Question about naps, advice needed!

sarathan · #1 (**permalink**) 11-23-2005, 09:02 PM

Hi,

I've posted here a few times in the past with questions about my ds's naps and I'm back with yet another question!

Ds is almost 8 months old now and still takes about 3 naps a day. Up until about a week ago, he was on a roughly 9, 12, 3 nap schedule with bedtime being at 6:30 and this was working well. However, lately his 3rd nap has been kind of weird because it's been happening a little later since he's been stretching his awake time between the 2nd and 3rd nap a bit. I've been having to wake him from the 3rd nap after an hour or so because it's just getting so close to his bedtime. I have a hunch that if I didn't wake him up, he would just keep on sleeping and then end up waking up super early in the morning, like around 5:00. Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, today (wich was a typical day) he woke up from his 2nd nap at 2:00. At 4:30 he went down for a nap, but didn't fall asleep until almost 5:00, which makes me question how tired he really was. Then I woke him up at 6:00 and he seemed cranky until I put him back to bed at 7:00. I really hate waking him up, it just feels so unnatural to me.

Sorry this is getting so long. I guess my question is should I just keep doing what I'm doing or should I start skipping the 3rd nap?? I really would like to start skipping it and move him to a 2 nap schedule, but it seems like he'll have a hard to time being awake for 4-5 hours before bedtime. If I would have skipped it today, he wold have been awake from 2:00 until 6:30. That's a looooong time for him. Do you think he would adjust with time?

TIA!

kristi · #2 (**permalink**) 11-25-2005, 08:43 PM

I would think he could skip the last nap easily. My son has the same schedule with the first and second nap and his bed time. Maybe move the second nap until 12:30 would help. You certainly do not want him getting up at 5 in the morning. I do have to admit, mine son is tired but not too tired to go down for a full nap. Sometime he falls asleep while eating and I just let him relax there for about 15 mintues.

CincyJen · #3 (**permalink**) 11-30-2005, 08:12 AM

Sara - I'm with Kristi - could you make that 2nd nap just a little bit later?

Ajay · #4 (**permalink**) 11-30-2005, 09:56 AM

Rebecca does the same thing Sara. She'd love to take a 5 o'clock nap every day, but I don't let her, because she's still tired at 7:00 and her nights aren't any better for it. The only thing I've done is tried pushing both naps a little bit later. We're pretty much going BTC now and napping at 9:30 and 1:30. If her second nap is super short, I let her take a 3rd nap; otherwise around 5, when she starts getting tired, I feed her solids and then start her bedtime routine around 6 p.m. with a bath and a asleep time of about 7 p.m.

sarathan · #5 (**permalink**) 11-30-2005, 10:04 AM

Thanks for your responses!

I put him on a 2-nap-a-day schedule with a bedtime at 6:30 and it's working great. I've just pushed his 1st and 2nd nap back a little later so he's not too overtired at bedtime.