2nd nap: 1:00 (1.5-2 hours)
Bedtime: 7:00

For awhile I was trying to do a third nap but this schedule is what comes naturally to him and seems to keep him the happiest.

Are his naptimes on any sort of "schedule" or does it vary day to day? I thought that getting T on a schedule would be hard but it was so easy to just follow his cues. I also kept a chart to help me see the patterns. It was 7 vertical columns split into 1/2 hour increments. I used different colors markers to fill in his meal times and naptimes for a couple of weeks and the pattern revealed itself. I just used Microsoft word to make the chart.

[PinkMartini]

DS will be 9 months on Thursday and this is how his day goes:

Up for the day at 6am (Time DH leaves for work)
First nap between 11 - 12pm (Usually sleeps for an hour)
Second nap between 4-5pm (Usually sleeps for 1.5 hours)
Bedtime between 8-9pm (He STTN)

Sometimes he'll only take 1 nap and sometimes he'll take 3. Just depends.

[magdesilver]

Generally the 3rd nap disappears between 6-9 months. I wouldn't be surprised if you need to cut back to 2 naps. It may take him a few days to adjust, and you might very well need to move bedtime a bit earlier to make up for the longer awake period between nap #2 and bedtime.

[Wrighty26]

I agree with magdesilver.

DS cut the 3rd nap out at 5.5 months - and started napping from 9-11 and 1-3 (with a 7am wakeup and a 7pm bedtime). He routinely did this until around 9 months. He then started fighting the afternoon nap so we went with the 2-3-4 rule... 1st nap is 2 hours after wakeup, 2nd nap is 3 hours after wake up, and then bedtime is 4 hours after the final wakeup. Now at a year we *think* he's getting ready to phase out the morning nap (if he sleeps longer than an hour, he will fight his afternoon nap).

[kemorr]

Nic, my DD is 8.5 months old and her sleep patterns seem to be changing too. I'm not sure if the change in the last week and a half are just due to the fact that she was jet lagged, has her first ever cold and seems to be on the brink of crawling or if she is ready to drop her third nap. Anyway, from 4 months until about 1 1/2 weeks ago her schedule looked like this:

7:30 am wake up
9:30 am - nap for between 45 mins to 1 1/2 hours
1:00 pm - nap for 45 mins to 1 1/4 hrs
4:00 pm - nap for 45 mins
7:30 bed time (STTN)

In the last week and a half or so, she has been waking up at 6 to 6:30 am (which I am NOT pleased about!!) and resisting the 4 pm nap. She seems to take her 3rd nap every other day or so. Her other 2 naps haven't lengthened, though, and if she only sleeps 2 x 45 minute naps she can be a bear by bedtime. On no 3rd nap days, I moved bedtime to 7 pm.

I am hoping that she will drop the third nap and take 2 consistently longer naps and stick with a wake up and bed time of 7:30. That's probably wishful thinking, though!

Edited to add that it is good to hear that some kids her age are still taking 3 naps, I used to think my kid was the only wierd baby who slept 3 x daily!

[nic]

Thank you for all of the replies.

Ellidew- He's been able to go from lying to sitting up for a few weeks now and now that I think about that's when his sleep pattern started to change. He usually sits up and "plays" as soon as we put him down. We go back in between 1-4 times and then he eventually falls asleep on his own. Sometimes this takes 45 minutes.

MichelleRenee We've pretty much followed the "2 hours of wakefullness" rule for as long as I can remember, which typically adds up to 3 naps per day.

[eta
B]Kemorr[/B]- Wow our schedule was very similar to yours. My DS has also started getting up anytime between 5:45 and 6:30 and it's killing me. I'll keep you updated on our new schedule.

That's the first time I've heard of the 2-3-4 schedule. I might try that since the 2 hours of wakefullness" worked so well for us.

He's really hit some big milestones in the last few weeks (i.e. going from laying to sitting, sitting to hands and knees, crawling, and pulling himself to standing twice). He's also trying different foods so maybe it's just a combination of everything that's throwing him off.

[lil_nance]

At 9mo, DS was taking 2 naps. For a total of about 3-3 1/2hr. He switched to 1 nap around 15mo.

[nic]

Update on new sleep schedule:

DS took 2 naps at daycare, I put him down for the night at 7:00 and we was asleep by 7:15. He woke up 4:00 crying so I went in and gave him his pacifer. He started crying again at 4:45 so I got up and gave him a 4 oz bottle and put him back to sleep. He slept until 8:00 this morning (I actually had to help him wake up). He's at home with MIL today so sleeping until 8:00 is not a problem but he goes to daycare three days per week so a wake up time of 8:00 isn't suitable for us.

I'm going to try the 2-3-4 method today and see how that goes. I told MIL to put him down at 10 and then again 3 hours after he wakes.

Every once in awhile DS wakes in the middle of the night and I have to give him a small bottle to get him back to sleep so I'm not sure if he worke up beacuse of the new sleep schedule or whether it was just a coincidence.

I guess I'll have to wait until tonight to see what happens.

[DallasLady]

DD is 9.5 months.

She wakes up between 8-9am each morning
1st nap ~ 11-12:00
2nd nap ~ 3:00-4:00
Some days she only takes one long nap ~ 12:00-3:00
She goes to bed around 9pm

[msnicolea]

What are "naps"? ;->

[dollface]

yes, what are these 'naps' you all speak of?

[ggclark]

hi. I have a 6 month old...

our nap schedule is:

wakes up at 6:15
nap 1: 8:00ish (for 1-1.5 hours)

Nap 2: 12ish (for another 1-1.5 hours)

nap 3: 3:30 ish... (1 hour)
bedtime is 7ish

I always thought it would be the 2 naps a day-- morning and afternoon like most of my girlfriends kids... one at 9 and one at 1ish... but she is stuck in this 3 nap thing. It makes it so hard to do anything during the day.

Does anyone know the 3 naps will ultimately shift to 2 or is my DD just a 3 napper?!!!

[nic]

I'm sorry to those Moms who have non-nappers. I guess I should consider myself lucky.

ggclark My DS is 9 month old and we're in the midst of transitioning to two naps per day. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that most babies drop the 3rd nap between 6-9 months. Maybe your baby jsut isn't ready yet. I'd give it a little while longer and I'll bet she'll be ready to cut down. I know how hard it is to plan things during the day when your baby is just about ready for another nap by the time you get ready and head out the door.

[karlatta]

ggclark - Some kids just like more naps. My DS is 14 months and some days still takes 3 naps. (Most of the time it's two, though, and that 3-to-2 naps transition didn't happen until he was around a year old.) He's happy and healthy so I don't worry about it. Take advantage of the fact that your likes to sleep so much to get rest for yourself!

[jennylou]

What are "naps"? ;->

DD cat napped for a long time (like 9+ months!) and just recently dropped her third nap, started going to bed earlier AND started taking at least one good nap (aka, more than 45 minutes). Sometimes she takes two good naps a day now. Though, I have noticed that if we are around other kids (I baby sit for a 2.5 year old and 4 year old on Tuesdays) she will try to skip her nap all together.

So, those that have cat nappers, it's possible that your DC will start taking longer naps. :)

[mrselle]

My DD is 11 months and over the past few weeks she has gone from two short naps to one long nap. Her naps are about 2.5 hours long. She goes down around 12pm and wakes up between 2pm and 2:30pm. She goes to bed around 7:30pm and wakes up between 6:30am and 7:00am.

[Janey]

K is almost 5 months old, and takes 3 good naps/day. She also might take a catnap at my breast in the evening.

She has about three different sleep schedules that she rotates in between, but her bedtime is always about 10pm. Her dad and I really wish that she'd go to bed around 8 (we'd love some us-time!), but she won't go down any earlier than 9:30.

[gmooter]

I've never hear of the 2-3-4 thing either. Does anyone have any more information on that? Like, at what age do they recommend that schedule?

[ggclark]

I have heard of the 2-3-4 thing too but would also LOVE to learn more about it. It just seems like 2 hours awake is it for Lily... I don't know.. do you "train" them to adjust to staying up longer between naps? I tried to get her to go a bit longer before and it's like I miss the "window" and she has a harder time settling into sleep. But, I have a feeling, if she got used to it, perhaps I could get her to sleep more then an hour at a time.

I don't know...it's hard...

Lily is starting daycare in August.. at 7 months.. I am going back to work... and I worry about her napping there.

[Wrighty26]

I read about the 2-3-4 thing at askmoxie.com. I have no idea where it came from though! It just seemed to work for us.

As for training -- I've always just read my DS's cues and he happened to slip into the 2-3-4 schedule. Actually, I take that back -- when he was transitioning from 2 to 3 naps I just kept him awake (opposed to him taking a crappy 30 minute nap and then fighting bedtime). It took a little while, but he adjusted.

The 2-3-4 schedule didn't happen until he was 9 months though. Up until that point he was taking naps from 9-11 and 1-3 and then going to bed at 6:30-7.

ETA - My friend's DH watches my DS in the afternoons (along with his DD) and I too was nervous about him napping. He started watching him at 7 months so his nap schedule was pretty set. It took a week or two to adjust, especially because sometimes he will sleep in a pack n play (which he had previously despised - even as a newborn). After the adjustment, he was fine and went right back into his normal routine. Hopefully your daycare providers will allow your DD to nap when she is tired, opposed to a set schedule. I'm sure she will adjust, regardless though!