Daytime Nap Routine

[Peggy]

Hi there,

I'm looking for a bit of advice/opinions. My little boy is 5 months old, he sleeps well overnight - from 6.45ish until 7ish with a dreamfeed at 10ish, but we have no consistent nap routine for during the day - we go to a few classes/playgroups at various times during the week and I visit family/friends who live an hour away once or twice a week too meaning he sleeps in his pram/car seat a lot. We are out and about a lot which we both enjoy, I just wondered if not having a daytime nap routine would cause any issues down the line, I have found that on days when we are in the house he will not nap in his cot for any length of time, I usually have to take him for a walk or rock him in his pram which is a bit of an issue as it's tricky to get any housework etc done. I just wondered what other people's experiences were and if you had any advice? X

 

[Peggy]

Also I wondered do day time naps increase in length as they get older naturally or is this something you need to work at - my little boy generally won't sleep for any longer than 45mins but he does this up to 4 times a day but this could be partly my fault as we're out in the car/pram so often, I know every baby is different, I just want to get the right balance with going out and making sure he is getting good quality sleep. X

 

[Colleen1988]

My LO is the same as yours, sleeps great at night but has no nap routine what so ever, he does sleep in the day in total about 2.5 hours, one morning nap and one afternoon nap! He's 6 months now but he never naps at the same time or for the same length of time lol. I gave up trying to get him into a daytime nap routine, I just let him do what he wants xxx

 

[candymycandy]

From memory I think 5m is still quite young for a consistent nap routine? It is well worth seeing what he falls into at home if you can do this for a few days, you can then work your classes etc in around this where possible. Sounds like he's probably used to the car/Pram naps so maybe persevering in the house with the cot could be a plan for this reason too? I was in your position but found this approach sort of helped him fall into a routine (on normal days!). My lo has only ever been a cat napper too (post newborn stage), you may find he may start to nap longer or he may not. Sorry that's probably not helpful!! x