To put to sleep straight after day feed?

[lil monkey]

Hi all,

My littlie is going through the 'I don't want to sleep for longer than 30 minutes during the day' stage again and for the past few days, after her 130pm ish feed I have put her straight into her cot as she was falling asleep while feeding from the bottle and had her eyes shut when being burped but then when I put her down she has her eyes wide open again. Almost an hour later she is still talking to herself in her cot and not crying yet but also not sleeping yet!!!

Have I done the right thing by putting her down straight after the feed or should I keep her up for a bit of a play??? I feel guilty for putting her straight down during a day feed!!!

Lu

Tayla 02/02/05

[ThomasMum]

Hi Tayla's Mum

From my experience with Thomas, Thomas is the one who's telling me whether he's ready for his day napping or not. He gets irritate when he's tired and he WILL fall asleep without any fuss

He's 3.5 months now and pretty much into his routine (one feed only during night), day-napping after around 2.5 hrs play-time

So if your 'lil one is happy in her cot maybe thats the signal for you that she is not ready for her nap yet?

And of course you are doing the right thing, you do what best for you and for the bub and you know 'mum knows best' :D

Thomas's Mum

[Chickadee]

Hmm. Tough one. I guess the question I'd ask is if she's grumpier than usual later on for not having slept. If not then she really didn't need the sleep and might be she drowses off a bit during the bottle because she's just so content. Eventually she'll move to only 2 naps a day, morning and night, so this might be the start of that if she hasn't already.

You should congratulate yourself on having her so contented in her crib that she'll amuse herself there for so long! That is a real accomplishment. I love getting my extra half hour sleep in the morning while Chloe talks to her bear or reads a book :)

[lil monkey]

Thanks for the advice. Well after 45 minutes she was fast asleep in her cot. she has been getting really cranky later on in the day lately from not sleeping so that's why i put her down. normally with day feeds she is bright and alert and wide awake while she is feeding so the falling asleep is not usual and her eyes are so red from being tired! If only bubs came with an instruction manual as everything seems to change daily!!!

Does anyone know how much sleeping during the day a 4 month old should do??? Is it still up to 1.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down or is it now really just 2 naps a day? I used to have the 3 yawn rule where on the 3rd yawn I would put her down to sleep and that worked really well but the past few weeks she hasn't been yawning but she just gets cranky so hard to tell. Plus she is obsessed with watching TV and would rather sit watching tv than have proper playtime !

Honestly, you can never win!!! :D

[Chickadee]

I was looking at this just the other day actually so found it again quickly. From http://www.babycenter.com/general/toddler/toddlersleep/7645.html The number in brackets is the number of naps.

It's just a guide though, Chloe (18 mos) will have a huge nap of 3 to 3.5 hours at least once a week and still do an 11 hour nighttime sleep. And she held onto her afternoon nap till at least 14 months, maybe cause I liked it so much!


Age - Nighttime Sleep - Daytime Sleep * - Total Sleep
1 month - 8 1/2 - 7 (3) - 15 1/2
3 months - 10 - 5 (3) - 15
6 months - 11 - 3 1/4 (2) - 14 1/4
9 months - 11 - 3 (2) - 14
12 months - 11 1/4 - 2 1/2 (2) - 13 3/4
18 months - 11 1/4 - 2 1/4 (1) - 13 1/2
2 years - 11 - 2 (1) - 13
3 years - 10 1/2 - 1 1/2 (1) - 12

[lil monkey]

Thanks again MarthaM!!!

Tayla has now been asleep for 1.5 hours with a 5 minute crying session in between sleep cycles and thats from putting her down straight after her bottle!!!
She really was tired so i guess this time i got it right!

If she slept all night I wouldn't be so fussed about daytime naps but until she goes 11 hours straight again then she has to have at least one 1.5 hour nap a day!!! ;)

[Briannabear]

Dear Taylas mum,
I have a bit of a routine for Brianna and it works very well. It goes like this:
*Feed (including nappy change etc)
*Play (including bath time, tummy time, toy time or whatever)
*Sleep!
I look for the tired signs (like rubbing eyes, yawning, or sometimes she does a funny cry!) then she goes down in her cot. Sometimes she'll grizzle, but she usually plays with her cot toy and falls asleep. If I dont put her down when she starts to show her tired signs and it gets left a bit late she is like a grumpy monster and i can never get her to sleep.
But occasionally if her gums are hurting or she's out of sorts this doesnt always work. You just have to use your instinct. They arent always big sleeps. Sometimes only for 45mins to an hour in the afternoon. But if she can get a decent sleep in the morning i find she's pretty good for the rest of the day! Its a matter of finding a balance. If she sleeps too much through the day she doesnt go down as well at night!
This is just what works for us! Every baby is different and as Thomasmum said 'Mum knows best!"
Good luck! :D