How Do I Know What Type of Napper My Son Is?

If you can get him to go back down for another sleep cycle with minimal intervention, then I would continue to do so. Typically, they will go back to sleep for another sleep cycle, but not always. If you encourage it now, it will get easier. I would NOT spend an inordinate amount of time fighting with him trying to get him to go back to sleep if he just won't. My daughter was the former, my son was the latter. Do what works for your family.

I agree with Victoria W. Another thing to look for are signs of being "overtired." As long as he isn't too fussy and generally seems like a happy baby, he's probably getting enough sleep. I had to accept the fact that my older son did not require as much sleep as other babies and certainly not as much as I wanted him to need :-)

thats fine if you let him fuss for a few minutes normally i do the same with my daughter in the morning if its before she normally wakes up by a couple hours then after 15-20 minutes of her fussin i will go and get her

Are they still tired after that 45minutes? Then they should be sleeping more.
Both of my kids FIGHT naps like crazy, but they are bears when they don't.

I usually have to do what you've described above. My 5month old, takes 3.5naps/day.

you are correct and doing the perfect thing!! Good job. You are right that they almost always wake at that point but that doesn't mean they are done. I find that 2 hours is the minimum "good" nap time.

Hi,

Like some of the others said, if he seems happy and is not cranky after he wakes up, then he's fine. The one thing I remember with my little guy was that as soon as I had his sleep schedule figured out (and he was consisent for about a month), then it would change. Seems like every 6-8 weeks it would change, so don't worry too much, just be sure to pay attention when he is awake. Fussiness usually means he's tired, especially if you just did something new or exciting with him, and remember, just about everything is exciting when you are brand new.

My son had sensory integration issues, so any kind of novelty or strong stimulation had the twofold effect of really getting him wound up and happy about the 'new' sensation, while at the same time taxing him in a way that meant he needed rest pretty much right after the fun activity, it just wore him right out, even though he was enjoying it, so for him he needed less stimulation, right away. That meant, a quite room, no lights, no rocking him to rest (that would just keep him from relaxing and passing out, took us a while to figure that one out). He might cry if he was really over done, but it turns out kids like mine cry to block out the other stimulation in the room that is over taxing their little systems. Anyways, you'll be fine, he'll be fine, just do your best to read him and expect it to change as soon as it starts making sense.

Have fun!

Keith

It certainly doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong.At 4 months, my daughter was taking 3-4 naps that were about 45 minutes long each. At that point, (because after 16 weeks babies can handle some CIO) I'd let her fuss for up to 15 minutes to see if she'd settle herself back down, depending on how irate she'd get. After about 6 months, she started to settle down quickly or not wake up at all and we switched to 2 naps that were about 1 1/2 hrs each. At about 14-15 months, her morning nap started to disrupt her afternoon nap (and the afternoon nap was much more important to her late afternoon/early evening happiness). So, we transitioned to just one afternoon nap of 2 to 2 1/2 hrs. And that's where we're at now.

One other sleep thing to note is that at just about 5 months (with 3-4 naps during the day), we started getting a really good nighttime sleep cycle with her going to bed between 6 and 6:30. Yes, that early. She would sleep until 6:30am! So, the earlier she went to bed, the better she slept and the better her naps were during the day. She's also a pretty active kid...always moving, always into something.

Good luck with your little one! A good pattern will develop and as long as you make sure that sleep in a priority (which it sounds like you're already doing :) ), it'll work out.