Set nap times for textbook baby?

[lilac83]

I have read a few posts on here about moms with set nap times for their LO. My daughter has a set time for the morning. She wakes at 7 and is asleep at 9 for 1.5 to 2 hours. Afternoons however, are all over and she's very hard to get down. I have still been unable to find a good A time for between her first nap and second. I have tried anywhere from 1.5 - 2.5 hours. After 2.5 she actually slept for almost 2 hours, but it was hard to extend her that far. Also, her sleepy cues are very hard to read. She is perfectly content one moment and the next she's fussing. Sometimes this means she's tired, sometimes it means she's bored and it's a guessing game as to when it means which.

So, I guess my question is, since she does so well with a set nap time for the first one, should I just set one for the second nap as well? Something like this:

7:00 W&E
9:00 - 10:30/11:00 S
11:00 E
12:45 - ?: S
3:00 E
5:00 CN
7:00 E&S

Would this be reasonable for a 4mo? She doesn't seem to need a lot of daytime sleep because she sleeps 12 hours at night.
Thanks!

[marensmama]

Wow, 12 hour nights!  I'm envious.  My DD1 was like that (angel/textbook), DD2, (spirited/touchy) not so much.   

I've read that set nap times are good for textbook babes, but normally not until 6 months.  I think this is because from 3-6 months their brains are working out daytime sleep.  LOs her age can usually handle up to 2 hrs A time, some a little less, some more.  I'd keep it to no more than 2.25 hrs and see if she can get through it consistently.  If you do it for a few days and have to keep resettling her, then cut it back a bit.  At 4 months they usually have 2x2hr naps and a 45 minute catnap, even with a good night.

HTH!

[lilac83]

Yeah, there's nothing I can complain about her night time sleep! She does awesome with that.

The 2x2hr naps and 45 min cat nap is what I've been trying for the last week and a half. However, she is consistently taking a short 45m-1h 2nd nap and then when I try to put her down early for a 3rd nap she fights it. If I stop trying to put her down she goes back to playing happily. She is wearing me out trying to get her to go to sleep even though she doesn't necessarily seem tired.

Is it possible that because she sleeps so well at night, she just doesn't need as much daytime sleep? I know babies typically don't start sleeping straight through like that until they are 6 months. Then they only need 2-4 hours of daytime sleep. Could my LO be "nap advanced"? LOL!

I will try what you suggested with 2.25 hours and see how it goes for a few days!

[marensmama]

Well in this link: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=85134.0 it does say that if the LO has 2 naps of 2 to 3 hours, then that may be enough, but generally most LOs don't drop the catnap until they can handle 3 hrs of A time.

See what happens with the A time.  Usually a nap that's between 45 minutes to an hour indicates that the LO is UT and in need of more A time.  Play with it a bit, but in small increments and be consistent. 

[lilac83]

Hi!
I've been trying to come up with some sort of routine for my LO since she refuses the cat nap. The problem I keep running into though is naps interfering with feeds.
Her day is 7am-7/7:30pm. She has E at 7, 11, 3 and 7. Where in the world do I fit S into if she only wants 2? Today we've done this so far:
Wake: 6:30 (slightly early for her but not bad)
E: 7:00
A: 6:30-9:00
S: 9:00-11:00 (I had to wake her)

Do you have any suggestions where to go from here so her 2nd nap is late enough in the day to carry her over? She did well with the 2.5 A time today at least. I tried to get her down by 2.25 like you suggested above, but she just wouldn't until 2.5 hit.
Thanks!

[marensmama]

You could try an earlier bedtime for now.  So a sample routine would look something like this:

7:00 E,A
9:30 S
11:30 E, A
2:00 S
4:00 E, A
6:15 E
6:30 S

Putting her to bed earlier doesn't mean she'll wake any earlier, hopefully.  If she wakes early the next day, you could try a catnap every other day to get her through to maintain a 6:30 bedtime.  What do you think?

[lilac83]

I think that looks good. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow. This afternoon she seemed tired at 12:30 so I put her down. She had 1.5 hours of A time and now she is awake at 45 min. So, apparently she needed more A time and she was fussing because she was....bored? She totally confuses me because she seems to break a lot of the BW rules.

[marensmama]

At this age, the cues do become unreliable, so do a bit of clock-watching and if it's not time for a nap yet, distract her and see what happens.

[lilac83]

Thanks.
This afternoon went terrible. I posted about it in General Sleep but I'm REALLY hoping the routine you suggested helps things. It's like she counts naps (can a 17 week old count? LOL). After sleeping twice, she's done for the day. By bedtime today she was so OT I could barely get her to drink her bottle. Knock on wood OT hasn't messed with her nights yet.

I will let you know how tomorrow pans out!