Author Topic: 6 months & still 45 min naps  (Read 1931 times)

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Offline MyBella

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« on: August 09, 2005, 19:00:56 pm »
Well, DD is 24 weeks old this week.  And despite the fact that she is now able to stay up for 2 hours or more, naps are still 40-45 min long and we still have about 3 or 4 of those a day.  On occasion she'll take an hour long nap.  Nighttime sleep is still good w/ bedtime at 6pm and wake up at 6am.  Since DD is cheerful upon waking from these naps I'm guessing this is just her biorhythm. 
1) I'd like to find out if there are others moms with los like mine.  I don't know if her naps will ever consolidate. 
2) And also, should the 45 min naps should be occurring with any regularity?  Right now we put her down on demand, bec sometimes she's tired way before the 2 hr mark, and sometimes she can stay up longer. 

Thanks for any input.
Beril
(Mom to Isabella Bilgi born on 2/24/2005 - Textbook/Spirited)

Offline Matthew's Mommy

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2005, 01:40:43 am »
I'll see if you can link up with Momofnewbaby.. she went through this at 6 months old, and I believe she overcame it.

I'll send her a pm.
Jane
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Matthew July 27th, 2001
Brendan October 21st, 2004

Gigismom

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2005, 18:36:40 pm »
our dd was a little over 6 months when her naps naturally lengthend to 1.5-2 hours (usually!)...so give it a little more time.  our dd did the 45 min nap thing from 2-6 months.  she was always happy when waking too, so we could never extend the naps.  her longer naps seemed to coincide with more mobility...sitting, rolling, etc.

Offline MyBella

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2005, 22:56:19 pm »
Gigismom,
What did you do in the interim?  Did you try to keep lo to a sched w the 45 min naps or go with the flow?  I'm kind of worn out of trying to extend the naps given she seems to be happy and my efforts don't really seem to be bearing fruit.

Thanks.
Beril
(Mom to Isabella Bilgi born on 2/24/2005 - Textbook/Spirited)

Offline Tru's Mommy

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2005, 15:20:09 pm »
Have faith...things seem to improve for a lot of 45 minute nappers around 6 mo. of age.  I know they did for my son.  Once I got him on two naps a day, his naps lengthened.  Of course we still had our fair share of 45's but they phased out and longer naps became the norm.

Probably you need to extend awake time so that you get one nap around 9:30 a.m. and then another around 2 or 2:30 p.m.  I found that a snack of finger foods like Cheerios or a short walk around the yard helped keep my son awake when he started getting fussy. 

I was never able to extend the 45-minute naps.  It made me crazy.  So, when he woke, and was usually happy but tired, we just carried on.  Yes, he was wiped out by the end of the day, but then he just went to bed earlier.

It does get better!  Before you know it, your little one will drop to one nap a day, sleep for two or more hours and life gets a whole lot easier!

 :D  Tru's Mommy

Gigismom

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2005, 18:25:30 pm »
hi
for us, it was too stressful trying to keep to the 3 hour schedule when the naps were only 45 mins.  so i fed every 2-2.5 hours or whenever she woke from her nap.  i know this isn't bw, but i figured keeping her on the correct order of events was more important than feeding according to the clock.  it worked for us as she gained weight, was happy, etc.  (now, we are on a modified eating schedule because we have solids too.)  don't worry, it will probably work itself out.  i have read TONS on infant sleep because i was so paranoid i was doing something wrong that was causing her short naps.  but it seems for babies 2-6 months, short naps are actually normal.  when the brain matures more at about 6 months, the sleep gets better and more adult-like.  (actually it is a little more complicated than that). but sometimes there is nothing you can do but ride it out.  you're doing great!

Offline MyBella

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2005, 22:44:11 pm »
Tru's mommy,
What time is wake up time for the 9:30am nap?  My lo typically wakes up b/w 6-6:30am.  Are you suggesting extending awake time to 3 hours?
Beril
(Mom to Isabella Bilgi born on 2/24/2005 - Textbook/Spirited)

Offline Deb_in_oz

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2005, 00:06:01 am »
dd2 is 6 months in a few days and we still have lots of 45 min naps (right now she is in her cot squealing since waking form 1st nap at exactly 45 min  :roll: ).  My rule is 1hr 30 in the cot unless crying.  i got sick and too tired with 2 kids to be in there "extending".  sometimes she will drift back to sleep after 20 min of chat and sometimes she is happy laying in there "resting" and other times it escalates and i have to get her up early.  i try to stick to feed times as much as i can which results in the day getting pushed forward bit by bit (ie - if she had a short first nap andi stick to feed time, she goes down for second nap after a short while being up afetr feed)  this results in a definite 3 nap day.  if she naps for
1 - 1 1/2 hrs  1-2 times then we usually get a fight over the third one. 

no 2 days are the same yet for us but i don't know how else to extend.  her awake time is generally 1hr 45 or so.
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Offline tylersmommy

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2005, 01:16:04 am »
Beril-

We went through this as well, and when we got Tyler onto 2 naps around 6 or 7 mo, his naps lengthened on their own for several months (until it was time to drop to 1 nap). Based on your post, I don't know if your LO is ready to go to 2 naps, but when she is (and it could be soon), that could well fix your problem. Our schedule for Tyler at that time looked something like this...he was awake for about 2.5 hrs before his first nap. He was awake for about 3 hrs between naps. He was awake for about 4 hrs before bedtime. There was the odd day that he was just waaay too tired to get to bedtime (especially if he'd taken short naps that day), so we'd either put him to bed earlier or let him take a 10-15 min catnap in the late afternoon. HTH!
Melissa
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Offline MyBella

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6 months & still 45 min naps
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2005, 02:52:30 am »
Thanks Debinoz and Tylersmommy,

Basically our life is like what Debinoz describes: no two days are alike apart from wake up and bedtimes.  We do try to follow the 4 hr feeding schedule - 6:30am, 10:30am, 2:30pm.  The only one that's early is dinner, which is around 5:45pm.  I think because she's so beat due to short naps she's ready to be asleep no later than 6:15pm so dinner has to be early, and interestingly will take her largest feed at this time of day!  Of course, this means she's usually up b/w 6-6:30am. She can usually stay up 2 hrs easily after her wake up for the day.  But the rest of the awake durations depend on how good that first nap is.  If it's a short one, I will leave her in the crib for as long as I can so at least she understands that it's "quiet time", but if she starts to fuss I'll get her up (sometimes she does fall back asleep for a little while longer).  After that we just go by her cues, and that's how we sometimes end up with 3-4 naps.  Some days I'll even put her down for a 45 min late afternoon nap from which she'll wake up around 4:15 and still be ready for bed at 6pm!  She's a pretty easygoing baby, and the only times she's grumpy are if she's tired or sick, so it's easy for us to tell when she needs a nap. 

Sorry for the longwinded background, but based on all of this how do I determine if she's ready for just two naps?  Is it just a waiting game at this point for the naps to sort themselves out, or is there anything else we could be working on? 

Thanks so much for all your input - it's so great to have the support of other BW moms!
Beril
(Mom to Isabella Bilgi born on 2/24/2005 - Textbook/Spirited)