Nap Questions - HELP!

My boys are 5 months and I'm still having issues with naps. They generally take 3 a day and go down after no more than 2 hours of awake time... I watch for their cues, we have a routine etc. They are still so random. Some days they will take 2+ hour naps and then the past several days I'm lucky if I get an hour each time. I find the inconsistency so frustrating. They almost always go down fine, but they seem to wake early. I let them cry for a bit but they never settle and often wake each other up and then it's game over. I don't think it's hunger but I end up feeding them (we do the eat, activity, sleep routine).

So my questions....

- Will naps ever get more consistent in length?

- What is an appropriate length for a nap? I always aim for at least an hour but feel like it should be more and think 45 minutes is too short. They STTN with the exception of a 10pm dream feed.

- Any strategies for early nap wakings? Especially with two I find I'm rushing in so they won't wake up the other, but usually it's game over anyways. Should I just let them cry for the duration of the nap time (however long that should be??)

I'm getting frustrated!!!!

 

For me none of my kids got into predictable nap routines until they were close to 8 months and down to 2 naps a day. Up until that point the length varied as did the time they went down (always depended on when they woke up from the previous nap).

As for length I usually relax after an hour knowing they have had a decent sleep but at 5 months not all 3 of their naps were this long. They would usually have 2 decent ones and one that was shorter.

I need to tell you how JEALOUS I am the your LO's STTN . My kids have all been great nappers (after the 8 month mark) but horrible nighttime sleepers...I guess you can never win!

For early waking I would usually go in and try to soothe them back to sleep without picking them up. I think I was using the strategy in the Baby Whisperer (maybe) where you wait to hear the first stirring at the 30-45 min mark, go in and soothe back to sleep. The goal of doing this is that eventually when they wake up at the end of this first sleep cycle they put themselves back to sleep. This worked for me with all 3 of mine for the most part (now if they cry or stir I leave them and they go back to sleep). There were naptimes with the girls when both would be up at the same time and I just couldn't get them to go back so naptime would be over and I would try again at the next one. I have never let them cry for a specified nap length...if they woke up and would not go back to sleep then naptime was over and we would move on.

I know how frustrating this can be hopefully you'll be able to get them napping better soon :hug:

 

One other thing I wanted to add is that I usually look at total nap time during the day instead of the time of individual naps. For example, if they usually get/should be getting 4 hours and the first nap is 2 hours then you can assume the next 2 will be shorter (ie. each an hour or so) to get to the 4 hour total.

This usually works out really well with my girls. On average they do 3 hours a day so I know if the morning nap is long (2 hrs) then they will likely only sleep 1 hour in the afternoon. I find this helps me get less frustrated if one nap is long and the next is short...try to look at the whole picture.

 

My boys are still very sporadic nappers at 10.5 months. Most days, I'm lucky to get two 45-minute naps, sometimes it is only two 30-minute naps. For whatever reason, they will randomly some days take an hour or longer nap - sometimes they will do it several days in a row. But truthfully, if they take two longer naps, they usually sleep AWFUL at night, so I am resigning myself to not being able to have it both ways (plus they are early risers - usually up around 6am, sometimes even earlier - so no chance of getting much done before they get up). I do watch their cues and make sure to put them down when they are sleepy - if I try to put them down too soon, they sometimes only sleep 15 minutes! I do try to get them back to sleep if they wake up at 30-45 minutes, but usually it doesn't work.

Anyway, my point is, some kids are just sporadic nappers - hopefully yours will settle into a routine, but be prepared that they may not. I would be in heaven if my kids took 3-4 hours of naps a day, but that is just not the way it is, and they only sleep 10-11 hours at night. They seem well-rested and happy, so I just have to deal with it!

 

Just curious for all of you - how do you put them down for naps? Where do you do it? Different places? Same place every time?
We've been using the bouncy seats, car seats for naps mostly. They also take a lot of naps on someone's lap unfortunately they've been spoiled by their grandparents!

 

We just did CIO for naps....at the age of your LO's, we would rock them with the binkie and lovie. They usually slept in their bassinets or cribs, but sometimes they still get held while sleeping, especially if they wake up early from naps. Like I said before, they just aren't great nappers, and sometimes holding them is the only way we can get them to sleep more than 30-45 minutes. They never slept well in their carseats (except in the car) or bouncers - they would occasionally sleep in their swings, but not often.

 

We always put them down in their cribs, awake not tired. Turn on crib mobile, say byebye, walk out, close door. They will go down by themselves.

Yeah my mom spoils them a lot. She always holds, rocks them. I keep telling her not to. We don't hold them all the time. We only do at curddling time and that's it. When they cry, we talk calm them down, put them in excersaucer or put toys around them let them play.I can't stand babies cry for attention. We trained our twins. They play independent nowm