# Afternoon naps



## Lorella (Jan 10, 2013)

Hi ya

My LO sleeps 9-10.30 in the morning.

In the afternoon at FC (which we have been continuing) she slept 2-3 and then 4-5. They had school run inbetween. Sometimes she would have the early afternoon sleep in car seat/stroller (which we have been doing). 

Problem is it's taking up to an hour for her to go off with her 4 o'clock sleep. She's fine going down at night now and for her morning sleep, so I don't think its trouble settling in general. I just wondered if any of you think we might need to change the timings? Maybe try to condense into one longer nap about 3pm as we don't have to do a school run? 

What nap times do your LOs have?

Any advice would be appreciated. LO is 9 months. 

Thanks a lot xxx

Just to say she's still asleep now ( 5:45) as she didn't go off until 5.00 and of course this is really eating into her teatime and bedtime is 7!


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Others prob give better advice but I'd be trying to break into 2 naps- am & pm. They sleep in cycles of 40mins so if you got 2x 1.5 hours that would give her 4 solid sleep cycles. By 12-14 months they normally drop the afternoon one (depending how early your morning one is/was).

Does she wake herself or are you gently rising her to keep to a pattern? Lots of fresh air and 121 time is usually good to tire them out when you are looking to adjust the nap. I had to delay/bring forward in by 15mins every few days as my LO was sooo sensitive to change and is/was a bit of a boy of habit.

X


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## Anjelissa (Jan 11, 2007)

Hi Lorella,

I agree re/2 naps, but just maybe experiment with the timings.
Our two were both still having 2 naps when they came to us (although not for long as they came to us at 11 and 14 mths)

When they still had 2 naps, the morning one tended to be about 3 hours after waking in the morning, and then the 2nd one was about 3 hours after waking from the first one so eg....

6.30am...wake up
9.30am-11.00/11.30am...nap
2.30pm-3.30pm...nap
6.30pm-7.00pm...bed

We found the morning one always ended up being longer, but it usually worked out quite an even 3 hrs between each sleep including night time. I didn't tend to ever wake them (unless I absolutely had to) but just adjusted the 2nd one according to when/how long the first one was iykwim.

Our lo's both dropped the 2nd nap around 14 months, both gradually following a pattern of refusing to go down for a 2nd nap more often that not. It just became very obvious when they no longer needed it.
The one nap (with both of them) then ended up being late morning as it seemed to be when they needed it, rather than afternoon. 

I'm sure your routine will settle soon, it was just a case of trial and error to see what worked with us really 

Angie x


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## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

yes I'd prob jiggle the pm naps if you can, and try and get it to just one nap. perhaps little by little..start by putting her down for the 2pm one at perhaps 2.30 if she can hang on that long..then maybe push it to 2.45/3pm..again only if she isnt beside herself by then…
you might find she ends up being more tired come bedtime and go to bed a bit earlier..which might mean an earlier wake time in the morning..but if you do it in small steps this is less likely to happen. 
it can take them a while to re-set when you start messing with naps so be patient ) you might find after a while the whole pm nap comes forward by itself..esp when she starts moving around/walking, they get more tired then!






kj x


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## littlepoppy86 (Feb 14, 2014)

Our lo had 30min cat naps twice a day at 10months with fc.

With us he now goes down 2 hrs after he wakes so 6:30 is a 8:30-11:30 nap or if we go out in the morning he'll have a 11:30-2ish nap! 

Sometimes if we're at home I'll put him down around 1:30/2 if had an early one


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## -x-Lolly-x- (Feb 3, 2012)

Also agree with trying for one longer one in the afternoon. When our daughter came home she was having a nap around 10.30 and another at 2.30 with both lasting around 45 mins to an hour. She was 10 months. We continued this for about 3 months but we're finding the afternoon nap was getting later and later as she took longer to go to sleep. As you've said this started to impact on tea time and bath and bed. So we started to push the morning sleep back bit by bit. The transition time was hard as by half 10 she was tired and I was trying to keep her going. But it didn't last long at all.  Soon she was managing to stay awake until 11.30. I gave her an early lunch and she would then have one good nap and sleep 2-3 hours! This has continued for nearly a year now, although now she's older she manages to hold off until about 12 to have lunch and sleep time is usually around 12.30-1 and I wake her at 3. It works really well. I'm dreading the day she drops her nap!!!


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## -x-Lolly-x- (Feb 3, 2012)

Oh yes and by doing this it meant she was ready for bed earlier, so now goes up at 7 as opposed to 7.45, which is what was happening when she came home. She still wakes around the same time in the morning and those 45 minutes really help me out as we all know a mummy's work is never done!!


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## Lorella (Jan 10, 2013)

THanks so much for all your advice. Really appreciated. She is generally wZking herself at the moment  . I'm really learning to appreciate nap time too Lolly for getting things done!

We are going to try an earlier lunch at 11.30 today and then try for one nap at about 2-2.30. Then we will try an earlier tea at 4.30 with bath at 6 and sleep time at 6.30. 

This is the plan...... Let's see how it goes!!

Thanks again xxx


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## -x-Lolly-x- (Feb 3, 2012)

Sounds a good plan to me, lots of luck!!


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## Lorella (Jan 10, 2013)

Success!
One morning sleep. 
One afternoon sleep. 
Tea at 4.30. 
Asleep by 6.00. 
Didn't wake till 5!

Know not to count my chickens though! Let's see how today goes xxx


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## crazyspaniel (Sep 12, 2012)

What a fab job you're doing!


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## Lorella (Jan 10, 2013)

Ah thanks so much crazy spaniel. That's nice of you to say. 

I wonder if I could check something with you lovely ladies. 

Last night Loretta went down at 6.00 and then woke at 12.45. This us the first time she's woken in the night. Of course I expect this and consider myself lucky she's slept through up until now! I just wanted to check I did the right thing?

I changed her - very wet. Still very unsettled so I have her some milk. Then after an hour which included a bit of crying, wriggling etc she went back to sleep on me and back in cot asleep by 1.45. 

Did I do the right thing? I have just given her weetabix this morning and no milk as she had a load in the night. 

Thanks 😊xxx

Oh also the FC sometimes used to wake her at 10pm to give her milk rather than at bedtime. If I did this do you think she would sleep later?


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## Flash123 (Jan 29, 2006)

I may be completely wrong and I'm sure others will have better advice but at ths stage I would do what you did I.e. whatever it took to soothe her. It is still you giving her the milk so she will still associate the soothing with you. Our little man is 2 and on the odd occasion he will still wake and ask for a bottle. When this happens I give him 4/5oz of VERY watered down milk. 

I assume though your lo is still on formula so watering down isn't an option. 

The only change I would make is that perhaps  I wouldn't drop the morning cereal milk. Whatever happened through the night I always tried to keep the daytime routine unchanged, even as simply as keeping his milk. 

Regarding waking later I found it naturally comes and goes and tbh nothing much made a difference. I tried dream feeding, cereal before bed, even farleys rusk in a bottle before bed (he had it at FC!) but nothing helped.

You are doing fab, well done xxxx


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## Arrows (Nov 9, 2008)

Lorella -not sure if you meant to include a name in your last post or if it's the name you've picked for your mini-you?!


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## Lorella (Jan 10, 2013)

Its her mini me FF name but thanks Arrows 😊

Thanks Flash. That's a good point about the milk. I think I will just have a smaller one ready next time for nighttime waking and then can give her morning one as usual. Saying that she hasn't seemed to of missed it today! Xxx


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## Barbados Girl (Jul 7, 2012)

Our pixie started waking in the night which he didn't in FC. We figured it was just the disruption from the move. The only thing which settles him is a bottle. I worried a bit as he was basically getting a further 7 oz per day so we set a little rule that if he woke up after 3 he didn't also get a morning bottle, but if before he did. We also increased his meals to three per day (he was just on two at that stage). Generally, we sort of took the view that he needed that extra bottle for a time and as long as his weight remained within the healthy range it was not an issue. We are now nine weeks in and he has started sleeping through for the most part. If you are worried you can try gradually reducing the strength of the night feed (e.g. 6 scoops to 4). I try not to change a nappy in the night if poss as it really wakes them up, but obviously if she is sopping then do what you need.  I have to confess, I like it best when he wakes about 5 or 6 and he has his bottle lying next to us and then we all snuggle for an hour or so.


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## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

maybe her waking is a response to the jiggling of naps..its can take a while for a new routine to settle in..so maybe hold off the 10pm top up just for now..
i think you did the right thing..if she was upset and it soothed her and she went back to sleep then thats great  


well done mummy, you're doing great  


kj x


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## Lorella (Jan 10, 2013)

Ah thanks Keemjay. I think you might be right. Feel a bit happy emotional this morning reading that. It's nice to hear you are doing the right thing 😊 x

Thanks BG. That's really helpful too. Regarding the snuggling....no chance at the moment but will work on that as it would be lovely. She's just so alert and such a wriggler but gorgeous with it! 

Xxx


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## Barbados Girl (Jul 7, 2012)

That's just it, Lorella, I can only get snuggles when he is asleep or has just woke up!


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