3rd nap protest

Jack and Lily are consistently shortening their third nap. They are also protesting the entire thing fairly adamantly.

They are waking between 7 and 7:30am. First nap is between 8:30-9. Second nap starts anywhere between 11:30 and 12:30 and I try to put them down for their third nap sometime between 3:30 and 4. Of course, this all depends on the lenght of the naps...DD can do 2 hours awake but DS is pretty consistent with 1.5 awake hours.

Their naps are really pretty nice in length and will go from 1 hr. to 2.5 hours. The third naps for both yesterday were around2 20 minutes and 30 minutes the day prior. Their bedtime is between 7 and 7:30 and they are fairly even tempered in the evening, providing we take walks or keep them occupied and entertained.

I am pretty sure they are too young to get rid of that late afternoon nap and I really do not want to put them to bed at 6pm. I am; however, tired of fighting the nap fight during that last nap - it is truly exhausting and they wake up with such red eyes from crying.

I think there are a few of us whose babies are around the same age - is this pretty common for this age?

Amy

 

My girls haven't taken a 3rd nap since they were a couple months old, but they also don't get up until 8-9 in the morning so their first nap is later in the morning. I would think it's pretty common though for them to lose the 3rd nap early.

 

My guys recently starting protesting that 3rd nap too, and I just work through the crankies (from 5:30-6:30ish on occasion) and carry on with our routine of dinner, bath, book, bottle bed around 6:30/7. I will just put the crankier one to bed 1st.

How old are your babies?

 

Hi Amy - we are lucky to get a 3rd nap these days too. They seem to fight it the most, and if they do fall asleep, it's never for more than 30 minutes. It seems like a lot of work for very little rest. I know that HSHHC says that most babies drop the 3rd nap by 6 months, but I notice a lot of people in the forum with older babies who are still taking the 3rd nap.

We put ours down for the night between 6 and 6:30 - I'd like it to be closer to 7pm, but w/o the 3rd nap (and even with it), we can't make it that late! I'm trying to stretch out their awake time to make sure our last nap goes until at least 3pm. At daycare, they still get 3 naps, but the catnap is from 11:45-12:15 or so. So, there are two things you could try - stretching out their awake time, or waking them from the 2nd nap after about 30 minutes hoping to encourage a longer 3rd nap.

Good Luck! The last few weeks have been tough sleep ones for us - I think it's the age!
Suzi

 

Amy,

Sorry I haven't emailed you yet. We're moving out of the country end of this month, so as you can imagine things are pretty hectic. My twins dropped the 3rd nap at 4 months, combined with a 6 pm bed time. For us that just worked better. It was so nice to have them in their beds at 6 pm. Once they got older I pushed the bed time backwards a little, now it's 6.30-6.45 pm. It was worth it. I would try to push both naps ... the first one closer to 9 and the second one closer to 1 pm and then try a 6.30 pm bed time or so.

At 4 months mine were awake between 7 and 9, then back down and up between 10.45/11.00 am to 1.00 pm. Now it's usually up at 10.15/10.30 am at the very latest, back in bed at 1.15 pm but they'll be one end of this month.

HTH!

 

Susie Q.,

What time to yours wake in the morning? I fight to keep mine in their cribs until 7am as it is (with one waking and feeding in the middle of the night) and am afraid to put them down at 6 or 6:30 for fear of an even earlier waking which would make it even more difficult to push their morning nap back closer to 9am.

Amy

 

Well, they are waking far too early (which is why I'd like to push back their bedtime to see if it helps). We fight to keep them in their cribs until 7am too. Henry has been waking up at 4:45 (almost on the dot) and yammers on and on. I just leave him because I keep thinking he'll fall back asleep, but I find myself in there at 5:30 trying to get him back to bed. I told my husband tonight that I'm going right in at 4:45 because at least then maybe I can get some sleep. It's impossible for me to sleep when they are awake in there, even if it's just talking.

M-Th we get them up at 6:15 to leave the house for work/daycare, but F-Sun, I'd just love it if they would even sleep until 6:30/7!! The super early wake up time makes it hard to plan out naps during the day too.

It's tough. Most days I think it's just a crapshoot whether it works out or not. I can't see a pattern emerging that makes a difference one way or the other as far as sleeping longer at night OR napping better during the day! I'm hoping we'll grow into a better pattern soon!

Good Luck! Can you believe our babies will be six months this month? Suzi

 

Crapshoot ... hilarious! That is how I feel like my days are too! You said it sister!

 

Yup, crapshoot over here too!

Ours are five months and naps are all over the place. The biggest problem I have is they just last 45-1 hour. They can take 4 naps during the day - it's exhausting trying to juggle naps and feeds.