What's more important for a baby - daytime naps or nighttime sleep?

Question

My 6 month old will sometimes take two long daytime naps (1-2 hours each) and sometimes take two short daytime naps (30-45 minutes each).

Her nighttime sleep will be almost 11 hours if she took the short naps, however if she took the long naps then she will only sleep about 9 hours at night.

What's more valuable for her health and development - the daytime sleep or the nighttime?

Should I limit the length of her daytime naps so that she will sleep the longer amount at night? Or should I let her nap as long as she wants during the day even if it means that she lose out on sleep at night?

Answer 1

I think letting them nap when they are tired is best. I know that sometime we need them to be on a routine, but even good daycares don't schedule naptimes for kids under the age of 12months (some even 18m).

From what I've read... if by the end of a 24 hour period, they're close to the average recommended amount of sleep for their age - they're fine

Here's what my favorite baby "expert" Dr. Sears says how much children should sleep in a day:
Birth to 3 months .....14 to 18 hrs
3 to 6 months .....14 to 16 hrs
6 months to .....2 years 12 to 14 hrs
2 to 5 years..... 10 to 12 hrs

Answer 2

The total amount of sleep she gets is more important than when she gets it. At 6 months I wouldn't worry about limiting her daytime naps too much. When she gets older (2-3 years) then I would probably limit her daytime nap so that she sleeps more at night. But for now if she is tired during the day then she needs to sleep, it doesn't matter what the clock says.

Answer 3

I think you should just leave it as it is ... the short naps are probably because she's overly stimulated and is super curious ... the long naps probably because she's just tired.
You can try to regulate her naps perhaps to an hour to an hour and a half, then you may get her to sleep 10 hours at night.
Both naps and the night sleep are important ... my daughter takes one really long nap during the day 3 hours ... if she wakes up early like 1 hour into it, I'll play with her for an hour and she goes back down for another 1-2 hours. She sleeps almost 12 hours a night.

Answer 4

Both are important. Your baby's brain is really developing and sleep is best for it. When my daughter was about the same age, she would take an hour nap at 11 am and then would take a 2 hour nap at 2 or 2:30pm. The only one I limited was the morning one so that she would take a long one in the afternoon.

Answer 5

Daytime sleeps are perfectly fine but nighttime sleeps are important.

Sleeping during the day takes away for sleeping in the night. And a baby needs more rest then a regular person of age.

Even though both are useful, yes, limit the time of sleep for the baby, because it will reflect on health, when sleeping too much you will get extra punds on them.

Hope I Helped =)

Answer 6

Both are as important. I wouldn't worry about how long of a nap your baby takes, as long as the baby rests during the day or at night.

Answer 7

Both are important. But you can start arranging her sleep schedule to fit yours. Get her up a bit earlier to get her nap earlier in the day, or later for later....you get the idea. But I wouldn't let her lose any sleep, or you'll have a very cranky kid on your hands!

Answer 8

My opinion on this is let them sleep when they need to sleep. You baby's body knows when it is tired and it needs rest. Some days are more than others just like us as adults. I will RARELY wake my son if he is sleeping. If I do cut his nap short he is really cranky and not happy so I just let him sleep when he is ready to sleep. Hope that helps and good luck!

Answer 9

9-11 hours at night is great...I had that kind of luck...my son was sleeping through the night at 2-1/2 weeks. He sidn't sleep much in the day so I felt it was a fair trade off.

Answer 10

i've never awoken a sleeping baby.. I think the baby knows when she wants to sleep. She may be more tired during the day some days and not others. So i would just let her do whatever she wants.