How many naps a day?

Question

A family friend has recommended a nap routine. Up two down two. Basically your child is awake for 2 hours and then naps 2 hours. Her daughter sleeps 12 hours through the night.

Right now my 4 month old son sleeps 5 hours max straight through (from 3am-8am). The rest of the day it is anywhere from 20mins-2 hours.

I am trying this to see if it helps him sleep better at night. It was an extreme battle to put him to sleep. Start at 9pm...and he wouldn't sleep more than twenty minutes until about 3am. I do believe he was overtired.

He has yet to sleep more than 5 hours straight through and it is easier to get him to sleep by doing up two down two. However, I feel as though I hardly spend anytime with him now.

Opinions...experiences...?!

Thx

Answer 1

All babies wake up in the middle of the night - the thing is, some babies put themselves back to sleep. When babies are overtired, when they wake up, they are instantly cranky and can't put themselves back to sleep. We got the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley and it has been wonderful. She says that if babies don't get enough naps, they will not sleep all day. My dd was a good sleeper, it was just trying to get her to sleep. After getting this book, I can just lay her down in her crib and she is asleep in 10 minutes - no crying!!! You might check out your local library and see if they have it. I do understand feeling like you don't see him though! There are nights that I truly miss my daughter and I have been home with her all day!

Answer 2

My daughter is 4 months as well. She sleeps about 9 to10 hours straight at night. She takes 3 or 4 naps per day. Usually 1 around 8am, one around noon, one around 3, and sometimes one around 6. Her morning nap is always the longest. She sleeps about 2-3 hours. Her other naps are shorter - about 1-1 1/2 hours. Sometimes I can get her to cut out the 6 o'clock one and put her to bed early instead -like around 7:30. That's nice to spend time with my hubby in the evening. Something that I'll confess too - my baby sleeps much longer when she lays on her tummy. I know this is not reccommended beacuse of the SIDS risk, but I have discussed it with her pediatrician. But before you try it, you should probably talk with the pediatrician too. But I'll tell ya, she's been sleeping so sound and waking up in such a good mood. I'm so glad I tried the belly sleeping.

Answer 3

From personal experience I know getting your child onto a healthy napping routine is important. We would be up by 7 nap around 9 to either 11-11:30 have lunch/play then down for another 2 hour nap during the day. At night we had the same problem initially until our pediatrician recommend that we allow our child to cry himself to sleep. It wasn't easy to listen but it worked. After about 2-3 weeks we were on an all night sleeping pattern. When you first start you can try laying him down and if he gets up put him right back down without saying anything, then leave. You may repeat this several times before he finally zonks out. If you are having to go back too often then stop and just allow him to cry some. It sounds cruel but it's not. It teaches the child to learn how to calm themselves and relax. If you constantly are running to his aid he'll continue to do what he's doing because he's learned that he's getting attention he's not learning to go to sleep.

Answer 4

Hi there, I would say that every baby is different and is going to learn to sleep through the night differently. Let me tell you - I KNOW how hard this is for you! Our son didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 8.5 months old. I'm not ashamed to say that we finally tried the let him cry method. It was very hard on my husband and myself - it took about 5 nights and my son has slept soundly since then - and he's now a little over two. 5 nights sounds like a lot I'm sure, but we knew that once we were already a day or two or three in - we couldn't stop now. We have a monitor that has a camera on it w/ night vision, so we could keep an eye on him to make sure he was safe - and wasn't crying because he was hurt or in danger. As a parent only you know which cry means what. Anyway I'm not endorsing the cry method - you have to do what you feel is best for you and your baby. I wasn't ready to let him cry at 4 months, but at 8.5 months my husband and I were so sleep deprived ourselves - we always say that we wont wait that long on our next child. Regarding naps, our son naturally took two naps a day - one morning one afternoon until he was about 14 months - then he went down to one nap a day - in the afternoon. I hope this helps some - best of luck!

Answer 5

Two to three hours seems like the right amount of time to me for a 4 month old to be awake at a stretch. My daughter is 6 months old and goes about 3 hours max before needing a nap. She's sleeping from 8pm to 6am then she has a bottle and goes back down until about 8:30. Then she's usually back down for another nap at about 11am until about noon, then takes another nap from about 3-5. Whatever works best for you is what you should do, just remember that babies that age still need about 15-16 hours of sleep every day.

Answer 6

My 5-month old baby has a one hour nap in the morning, a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, and then a short late afternoon nap (which I think she may start dropping soon).
She goes to bed around 7 pm, and generally wakes at 6:30 am. We have the occasional night waking for a feeding, but that is the exception rather than the rule.
These naps are all based on when she shows signs of being tired (fussiness, eye rubbing). I am letting her take the lead.

Good luck!

Answer 7

My son rarely takes more than 2 naps in the day and when he does they are mostly 30-45 minutes. I think every child has to make there own child with there parents assistance but I don't know how someone can do up two down two. I have tried to put my son to sleep when hes tired but not sleeping. 15-20 minutes after I put him down he starts crying. Maybe I should try what your friend is trying.

Answer 8

All babies are different in how they start sleeping. My little girl started sleeping pretty much through the night (not needing to be changed or fed) at around four months old. She still might wake up, but I just stick her pacifier back in her mouth and she goes right back to sleep.

Your son might not be ready to do it yet. Give him time. Some babies sleep through the night after a month. Some don't sleep all the way through until they're a year and a half. It's all about the baby as an individual.

No matter what you hear, do not start giving the baby solids early to make them sleep through the night. It's harmful on their delicate digestive systems. It's an old wive's tale when they say it works.

Just give him some more time, and he'll be sure to make it through. Patience is key! Good luck!

Answer 9

My son in 3 1/2 months old, and he sticks to his routine like clockwork. We start our bedtime routine at 8pm (bath, stories, feeding, rocking, sleeping). He wakes up at 8:30 am (right now he is in the middle of a growth spurt so he has woken up the past two nights to eat, but is practically asleep during his feeding and goes right back to sleep). Then, he goes down for a nap at 11:30, up around 1:30-2:00. Back down for a nap around 4-4:30, and up around 6. During the time that he is awake, I do everything with him, and he is much happier than when he was fighting to stay awake all day. Also, he has learned not to fear sleep and fight it off.

Answer 10

Don't worry about not spending time with him... it won't be long before he's up for most of the day, running you off your feet!!

When my daughter was that age she went down around 9-10pm, woke once during the night for a bottle, and then woke up around 6am. Then she would usually have a 1-2 hour nap by 9am, and another 1-2 hours around 1pm, and sometimes another around 5pm... otherwise we kept her up until bedtime.

When she was 6 months old I stopped giving her a bottle during the night (except for really rough nights). Now she is 12 months and sleeps for 8pm-7am, and naps two hours around 10am.