Need Help Setting a Schedule

I have to agree. You are lucky with the nightime sleeping. thats suuuuuch a blessing. Every baby is different. Although it would be more convenient for baby to sleep in two shifts, many many many babies just dont do this. Did your first do this? My first did, but now my second just takes 10-20 minute catnaps like yours. Does he have a bouncer or swing you put her in so you have more time to get things done? i'm not sure what else to tell ya! i'd be afraid of messing with that wonderful nightime rest your getting!

C.,

I have a three month old (just turned three mos) and we are in a similar boat. I don't have an answer to "fix" the napping. I honestly believe that for us swaddling REALLY does help as does a sound machine to drown out some of the daytime household noises. Our baby will still startle himself awake...he hasn't slept enough and will be crabby. So we swaddle him for almost every nap and at night.

My baby does wake a couple of times a night to feed, but he eats and goes right back down. He just recently started having one LONG nap a day, it's still not consistently at a particular time, but I am grateful that he is a good sleeper.

I think some of these things just need to develop over time.

Since she's doing incredibly well at nighttime sleeping, I would leave her naps alone. I have a 3 1/2 yr. old & 14 mo. old. I've learned over & over again "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." My son was a 40min. napper & great nighttime sleeper. My daughter a 2-3 hour napper & not a good nighttime sleeper. I think the nighttime sleep is the most important & if you influence her naps, you may consequently affect her nighttime sleep. As long as she's playing ok between naps & not super cranky, I would let her take her short naps & enjoy your undisturbed sleep at night!

T.
www.mydiaperbabycakes.com

I always give the unasked for advice. Life is short. You enjoy your children and if your dishes go a couple of extra days so what. If you have to wear the same pants so what. You are very lucky baby sleeps at night. But the time passes and your children grow up and you are me wondering why I felt i had to change naptimes and clean a lot. I have two sons, one who left for the service and just came back after a six year stint. I had cancer this summer. I am happy to be alive. Enjoy your children, this will pass and the next thing you will want to know how to get a forteen year old out of bed for school. Give yourself a hug from me.

You totally need to get the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth and read it cover-to-cover! It will be such a great help for you and her.

It sounds like you are doing a lot of things right: go to bed awake and fall asleep on her own, 12 hours at night, making good use of the awake time - right on and kudos!

A few things to keep in mind - at 4 months, she is probably RIGHT at the beginning of developing a good, strong morning nap. Work on that one first. After she wakes up in the morning, start soothing her down after about 2 hours of playing. Look for signs of drowsiness and follow her lead if she can't make it 2 hours (don't force her to be up 2 hours if she's ready to sleep; this will lead to overtiredness, fighting taking the nap, and possibly a shortened nap). Use a consistent pre-nap soothing routine (since she's great at self-soothing and going to bed drowsy but awake, this doesn't have to be long, just consistent). Finally, at about four months this morning nap starts to emerge so although she might not 'go the distance' just yet...keep in mind she's probably ALMOST ready to do so!

Feel free to PM me with questions you might have. We had fantastic success with our first child (although we started the nap schedule at 6 months and not 4 months). Now that we have a 3-week old, we are totally in tune with our child's sleep cues and need to sleep and even though he is only 3 weeks old, his sleep patterns while not yet solidified are exceptionally predictable and he follows a great, self-directed routine because we're very vigilant about watching for cues and respecting his need for sleep.