Naps

Have been looking at different books(HSHHC and Baby Whisperer book) All say naps should be at 9 and 1. My kids only get up at 8. Nine is to early for a nap right? How can I notice their sleep sign and jump on it.

 

Your babies are 6 months old right? At that age mine were certainly not on the 9 and 1 schedule yet. That actually didn't happen for us until more like 13 months old. At 6 months mine woke around 6 or 7 and then were awake for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours and then went for a nap. The rest of the day's naps (3-4 per day) depended on how long they slept... it was roughly 8:30, 12:30, 4:30. Their sleepy signals were staring off into space, rubbing eyes, yawning, getting a little crabby. HTH!

 

I agree with Leighann, your nap times might be a bit later then 9 and 1. Our sleepy signs were eye rubbing, getting quiet, yawning, putting their heads down on the floor, getting cranky.

 

9 might not be too early. For a long time mine went down for their first nap only about an hour after they woke up. You might just need to adjust the times to 10 and 2 for your babies. For my girls, sleepy cues are rubbing their eyes or just acting a little bit more lethargic than usual. A little bit more whiny and clingy when their diapers are clean and their bellies are full is another big signal.

 

HSHHC is based, for the most part, on a 7:00am wake up, so you can just adjust from there (as a PP mentioned you can do a 10 & 2 routine). my girls sleepy signs include getting fussy, eye rubbing & burying their faces into my neck ( :wub: i love that one). GL!

 

I learned to not take those books literally -- they are great resources, but watch your babies cues instead. Mine are 7 months old and they wake at 7 - 7:30am and take naps at roughly 9am, 1pm and 4pm - with a 7:30 bedtime.

Cues: Rubbing eyes and crankiness...sometimes I catch a yawn.

 

Mine wake up around 7, and were going down at 9 (but if they got up at 6:30, they would go down at 8:30). Lately they seem to want to stay awake an extra 30-ish minutes...anyway, for a really long time it was wake for 2 hours then sleep. Mine also rub their eyes, yawn, and bury their face in my neck.

 

Yeah, like pp... I would just say 10a and 2 or 3p... We typically start at 7a, then nap 9-11a then another 2-4p or 3-5p... we're trying to institute a more consistant bedtime between 7:30 and 8:30p... looking for cues etc.

For us it seems like once I started more of a schedule it worked better... instead of looking for signs... seems to me that for the morning one, its about 2 hrs after they woke up. Then now (at 10 mo.) they seem to stay up for 2 to 3 hrs then its nap time again.