Transition into Regular Naps for 4 Month Old

My 5 month old takes several short naps during the days (occassionaly longer) and sleeps from about 10 hours at night. I wouldn't worry about it.

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Stephaine -

By the time both of my kids were this age we were working on getting on a 'real' schedule and within a month were there. This was also the advice of our peditrician - work to get on an 8, noon, 4, 8 schedule. We also started food (cereal first) at this age, which made it easier to go longer between meals. We fed, then about an 1 to 1 1/2 hours afterwards they went down in their bed - awake - with a pacifier, blanket, something to help them self-soothe themselves to sleep. If they slept too long, I woke them up so that they were eating no more than a 1/2 hour before or after the desginated time.

It didn't take too long before they were on the schedule and it made life a lot easier.

J.

1 mom found this helpful

We have a daughter that is almost 6 months old, though she was born 10 weeks prematurely, so developmentally or adjusted age, she is about 4 months old... anyway, we read the book by Dr. Weisbluth, Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child, which has been a tremendous help transitioning her to regular naps and longer sleep at night. He recommends you let her cry for no more than an hour at each nap time if she has slept less than 30-45 minutes, but let her cry to see if she'll return to sleep. There are many sleepy/ tired cues to look for to time her sleep right so she can fall asleep and stay asleep for longer times. It all makes sense if you read the book, which I highly recommend. Our daughter now takes at least 2 good naps (at least 1 hour), sometimes 3. She's not yet sleeping through the night, but I don't mind getting up with her to feed her once at night. She is well rested and very happy when we protect her sleep times. The book explains how important it is for babies to learn to sleep by themselves. Though it was difficult, we found it very helpful. Good luck!

S. -

Your 4 month old should definitely be sleeping longer than 15-20 mins between bottles! The sooner you begin "sleep training" the better it will be for now and the long term. If I remember correctly (my triplet boys are now 20 mos old), Kennedi should be taking 3 naps about 1.5 hrs long each (or longer). A great book to read for sleep help is The Sleep Lady (the title is longer than that, but if you Google for The Sleep Lady, it will come right up). It is very easy to read and it is broken into sections according to infant and toddler ages. It gives a typical "normal" schedule for the different ages, and this includes eating, sleeping, etc.. I highly recommend that whoever is taking care of your darling girl also read the book and you should definitely discuss what you expect with the caregiver.

Good luck!

Dana

everybaby is different - yours knows what works for her. if you try to change it it will be so stressful you will hate it. let her develop her own patterns and go with it!!

It seems like you got some good advice but also wanted to say my son's the same. He was born 12-20-2007. He has always napped in his bouncer or swing. At night he sleeps 8-10 hours, and eats every 4 hours. We've started trying naps on a schedule. In the morning he'll go down in his crib for about 1 hour, 90 minutes after he eats. However in the afternoon, we can barely get him to do a 45 minute nap and it's not in his crib. After 4 pm, he may take a cat nap for 20 minutes, but he's up until bed time. That works for us because that's his daddy time. You can always try different things and see what works. There's no right or wrong answer.

Kennedi is working on nature's schedule. Follow her lead. She knows what's best for her right now. Enjoy!

Steph,
Before you decide, try to notice if there are any changes during the awake times after a long or short nap. I mean we're all different and have different requirements. There's a lot of credence in what's said about power naps during the day. E.g., if I take too many powers during the day, I have a hard time sleeping/falling asleep at night. No one likes that. And then I'm tired the next. So watch for patterns. I'd offer a bottle before any sleep times just because it allows the calcium in the milk to do its magic while she's out. It doesn't do much good to have it and run around and exert it all away.
Good luck!

S.,
Sorry to say but good to hear that someone else has a "cat napper". My 3 month old son is the same way. Will not sleep longer than a half hour during the day and he has to be held. Once you put him down he wakes up! Yikes.
He sleeps for the most part good at night. He goes down around 12 and is up anytime between 4 and 7, then goes back to sleep till 8 - 10. I am hoping he will sleep longer once he starts on cereal. He is about 15 pounds already. I am interested in reading your responses. Good luck!

My son was born on 12/20/2007. He does the same thing and sleeps at night from 9pm till 8am. I started making him stay up about two weeks ago and now he's starting to take two 3 hour naps during the day instead of a bunch of little cat naps. Do everything you can to keep your baby up. Tickle, rub back, give a bath, anything. Try it, it works. He might get alittle cranky but not too much.

I am first time mother as well. My daughter is now almost 17 months old but I found out with my own and even talking to other moms that its when they start solids at about 5 months or so is when they start a whole new schedule of their own. As you probably know already, they change their schedules every month. It's hard. So I wouldn't worry atall b\c your baby is taking the naps that she needs. That's great. That will change when she gets older and more active. Then you'll see a diffrence. I think every mother would agree with me on that. Don't sweat it. It seems that you have her on a good schedule now and what I hada hard time asking myself at that age was....."Does it work for the both of us?" And if it does, then that's all that matters. It seems that you'll know what to do when her changes of life happen. It sounds like your doing a great job. Keep it up!!!

Hi S. -

My now 15 month old son did the same thing until he was about 6-7 months old. Oh and did I ever try to get him on a schedule b/c everyone kept saying by now he should be taking fewer, longer naps. Nothing worked. He worked into a schedule of 3 naps from about 6-9 months and then 2 naps from 9 months until now. It was impossible to get him to sleep longer. He needed a lot of short naps throughout the day, otherwise he was really cranky. It made going anywhere next to impossible, but it worked itself out. Some kids get into a nap schedule much easier/quicker than others. I would have a goal of what you think the schedule should look like based on sleeping/eating needs and gently try to gravitate toward it, but don't stress over it (I did!). I think you will find a pattern will emerge in a few months.

Good luck!

My daughter was a 45 minute napper. She would sleep for 45 min. then up for an hour then back down etc. She gradually worked into a hour or 1 1/2 hour nap. Then the afternoon one increased to a couple of hours. I think she was almost 7 months by the time her naps started to stay long and be consistent. No worries, she will work it out. I just would not wake her to feed her. I usually fed/nursed her before I laid her down and then she would get a full feeding when she woke up. I hope this helps. I loved the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

I had a hard time getting my last daughter on a schedule too. (She's now 11 mo. old.) I also have a 3 1/2 year old and needed to have the baby on a schedule to keep my days sane! At first I would put her down about 2 hours after she got up, and then feed her when she woke....which was about 3-3 1/2 hours after she last ate. That way she got a good 1 1-1/2 hours of napping in. We did this where she had 3 naps a day...morning...early afternoon and usually right after dinner or during our dinner. Eventually, I was able to get her down to 2 naps a day and skip the early evening one. She now wakes between 7-7:30, eat breakfast, eats a bottle at 9:30ish, naps at 10am, eats lunch at 12:30, naps at 2pm, snack when she wakes, dinner with us, bottle before bed at 8pm.

Hopes this helps a little bit. Good luck.....she'll eventually fall into a good routine. :)

S.,
As a mother of 2, 2 years and 10.5 months, I can tell you that they learn to do it on their own. If you try to put her down for long naps and she is not ready, it will be frustrating for you both.

Val

I think that trying to get a baby into a 'schedule' can just drive you crazy.. they do get into a routine though that can get predicatable on their own. A friend with 3 kids told me that the only thing you can plan on with a baby is that they are not predictable.. I think once I got that it worked better for me.
My son is 14 months old and now takes a consistent longer nap.. one nap a day and sleeps 10-12 hours at night.

Good luck..

some kids sleep others donot..

My daughter took 3naps a day for 10 months..

My son is down to one nap a day at 9 months..

I really dont know how you would get her to sleep longer..

Some day she will sleep all night and maybe take a nap or not.. But I dont know how you can change her sleep patterns..

Hi S., my son did the same thing at that age and I even asked the ped. about it and she said if he is sleeping through the night think of it as a blessing! He started to adjust his naps on his own, so did my frist son now that i think about it. Now at 7 1/2 months old he takes 2 - 3 naps a day any where from 1 hour - 2hour each, unfortantly he doesnt sleep through the night anymore, I think he misses me in the middle of the night. But yeah I am sure she will adjust herself when she is ready, hopefully teething in the next couple of months don't keep her up at night! GOOD LUCK HOPE THIS HELPS!
B.

Hi S.,
Follow what your daughter wants to do. Both of my boys didn't start taking "regular" naps until about 8-10 months. You can't really force her to take a nap and for hour long she sleeps. Be patient and she will eventually take longer naps. Good luck.
Chris

I always let my babies dictate when they would sleep and eat to some extent, and they always formed a nice schedule themselves. Wait a few weeks and see if she starts taking longer naps, if she doesn't and you feel you need a break, try to hold her off.

Hi S.! I have one of those "Power Nappers" as well. My baby girl is 7 months and hardly ever takes a nap that's longer than 30 minutes. I asked her doctor about it last week and he said that that's fine - babies usually sleep as long as they need to. My baby sleeps through the night for about 10-11 hours, so she's getting plenty of sleep at night and can comfortably cat nap throughout the day.
So, as long as your daughter is sleeping good at night, there's no problem :)

J.