[minidiamond]

Just need a bit of advice for my 6.5 mo DS.

I was suggested a routine by a mothercraft nurse, which is great except it revolves around 2 x 1.5-2 hr naps and one in the middle of the day for about 30 mins. DS won't take naps that long except on very odd occasions. We go something like this :-

630 wake and bf
715 breakfast pear etc
830 nap usually 45 mins
10 bf
1130 he starts to get tired try for another nap, maybe 30 mins
130-2ish Bf
230-3ish nap for 45 mins
4 bf
430-5ish dinner
630 bath/bf/bedtime routine
7pm bed

So start and end of our day are fine but I'm confused about the middle.

My main issues are:-

He gets tired either just on or after dinner but if he naps later than 5 he won't be ready for bed at 7.

He's a chucky baby and my last bf he keeps vomiting in the cot - obviously this isn't directly related to routine vis a vis sleeps, except I'm wondering if his last BF should be earlier.

Can anyone help with suggestions ?

This post has been edited by minidiamond: 25/02/2013, 04:56 PM

[Stoked]

I like routines, but only those that revolve around the optimal length of time a baby should be up at a particular age. I.e. for a 6-7 month baby it would typically be 2-2.5 hours between naps, three naps a day. Some babies also go down for the morning nap earlier rather than later, and then stay up for longer later in the day, so your baby's pattern may be 2 hrs up - nap - 2.5 hours up - nap - 3 hours up - bedtime.

Re length of naps - your DS will most likely start consolidating his naps soon and sleep for longer than 45 minutes at a time. I also never heard of a routine that suggests a catnap in the middle of the day - they all say 2 x decent naps and a catnap around 4-5 pm, assuming 7 pm bedtime. They drop this late afternoon catnap as they consolidate their naps and only have two a day.

Would love to write more but have a screaming child to attend to .

[Moo point]

When DS was 6.5 months he was doing pretty much what yours is, except he would start the day around 7.30am and bedtime was 8pm. This allowed for 3 x 45 min naps per day and a longer gap between dinner and final bf (around 7pm for bf, asleep by 8pm). I've never really tried to get him into a routine because they're "supposed" to sleep for 1.5 hours and DS hardly ever did!

Now that he's 8 months old, he will sometimes have a longer nap, but he's sick at the moment and is only having 2 x 45 naps a day. He generally goes to bed a bit earlier, around 7pm, awake for a bf at around 6am then back to bed for 2 hours.

Seriously, try not to stress about what babies "should" be doing - they're all different!

ETA DS was also quite chucky, we just used to keep him upright on one of our chests for about 15 mins after his final feed before putting him to bed. He seems to have grown out of it now, hopefully yours will too.

This post has been edited by Moo point: 25/02/2013, 05:13 PM

[Kay1]

Its tricky when they won't sleep long. Mine has a pretty good routine going atm but DS1 was a catnapper. I also found that noting the time he woke and then watching for tired signs 2-2.5 hours later was the easiest way.

DS3 has 2 naps a day (6.5 months) but he has reasonably long naps. Due to school run and older kids he is awake from 3-7pm, he gets whingy but if I let him nap then he won't sleep at night.

[minidiamond]

. I also never heard of a routine that suggests a catnap in the middle of the day - they all say 2 x decent naps and a catnap around 4-5 pm, assuming 7 pm bedtime. They drop this late afternoon catnap as they consolidate their naps and only have two a day.

Would love to write more but have a screaming child to attend to .

going by the 2-2.5 hour rule, he goes for first nap at approx 830-9am, wakes at 10 (often earlier) second nap approx 12pm. I'm not sure then how he'd survive til 4 for a catnap, or even if he had it at 230, he'd be struggling by 530. Again, because he doesn't sleep any longer than an hour, this makes things tricky. He has done an occasional 2 hour nap but there's no discernible reason for this.

Blergh I don't know, it just makes activities hard to plan as well. I'm probably over thinking it, but even when he has tired signs, I put him down, he seems a bit sleepy but then starts rolling around in the cot and smiling.

He's just started sleeping through the night so I wonder if it's going to take his body a while to figure out what works best for daytime.

This post has been edited by minidiamond: 25/02/2013, 06:18 PM

[Mrs_BG]

At 6 months my DD started doing 3 x 40min catnaps and woke up every 2 hours through the night. I eventually went to sleep school to solve the night waking issue only to find the catnapping during the day was the real issue. They recommended a feed-play-sleep routine with a max wake time of 2 hours. Changing to this routine instantly lengthened her 2 main sleeps to 1.5-2hours (plus a 30-40min catnap around 4pm) and completely stopped the night waking. Your issue may not necessarily be routine. Do you use a lot of sleep aids. A big part of my DD's problem was an over-reliance on sleep aids. I stopped giving her a dummy, playing music and rocking/feeding her to sleep.

[Stan the Fan Man]

I think if your baby is sleeping through the night and is happy in between naps it sounds like it's working!

Could you bring bedtime back to 630pm?

And maybe do the breastfeed before the bath, so he has some upright time?

[minidiamond]

At 6 months my DD started doing 3 x 40min catnaps and woke up every 2 hours through the night. I eventually went to sleep school to solve the night waking issue only to find the catnapping during the day was the real issue. They recommended a feed-play-sleep routine with a max wake time of 2 hours. Changing to this routine instantly lengthened her 2 main sleeps to 1.5-2hours (plus a 30-40min catnap around 4pm) and completely stopped the night waking. Your issue may not necessarily be routine. Do you use a lot of sleep aids. A big part of my DD's problem was an over-reliance on sleep aids. I stopped giving her a dummy, playing music and rocking/feeding her to sleep.

No I also recently started doing cc of sorts - eliminated sleep aids but introduced a better bedtime routine (ie much more consistent ). He gets a story and a little song from me but not the same song etc. In the day I don't do anything except put him in his sleep sack and into bed. The room isn't very dark tho - now that his nights are well defined, what do ppl think about darkening the room more for day naps ?

[Phoenix Blue]

The room isn't very dark tho - now that his nights are well defined, what do ppl think about darkening the room more for day naps ?

Definitely! Make it as dark as you can and cover the cracks.

I agree with PP posters about the awake time. It could even be shorter at 6.5month. My DD was only about 1:45 between naps. It does make it hard to get out and about, but it isn't for long.

Also, don't be scared to put them down for the 3rd nap around 4-5pm. I was worried about this because I'd read that they won't go to bed if the last nap is too late. At 6-8m DD would have her 3rd nap anytime from 4-5:30pm (usually for 45 mins) and then up, dinner, play, bath, boob bed, by around 7:30-8pm. She would sleep so much better with the 3rd nap so it is something you could try.

[minidiamond]

Well today was an absolute nightmare - although he is teething so of course that needs to be factored in.

He sleep 20 mins in the morning, 10 mins in the middle of the day, 5 mins around 3pm and then of course fell into a deep sleep around 5.30pm when we went for a walk.

Arrrrrgh. I know we all have days like this but today left me totally devastated. I tried to put up the curtains but just never got to it because I couldn't leave him without whinging starting for more than 10 minutes.

Looking forward to a new day tomorrow.