late arvo/early evening nap - what to do?
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Topic: late arvo/early evening nap - what to do?
Posted By: Bexee
Subject: late arvo/early evening nap - what to do?
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 5:59pm
| My 3.5 month old has been needing to go down for a nap at about 4.30 or 5.30 the past few evenings. He's so exhausted and I feel mean keeping him up, as his bedtime is normally somewhere between 8pm and 9pm. But I'm worried these evening naps are affecting his night sleep... so do I try to keep him up or go with it? He doesn't have a routine by way of times for sleeps during the day, we tend to just work on his tired signs. |
Replies:
Posted By: skp
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 6:50pm
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sleep promotes sleep, I would def let him sleep.
Why not make his bed time a bit earlier though? our DD goes to bed at 6.30 - 7 and sleeps 13-14hrs a night ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 7:00pm
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Yep I would go for an earlier bedtime too, both mine are in bed by 6.30-7pm.
Depending on his other sleeps you could try putting him down about 3ish so that he is back up again earlier so is tired again by 7ish. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 7:25pm
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C's bedtime has always been around 7pm so for us that meant letting him have that late arvo nap if needed but I always got him up by 5.30 so he'd be ready for bed again by 7pm.
Perhaps if you moved bedtime forward a bit you could keep him up longer or feel better about getting him up from the nap earlier IYGWIM? ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: MrsH
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 7:51pm
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I usually put DS down for a nap at about 430ish and get him up at about 530. That way he's refreshed enough to have a bath and a good feed before bedtime at about 730 but not so refreshed that he doesn't need to go down two hours later IYKWIM.
He's up at 7am-ish and some days he'll have long nap, short nap, short nap or he'll have short nap, long nap, short nap. Sometimes he'll go without that last nap but will be super grizzly by bedtime. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: palomino
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 8:06pm
| I cant even remember, but shouldnt a 3 month old only be up for an hour or so at a time? |
Posted By: bun_in_the_oven
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 9:04pm
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yup plunket advice is keep them up for an hour max.. and sleep does promote sleep - i wasnt convinced but decided to give it a go..
Had great results...Quinn has a much better routine and is more content now as for the late arvo sleep, i would put them down for the nap.. then after being up for an hour put them back to bed for the night. good luck |
Posted By: MrsMojo
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 9:15pm
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At 3mo DS was going for his late afternoon nap at 4:30pm and I'd wake him at 5:15pm for his bath and bedtime routine then put him to bed for the night at 7pm. It's only been the last week that we've skipped the 4:30pm nap and even then there have been a couple of days when he's had 20 min snoozes to help get him through from 3pm - 7pm. As others have said sleep breeds sleep. -------------  
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Posted By: HippyMama
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 10:39pm
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My Miss 4mo still needs a catnap around the 5-6pm mark, and for this I usually just pop her in a sling and get on with dinner etc as I know it will be a short one, then her bedtime is right after we put Miss 3yo to bed around 7:30/8pm. ------------- Mama to two earth walkers & two angels. Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience; You are raising a human being. ~ Kittie Franz Next Slingbabies! Meet - Friday 4th May !! |
Posted By: Bel
Date Posted: 24 November 2009 at 12:45pm
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My nearly 8mth old is still having that afternoon sleep - she has a small nap in the morning, big slep (2+hrs) at lunch and then 45 minutes at 4ish. I would think that because he is still so young he would definteily need another sleep. ------------- Mum to two beautiful kids 
Luke (09.11.2007) Amy (01.04.2009) |
Posted By: hannibal
Date Posted: 25 November 2009 at 9:23pm
| Hi, have a look at thesleepstore.co.nz - has some great tips etc. I found it great when I had bubs as I was totally clueless. |
Posted By: kmarie
Date Posted: 26 November 2009 at 9:02pm
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BecM, if what you're doing at the moment is working, then maybe it's just worth keeping at it for a bit longer. At that age Bethany would sleep late avo as well, then go to bed around 8/9. It just seemed to work for her. And unlike what everyone else is saying here, sleep never seemed to breed sleep for her - she always liked to do things differently!
We gradually brought her bedtime earlier, and one way we did it was by shortening the afternoon sleep. I felt it would be too cruel to put her to bed then get her up, so I'd put her in the sling and get things done around the house (or just sit on ohbaby lol) until I knew I needed to wake her so she'd still go to bed when we needed her to. I will admit that we had sleeping issues with her from this point onwards, it seemed to start from her 3mth growth spurt, but regardless of what we did then, since 6mths old she's been going to bed at 6-7pm and now sleeps anywhere from 11.5-12.5hours overnight. So in the long run, I say take everything that's being said on board, but go with your gut cuz after all, you're his mum :) Let us know how you go! x ------------- 
twins in heaven Oct07 Is 40:11 "He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart." |