Opinions on nap routine

**Bluest Blue Box** · 10-11-2011 20:43

Just wanted some opinions on what 7 month old ds is doing at the moment.
He usually naps got 45 minutes at roughly 9, 12 and 3. Wakes for the day around 7 and in bed (asleep) by 7.
The last few days he's been having a slightly longer nap at 9 and then 1.5 to 2 hours at 12ish. His 3rd nap ends up being 4:15 - 5pm and because of that it's taking me an hour to get him to sleep from 7pm. He's also just learnt to sit and is almost crawling so it's all very exciting for him. Lol. also he's been waking up earlier around 6 -6:30!
I kept him up from 2pm today and he was asleep by 6:30pm with no shenanigans.
Do you think 4.5 hours is too long to keep him up at this age? What have you with your babies? I'm happy for him to go to bed later but then his sleep time is only 9- 10 hours minus 1 or 2 feeds. His other awake times during the day are around 2 -2.5 hours max.
Thanks for reading and for any tips.

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**Manny** · 10-11-2011 21:09

By that age my baby was on 2 sleeps.( She was on 1 sleep by 11 mths though.)

Can you perhaps make his morning nap say 9.30am and then next sleep maybe 1.30? Does that work?

Then he may sleep till about 3 and then till 6.30 / 7pm its not so bad...

Also, if hes more tired by 9.30 then he may sleep longer which will make you be able to put him down later then hes waking closer to bedtime iykwim!

I had the same... I was ok if she slept past 2.30 because then I knew it wasnt too long till bedtime.

**Juzz** · 10-11-2011 21:12

I would say a maximum of 2.5 hours awake time, and at 7 months think that 2 good day sleeps (min 1.5 hours) and then a late afternoon cat-nap of no more than 45 mins at 5ish to get bubs through to a 7:30 bedtime is what I'd be working towards...

All bubba's are different though and I'd be guided by bubs tired signs.

**Kooglekat** · 10-11-2011 21:17

Hi there,

From memory DS started to drop the third nap at around this age. It would depend on when he got up for the day.

If he got up early and could fit in a third nap before about 3.30 - 4 (i mean awake by this time) then he would have the third one. If it meant sleeping later than 4 I would keep him up and put him to bed early. So sometimes he would be awake 3-4 hours for that last stint. It meant alot of distraction but better than him not wanting to go to bed because he slept til 5.

As he got older this last stint stretched out longer, now he doesn't nap past about 2.30 at 11 months.

**duckduckgoose** · 10-11-2011 21:17

Hi jonnysmama!

About 7 months is when I dropped that third nap. About the same time, shortly after, he started having longer naps so it all worked out. I know there was about a week where I was keeping him up for 4 hours after 2pm - just like you are asking about. I was worried it would make his night sleep worse but it didn't, if anything it improved it.

So I say drop that third nap and see how you go. Thats just my opinion. Good luck

**SWandSH** · 10-11-2011 21:52

I woud go with your baby's signs. I reckon they will drop that third nap when they are ready- they are so clever

He may have gone straight to sleep last?night because he was really tired. But if you do that day in day out he may end up not getting enough sleep in the day and get really overtired, then become more difficult at night. But as they say every baby is different. Mine needs huge amounts of day, and night, sleep.

**Bluest Blue Box** · 10-11-2011 23:54

Thanks ladies! 7 months seems like the magic age then... Here's hoping anyway!
Manny, I'll try putting him down for his first nap later and hopefully the rest of the day will follow a nice pattern.
Juzz, if he sleeps til 5 he's happy to be up til at least 8pm and thats too late for us. I need baby free time in the evenings or I'll go crazy.
Kooglekat, we did the distraction thing last night and we got through til 6:30. I'm pretty lucky, he's very easy going besides his sleep issues.
Majestic Hiss, jonny's always doing what your ds does so I'll give this a good go. Ta.
SW and SH, I'm worried about overtiredness too but he's never ben much of a day sleeper so it can't get much worse.
Just had his first wake since 6:30 and he fell asleep with me just sitting next to the cot for a little while. Fingers crossed I'm onto a good thing here!

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**captainscaptain** · 15-11-2011 07:34

I must be the only one with a 7month old that still has 4 naps a day haha.

I can't even blame it on his crawling because he's been having 4-5 naps since he was 4 months or something. I reckon it's because he wakes up at 4-5am in the morning though...His last nap usually ends 5.30pm and I'll have no trouble getting him to sleep at 7pm after 1.5 hours of awake time as he's exhausted.

He can be stretched though, especially during the day as he's gone 4.5 hours awake once but I think that's waaaaay too long. I like keeping his awake time around 2 hours, 2.5 max.

....and I just realised I'm asking for help more than giving you help

**Bluest Blue Box** · 15-11-2011 08:28

Hi captainscaptain! If jonny woke up at 4-5am I think he'd need 4 naps too. 6 am I'd the earliest here. How long does your DS nap for? It's great he still goes to bed at 7pm tho. Jonny slept til 3:30 yesterday and didn't fall asleep til 8, he was too busy standing in his cot. I found that jonny started taking longer naps when I keep him up for 2.5 hours and I have to keep him really active so he gets tired.

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**captainscaptain** · 15-11-2011 11:07

DS sleeps for one cycle (30 mins) mostly but occasioanlly goes for 1.5-2 hours (as he did this morning). I've tried soooo many diferent things (including wearing him out for longer) but just when I think I've caught onto what makes him nap better he starts to behave inconsistantly. I guess he just likes to write his own rules haha.

And I can't wait till the day I wake up and the clock says 6 or 7am!