When to expect regular naps?

[VikP]

Hi,

My daughter is 6 months old and her naps are still all over the place. I came to this board when she was 3 months old and got great advice on how to teach her to fall asleep by herself.

Now she is great about falling asleep, but the length of her naps are still vary a lot. She is on EASY of course, but we do not have a routine since she wakes up at different times. I try to feed her every 4 hours now.

Doesn't she supposed to have some sort of predictable naps by now? Sometimes she sleeps 35 minutes and sometimes for 2 hours. I try really hard not to overstimulate her or go too long with A time, but it just seems like everything lining up to her nap works out great - gets up at 7, eats, we play, wind down around 8.40, she falls asleep around 9 - and she still sleeps for only 35 minutes.

I started a sleep log for her, but couldn't figure out a pattern of what works and what doesn't.

Any advice? It is just really hard to plan on anything with my Y time and yes I am starting to get frustrated:(

Thanks

v.

[KathrynK]

hi Vik
I know you said you don't have a routine as such, but perhaps you have a consistent length of time you keep her up from when she wakes to when she next naps? I see she is awake about 2hrs from waking to first nap. I would suggest this is too short for her, and that's why you're getting a short nap. At 6 months babies extend their A time and are generally doing anywhere from 2.25 to 3 hrs. I would try keeping her up nearer to 2.5hrs and see if you get a longer nap
hope this helps
kathryn

[VikP]

Thanks Kathryn,

I think you are right, we need a major routine change. I just started the 4 hour feedings about a week ago, because she has been waking up at night and I figured she might be just eating small portions if I feed her more often. So, the extended A time will just go hand in hand with the feedings. Hopefully her naps will start being a bit more predictable too.

We also just started solids and it was hard to figure out what is causing what. Well, that's motherhood for you .

v.

[KathrynK]

let us know how you get on and if we can be more help x

[Ydnic]

v,

fwiw:  I anxiously awaited for the 6 month mark so I could see naps lengthen.  It came and went and still short naps!  It took a few more months, but then I did see a big difference.

Cindy