Sleep timetable

[jenni]

Hi

In some of Tracey's books, she gave examples of the EASY timetable - ie when to sleep, wake etc.  Does anyone have one for a six month old?

I'm really confused, she's suddenly not sleeping so well at night, so presume she is sleeping too much by day - she was sleeping about 16/7 hours per day, but now needs much less.  So... when do you factor in the naps etc?  what length of gap between naps, cause my little one is tired after 2.5 hours, but I don't know how to make sure she has enough sleep at night if she keeps napping by day?

Thanks
Jenni

[Aarismom]

You seem to have the right idea.

At 6 months, mine was taking a nap every 2.5 hours or so. The "biological" best times for naps is between 8:30 and 10 for the am nap, and noon and 3 for the afternoon nap. Best target times are 9 and 1.

For the morning nap, I'd limit it to 1.5 hours or so. The afternoon nap should be 1.5-2 hours. If she needs a third nap, limit it to no more than 1 sleep cycle, or 45 mins. Of course, that's textbook. What you really need to determin is her mood after a nap. Does she wake up crying? Is she playing happily in her crib? If she's crying, chances are she hasn't slept enough. If she's playing happily and enjoying herself, she's probably had a long enough nap, even if it was only 40 mins.

Night wise, you should set a target of about 11-12 hours of sleep. Use her natural wake time in the am to set bedtime. However, if your dd is getting more sleep than that at night, and it doesn't affect naps, chances are she needs it. If she's not getting enough sleep at night, having trouble with night wakings, waking too early, etc. But she's sleeping quite a bit during the day, then you should probably wake her after 1.5-2 hours of nap time.

Hope this helps!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[Jaime]

Sonya's already given you great advice... just wanted to mention that there are sample EASY schedules in the EASY forum.  there is also a rough guideline of how much sleep babies need at various ages at the top of this forum.   

[jenni]

Thanks for your help - it kinda helps.......

the only problem is letting my dd follow her own rhythms!  She's happy to sleep all morning and most of the afternoon - but then wants to play with mummy and daddy until 12!!! Seriously - even when I limited her sleep  during the day, she'd still want to stay up.

Maybe she just misses us?  We both work from home by day, so do funny hours, but maybe she's actually sleeping so much by day as she's bored? 

Does anyone know if its possible (physicallly) for my lo to just have one long nap in the afternoon - she sleeps in most mornings until after 8 - usually closer to 9 which is great for us, as thats what our body clocks work at.  She was doing great on the 1.5, 1.5, .45 routine menitioned, but now seems to need less.    

Thanks for the advice though, I'll pursue it and see
Jenni

[Aarismom]

Sounds almost like she's making up during the day what she's missing at night.

If she's staying up till midnight (if I'm reading your post correctly), chances are she's making up those 3 hours during the day (if her biorhythm wakes her up at 9 am), and it seems like she sleeps forever during the day.

My only suggestion in that instance would be to work on trying to get her to bed between 8 and 9 to give her a full nights rest. Then when she wakes between 8 and 9 the next morning, she won't need as much naptime all day because she will have gotten it at night.

Easier said than done, right

As for 1 long afternoon nap, usually this happens between 12 and 16 months, but honestly, some lo's go down to 1 nap a day after 10 months, usually no earlier. With a 9 am wake time, you're looking at starting naptimes of between 11:30/noonish and 3 and 4 and 6, limiting naptime to no more than 1.5-2 hours each.

Then again, you may have a night owl on your hands If you can be happy with that (she seems to be getting all the sleep she needs regardless), then stick with it

*HUGS*
Sonya =P