Source
r/beyondthebump•
dirtypineapple

When to start being intentional about naps

Discussion

My boy is almost 10 weeks old and up until now was a good napper but now he seems to need a little more work to make it happen.

When is a good time to start thinking about nap schedules? He’s kind of all over the place but I do notice that his biggest nap is usually in the morning or early afternoon but lately he’s been having little 20 minute cat naps.

When do babies start needing quiet & darkness to start napping well? Do you all put them in their rooms/bassinet in your room for naps when this happens? He’s just been napping in a pack n play in the living room so far.

I’m also interested in some good nap schedule resources if anyone can share any!

Posted Jul 4, 2022, 4:32 PM UTC

1118
brownemil•

It’s different for every baby!

My first started to struggle with sleep at four months and was a mess until we sleep trained and got her on a strict nap schedule.

My second has slept through the night since 11 weeks (10-11 hours without waking up for feeds) and takes naps anywhere without any schedule. She’s 6.5 months and we’re going with the flow until it causes issues.

5
burr0wz•

We're the same way! Following this post for answers!

4
accioqueso•

I started using the Huckleberry app with my daughter on day one to help track feedings and diapers for her doctors appointments (I swear, how do they expect sleep deprived people to know how many times they feed a feeding machine?). I think it starts giving nap suggestions around 12 weeks (I could be remembering wrong). I relied heavily on that for predicting my daughter’s schedule and it worked really well for us. It use to be free, but I think there was an annual charge after she turned about 18 months. I was relying on it so heavily for nap predictions I paid it.

Routine was simple, fresh diaper, sleep sack, boob/bottle while I sing a few songs, into the crib with her pacifier. She would put herself to sleep well most of the time.

I really recommend keeping sleep routines short. My son had a long routine and that kid took like two hours to put down for every sleep instance that wasn’t a car ride. To this day it takes us longer to put a 7 year old to bed than his baby sister.

3
burr0wz•

Thank you! Yeah, right now my little guy can kind of fall asleep anywhere, but it's mostly been in the msin room of the house, not the bassinet in our room. Eventually we'll have to move him to his nursery though.

1
accioqueso•

I don’t see an issue giving them practice in other rooms with distractions. It’s helpful if you like outings or travel. Our youngest sleeps well in strange rooms so long as the routine is the same and her sleep space is consistent (so her pack and play, her sheet, her blanket, and her comfort items), but we can also plan road trips around naps in the car. The nap predictor was good for that when she was on more than one nap. She’s on a consistent one nap schedule now. We tend to not use the app anymore because it’s the same every day. It’s handy for medicine and growth checks though.

1
burr0wz•

He does sleep well in the car. We do plan to travel soon for a short vacation. I think his sleep is more impacted by him thinking he's alone than the actual place.

2
johnnyplease90•

My daughter is also 10 weeks old and I read that you are supposed to nap them in a dark room from 6 weeks onwards, after the day-night-confusion has settled so that's what we've been doing.

Dark room, swaddle, white noise, crib or my side of the bed hugged by my u-shaped pregnancy pillow.

I also pay attention to awake times but let her nap as long as she wants.

Right now, the perfect awake time for her seems to be 1.5 hours. When I put her down after 1.5 hours of awake time she sleeps anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours.

This is a great resource that helped me tremendously with my first baby.

4
texas_forever_yall•

We did a feeding/sleeping schedule at 9 weeks and it was a godsend for us. LO started sleeping through the night, which was not our primary goal but damned if we weren’t grateful. She is 6 months almost now and we just adjusted her schedule to drop a nap and a feeding and having the guidance for it helped so much.

4
bryce_w•

What was the schedule?

6
texas_forever_yall•

We used the schedule from the Moms On Call book!

1
bryce_w•

Oh right good to know - thanks!

1
casetorious765•

At 12 weeks we started doing naps in her room in the crib. Dark, white noise and cool. We started doing a little nap routine before each nap and putting her down awake. There wasn’t a schedule but always the same routine before each nap. Naps were pretty much always 30ish minutes at first but eventually she started doing longer ones. So back then it was like 4-5 30 minute naps and then when she started doing a longer first nap we dropped to 3 naps. She’s almost 8 months now and on 2 naps and the nap routine is still the same. We do the same little routine before each nap.

2
dirtypineappleOP•

You mentioned she naps in her room, does she sleep in there at night as well?

1
casetorious765•

Yep. She’s always slept in her room at night. I used to sleep on a guest bed in there with her but I stopped at like 13 or 14 weeks.

2
L_RaspberryCrochet•

Do you mind sharing the nap routine? We have a bedtime routine for our LO (5 weeks) and it works so well. Would be interested to hear what a nap routine would include.

1
casetorious765•

Sure! We do change diaper and put in pajamas and sleep sack. Sing twinkle twinkle little star while putting them on. Turn off lamp and close curtains. Hold and pat back for about a minute and then lay in the crib. Kiss a few times and say night night! Time for a nap. Love you! Walk out and close the door.

2
TeachinAnon•

My sleep program (sweetbsleep) starts strict nap schedule in the crib at 4 months

2
EnergyTakerLad•

Ours is 13 weeks and still naps nearly every hour. Some days they're hour long naps some days they're 20 minute cat naps. The other day she had a 2 hour nap. All in a dark(er) and cool room.

So, no idea lol. Hard to do anything or go anywhere with her napping hourly because if she doesn't get those naps, it shows.

1