Nap questions and some rambling

[Deleted]

DD didn't get a predictable nap routine until a few weeks ago - 4.5 or 5 months. And I think now we hit a growth spurt and it's back to being a bit random.
We try to do afternoon nap in her bed, but morning naps tend to be on the go (usually in the Ergo).
If he's relatively happy and doing so well at night, don't worry be happy.

[Deleted]

My kid never napped that little either. There would be times at 6 weeks old she'd be up ALL day. However, she'd go to bed and sleep 6-5 with only one or two wake-ups.

I picked the lesser of the evils and went with it. She was generally very content and happy all day so I never saw the big deal even though people were basically yelling me to make the kid nap. I wasn't creating a problem/struggle where there wasn't either.

At about 3 months she started taking at least one good nap a day. By 5 months it was 2. Then she dropped one at a year. They were still short naps though.

Now at 2.5 she still naps, but a lot of days it's just more quiet time than sleep.

Whatever. I'm okay with it. She's great at night and happy a good share of the day.

I never made it dark at nap. Just pulled the blind to keep out the direct sun.

I did put him in the crib just for easy sake. Now I kick myself. She's still "I like my own bed and only my bed" sort of kid. Which is great at home. Sucks anywhere else.

[gibbinator]

At that age you just sort of go with the flow. Predictable naps didn't start happening for us until 4 or 5 months.

When he was a newborn he mostly fell asleep swaddled and nursing and I'd either just leave him on my lap (guaranteed 45mins or so of sleep) or risk putting him down on the couch right next to me. Sometimes I'd get him to nap in the car seat (long drives & walks or by manually swinging it, ouch).

If I was holding him I didn't worry about light/noise, but if I was putting him down somewhere I tried to keep it dim and quiet. I did count sleep nursing as napping.

[rex]

At 5 weeks she napped on me most of the time, occasionally I could get her in the RnP. there was no pattern, she just napped whenever.

Just before 4 months i noticed a consistent schedule and modified my day accordingly. she almost always naps in her crib (unless I need to run an errand and I time my errands with her naptime) and we do a routine that's a shortened version of her bedtime routine.

[schrodinger]

Someone here used the phrase "offer a nap" that really stuck with me at that age. As long as you are offering naps throughout the day and when the baby gives you tired cues, you can't really do much more than that. We didn't get scheduled until ~8-10 weeks or so. Before that, it was such a crapshoot. At 5 weeks, DD would fall asleep and sometimes pass out for 20 minutes, and other times sleep for 2+ hours.

[dukesilver]

I just want to say I love you for posting this. I've had all the same questions but haven't had a chance to post yet, so thank you!

Sent from my SGH-T399 using proboards

[keh2oblue]

It took us about 3 months to see any sore of schedule develop.

[ssmjlm]

Mine wasn't a decent napper until 7.5m when we nap trained.

At 5w it was all cat naps either in the car or on me. Some days it felt like she didn't nap at all, but like your LO she was a great night sleeper at that point.

[soozy87]

Feb 3, 2014 18:14:30 GMT -5 mekiakoo said:

Do you always put down your baby in the same place for naps?  - No - sometimes in his carseat, sometimes in his swing. Never in the crib.

When did you start seeing a schedule form? Or when did you set up a schedule? A schedule started to form around 2.5 months. He is starting to just go with the flow more. We are all figuring each other out still.

Do you try to make sure the baby naps in a dark place or do you keep it bright during the day? Bright during the day.

Oh and this is a silly question, but E kind of sleeps while feeding- is that considered a nap? Maybe?

We are like you, pretty easy going. Our lack of enforcing a schedule seems to be going really well right now, so we are not going to change something that is working.

[jssymom14]

She learned at daycare around 4 months. I couldn't get her to nap anywhere but on me.

[Velar Fricative]

Your DS sounds like my DD when she was that age. Hell, she is 4 months now and naps are still weird and nowhere near being predictable. At home, she catnaps on one of us and wakes up as soon as we put her down. She'll only reliably nap in the car or in the stroller (but not the swing, darn!). At daycare, she does nap in her crib there but naps are still 30-45 minutes there so far. Essentially, we have no idea what we are doing and just hope that someday she'll decide to be a normal baby and take naps lol.

[osulori]

Aj was a good napper for the sitter from the get go, but didn't get the hang of napping for at least an hour and in his crib instead of on me until about 5 weeks ago. I do a shortened version of his bedtime routine when I'm the one putting him down for a nap, but J and the sitter don't and he naps fine for them too.