BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Naps => Topic started by: munzle on December 08, 2008, 19:47:03 pm
-
Hi,
My dd seems to have stopped giving sleepy cues! She doesn't yawn/rub eyes, slow down. She just keeps going! She's so interested in everything and just wants to play. She just gets to the point where she starts crying because she wants to sleep, but I suspect that may be the cause of her shorter naps as she doesn't go down nice and relaxed. At this age, is it better to go for a stricter routine, i.e. set nap-times? Her wake time is getting more consistent at 7-7.30 and she starts at the childminder next week so I'm nervous about her coming home without having had any naps. What do you guys think about having set nap times at this age?
-
Hi ~
I don't think you need to do set nap times but perhaps set A times. Whatever A time she was doing on average before this started, go back to using that and see if her naps improve.
-
Hi there! After about 6 months of age, LOs sleepy cues can become unreliable, so some definite clock-watching is in order if that's the case. LOs this age can handle 3-4 hours of A time, usually, so start with 3 hours and go from there... if you get a short nap of 45 minutes, then that usually means the babe is UT and needs more A time, especially if they've woken up happy. A 30 minute nap usually means the LO is OT and they typically wake up unhappy. Shorter A time is usually in order if that's the case.
HTH! :)
-
Thanks Ladies.
Is it normal for them to have a much shorter A time in the morning? In the afternoon, she can go 4+ hours easily, but in the morning no more than 3. In fact, this morning, she was ready for sleep after 2 hours, despite 13 hours of uninterrupted (well, I didn't hear her!) night sleep. Maybe she's coming down with something. Thanks for your advice anyway. Just really worried about her not sleeping at childminders, but I guess it's only 2 days a week, so I'll just have to make sure she gets lots of sleep on the other days.
-
Yep, it's totally normal for that first A time to be shortest. She may surprise you at the childminder's. Hayden is a very light sleeper and I was sure she'd have a hard time at daycare but she's done amazingly well. She sleeps in a grobag so there is a real strong sleep association and she's never had a bad nap there yet. Good luck with it! :-*
-
Fingers crossed then. She has a grobag and a stuffed cat that she always sleeps with, so hopefully those cues will be enough.