Should i schedule my baby naps

Fixed schedules can leave a Mom feeling like a failure or very anxious when the schedule goes sideways…as life does. In the rare case that these late morning wakings are happening past 6 months of age.

It is usually because the child is feeding frequently through the night, and usually has a sleep crutch of nursing back to sleep. Who knows what biological process their little bodies are working on in that restorative sleep session.

Maybe they are fighting a cold, working on language development or processing the activities of the day. I would only want to interrupt that if I have evidence that it will have a negative effect on other sleep patterns in their life. Ever wonder how much sleep your baby needs and when? Worried you're not getting nap hours in? Download my free sleep timing and quantity chart and see how much sleep they should be getting for their age. Work With Me. Let me share with you how I coach a client on these types of scenarios.

Do you have actually have a fixed schedule? This late nap will end up cutting into night time sleep so I would likely wake her up after 45 minutes of sleeping. Help your baby look forward to naptime. If you notice your little one getting sleepy, make note of how long it has been since the last nap. Then try to get them down 5 to 10 minutes earlier the next time. Click here for a summary of safe sleep practices from The American Academy of Pediatrics. Close to the 3-month mark you can eliminate the evening nap, move bedtime to 8 pm, and expect longer stretches of sleep at night.

Check out our bedtime chart here. There is a sleep goddess. But at this stage, babies are still startling awake , and new developments like increased alertness, growth spurts and a first tooth can trigger nap wake-ups. A simple formula: 1 notice sleepiness cues, 2 add ambiance, 3 put baby down drowsy, and 4 stay consistent.

An overtired baby has raised levels of stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, which create fussiness. Switch bedtime to 8PM for longer night sleep. Learn more about soothing a tired baby, here. Head off fussiness by putting baby down for a nap when you notice these sleepiness cues :. At months, babies become much more alert to their surroundings, so changes in light, noise and temperature, can make it difficult for them to fall asleep at naptime.

Choose one, consistent spot for naps and create the right ambiance. Learn more about adding sleep ambiance here. At 2 to 3 months, babies still often startle awake with Moro reflex. Put baby down drowsy, but not fully asleep, so she can see you leave the room, and begin learning to self-soothe to sleep. Babies between months of age experience growth spurts, which can make them nap longer, throwing naps and bedtimes off schedule.

Counterintuitive as it seems, that can cause overtiredness. Be flexible, but try to stick to your nap schedule: the routine will be comforting. Continue to reinforce positive associations with napping: a soothing, lightly weighted swaddle can help provide more restorative sleep. The goal is a bedtime of no later than pm at four months.

Your baby should be down to 4 naps and moving to 3 naps at 5-months. She should be sleeping about 10 to 11 hours at night. This is good news—But when babies nap less they can become overtired, which can affect nap schedules and good naps are more important than ever now.

These are also the months many babies start to experience teething , swaddle transitioning issues and sleep regression. Head off fussiness by putting baby down for a nap as soon as you notice these sleepiness cues :. At months, babies can tell the difference between day and night. Choose one, consistent spot for naps the crib is best and create the right ambiance.

The right sleepwear can help baby settle faster. At this stage, babies may experience a 4-month sleep regression —night wakeups due to developmental leaps— that can really mess with nap duration. At the same time, babies starting to roll may be transitioning from the swaddle , which is a strange new feeling. At this stage, the right sleep associations are key. Avoid feeding to sleep, but put her down drowsy so she learns to soothe herself to sleep—and back to sleep, mid-nap.

Dressing her in the right sleepwear can also prevent wakeups. This may make your baby anxious, after being wrapped as snug as a bug. Gripe water is a remedy available in liquid form. It contains a mixture of herbs and is often used to soothe colicky babies. Baby teeth, or primary teeth, usually start coming in between 6 and 12 months. This timeline can vary widely, though. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect.

How much should a 3-month-old sleep? How can you get a 3-month-old on a sleep schedule? Sample 3-month-old sleep schedules. Other considerations. Parenthood Baby 06 Months.

When Can Baby Sleep with a Blanket? Read this next. Medically reviewed by Karen Gill, M. Medically reviewed by Carissa Stephens, R. I have the swaddle blanket already laid out in a convenient place. I lay him on top and calmly put the pacifier in his mouth if he's calm, he'll take it. As soon as he takes it, I gently wrap the blanket around him, pick him up, and rock him. He may protest for a couple of minutes, but he soon falls asleep.

Works like a dream! Help him do that and you'll have a more well-rested baby! The second stage is much longer — about an hour and a half for my son.

Sometimes I have to go in and pat my baby's back and bottom for a few minutes to get him back to sleep. Sometimes I have to let him cry for a few minutes. And sometimes, finally now at 5 months, he wakes up, whimpers, and goes back to sleep all on his own.

Once I put her down, she'd wake right up. What I've started doing lately is to put her in her bed and let her cry. I set the timer for ten minutes.

If she's still crying after ten minutes, which she always is, I pick her up and apologize and burp her. Then I lay her back down and set the timer again. About halfway through the crying, I give her the pacifier. She goes to sleep and sleeps by herself anywhere from half an hour to three hours. BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals.

We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies. Sleeping by the book. American Academy of Pediatrics. Getting your baby to sleep. National Sleep Foundation.