Naps for a Three Month Old

I had to learn this through trial and error with my now 3 year old daughter. Now that I have a 4 month old little boy I am using the info I learned. My son's schedule is a little like this:

8:30am-9am or 9:30am
12pm-2pm
4:15pm-6pm
8pm-10pm; wake for feeding at 10pm
10pm-5am

I hope this helps. It is not the schedule for everyone, but it works for me and my son. The times will vary. I don't wake him from any nap at this age. Some days they will sleep longer than others.

Best of luck!

Free lancing on time schedules for babies is not a good idea and will give you fits later. She needs sleep. I raised five children and every one of them had a little variation in their natural sleep patterns, but from the get go I stuck to a schedule and was consistent about it which, I believe, helped them all to sleep well. If she goes down at 8 and up at 3, back down til 8 am, this is good. BAbies need at least 12 hours of sleep per night. Two hours up and she should have a snack and be ready for a nap that should last about 1 1/2 hours. Up for lunch, then down for another nap about two to three hours later after another snack, and nap should be another 1 to 1/2 hours, and this nap will shorten as she gets older. Here's the kicker: try to be consistent about the routine. Snack, lay down in crib. Try to not use the swing for naps if you possibly can help it. After her afternoon snack, just put her in the crib immediately afterwards. If she accidentally falls asleep in the swing instead, try to pick her up and put her in the crib for the nap time. If you cannot, then so be it, but I think it is not good for her to sleep in the swing, not good for her comfort level, and this might add to her fighting against taking the nap in the afternoon, too. She won't sleep as soundly or as comfortably in a swing as she would in her crib and it's not good for her back either to sleep in a swing. Even if she is not completely sleepy, put her in the crib for playtime and she should fall asleep on her own. Make sure she has a mobile over the crib to entertain her or a mirror to watch herself or a gym set -- not sure anyone has those anymore, but it's basically something that is strung across from one side of the crib to the other side, over the baby's head and has little stuffed animals hanging from it or balls or other interesting looking things. This may not be done anymore these days -- but my kids always enjoyed looking at those and would fall asleep doing so. My grandson fell asleep looking at himself in his crib mirror .

My youngest is 4 months old and he is just now taking at least 2 naps a day in his crib...other than that, he sleeps while I am holding him or laying down nursing him and of course at night he sleeps with me.

At 3 months old, you are probably feeling very ready for yours to be on a schedule. I know how you feel. With all of my children, they were never on a schedule at 3 months old. My little ones wouldn't sleep unless I was holding them...up until somewhere around 4 months. I had to do that in order for them to get some sleep. They need that security sometimes. There is nothing wrong with that.

I think you must be one WONDERFUL mother to do all that you do for that little girl. Keep up the great work and the rewards will come three-fold in due time. :o)

Here is a link to babycenter.com about sleep for 3-6 month olds. http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-sleep-basics-3-to-6-mont...

In my experience of having 2 kids, they generaly take a nap about 2-3 hrs after being awake. So if you daughter is waking up around 8am, she should be ready for a nap around 10am. Sleep for 90 mins or more and by up again for a few hours and then back to sleep. This will average about 2, possibly 3 naps a day and then sleeping though the night. What I would suggest is around 10 or 10:30, lay her down in her crib or where ever it is she likes to sleep for some quiet time and she what she does. Just make sure she has a full belly and a clean butt and she is good to go.

Good luck!
S.

Hi! What worked for me twice now was a schedule of starting the day at 8AM, taking a nap starting between 9:30-10:00 and back up at 11AM. Then back down again for the long nap between 12:30-1:00ish. They get up by 4 at the latest, but usually around 3-3:30. Then they go down for the night around 8-8:30. Sometimes they make it to 8AM and others they wake about 6AM and I feed them a small amount to get them satisfied and back to sleep. Our fist set of twins we didn't realize they should be on a nap schedule until about 5 months and we were having the evening meltdowns too. It was a struggle at first to make them lay in the crib. If you can endure the crying, you will have to do the same nighttime routine at naptimes and make sure she lays down in the same place. It will take 2-4 days before she gets the hang of things, but when she does, you will all be much happier!!! I've been there, and it can be done, so take heart! Good luck whatever you decide!

You have to put her down when she starts showing signs of being tired , ie rubbing her eyes getting fussy etc. My daughter never napped when she was a baby she's now a very active, very bright 7 yr old. You get her to sleep anyway you need to get her to sleep anyway you can and if putting her in her swing when she starts to look tired does it then do it. at 3 months her "schedule" is going to be random. If she falls asleep after nursing let her. the full tummy should help her be sleepy.

You are lucky. My son wouldn't go to bed (even at age 4) until midnight, then was awake by 6am. If your daughter needs one nap a day, after lunch, is best time period!!! Try to keep her "occupied" till after lunch. She may not need that much sleep.

In my opinion...She's 3 months old. She'll know when to nap. But, if the temper tantrum at night is bothering you (almost all babies do this), then put her down in the late afternoon. Put her in her crib. Even if she cries (as long as she is fed, clean and nothing is hurting her) let her cry. Crying never hurt a baby. One thing that may bother her in the evening and cause the meltodown is all the activity in the house. Dinner being made, dad coming home and, for her, its been a long day. Don't worry, this phase doesn't last very long. In time, you and her will work out a schedule that works for both of you. And, raising a baby is a matter of trial and error. Tomorrow is always another day.

If you know she is going to 'melt down' by 5 why not put her in the bjorn about 445 and get her to sleep? I know that with my 2 month old that at 7 he wants to be in our bedroom he is happy and content to sit and play but he likes the lower lights and the 'smell' of the room so we head to the bedroom for the night at the first signs he starts to get fussy he will usually play a bit then nurse a bit then sleep a bit and because we are already cozy in the bedroom if I want to go to bed early i can or i can run down stairs and get a couple things done or just read a book now at 5 that wouldnt be possible but since bedtime for the under 9 crowd in my house is 7pm anyway it works for us. also because she will probably be outgrowing the bjorn soon you may want to to to www.thebabywearer.com and look and see if there are any groups near you and see about getting a more birth til toddler baby carrier.

First,I LOVE the name Chloe!!!! With my 8,4 and 15month olds I just kinda let them sleep when they wanted to. If they're tired,they'll sleep if not good luck getting them to sleep. I DO have a couple of hours that I need to get things done around the house so with my 15month old (did it with both the boys too) I usually just take some quite time,hold her and rock or sing or listen to music around 9:30am until she goes to sleep (usually takes about 20-30 minutes depending if she's really tired) and she's pretty much done for a couple of hours. Especially if she fights it at first she's so tired she sleeps longer. Or go for a walk around the block,we did that today and she is KNOCKED OUT!
Tell your husband THANX!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds like your baby daughter is on her way to developing her nap schedule. She has moved forward by naping in her crib. Just be patient with her, she's headed in the right direction.
P. S

You have a new baby who is rapidly growing and changing. I would not expect your baby to do much of anything consistently for the next several months. Something that works for a few days or weeks will just as quickly change. Just go with the flow and spend lots of time loving her while you can. Good Luck!

I would suggest reading Baby Wise. It is a really boring read, however it is wonderful advice that works for getting your baby on a schedule. I followed it and my daughter turned out to be a wonderful sleeper/napper. Everyone I know who has read and followed it swears by it. You can get a copy at Amazon.com for under $5. Good luck!!

Your baby will make her owns adjustments to this world and things are going to vary. That you have a baby that sleeps through the night with only one feeding is luck in and of itself. Just be glad she does that and go with her flow. Jay Gordon

At this age I think it's somewhat difficult to get them on a set schedule. I know that makes life very hard on us Moms, but babies this young are still growing and changing so much that what may work today won't necessarily work tomorrow. It is much easier to get them on a more regular schedule somewhere between 4 and 9 months (every baby is different). My son was always very large for his age and he hit major milestones very quickly and I was able to get him on a schedule between 4 and 5 months. However with my daughter she was between 7 and 8 months before I got her on a schedule. With both of them their daily nap schedule was to take a morning nap 1-2 hours after waking up (9:30am) and sleep for about 2-3 hours then sleep again in the afternoon about 2-3 hours after waking from their morning nap (2:30pm) for about 2 hours. They also both sleep for about 12 hours at night. Good Luck!

For my children at this age it was 2 naps a day. Morning about an hour and aftrnoon about 2 hours. I tried for the bedtime of about 10 pm and got to sleep until at least 6 or 6:30 am . Gave a bottle then. Fed breakfast about 8:3o , cleaned up baby, dressed for the day and they were usually down for a nap about 10:30. Gave a little juice that was watered down about half and half. Lunch about 12:30. Afternoon nap by 1:30 - 3:30. Baby was given a bottle prior to the nap. Another bottle about 5 pm. I would feed the cereal about 9 pm and a bottle at bedtime. This worked for mine. It took a couple of weeks to get the schedule down but it worked. V.