It seems like sleep is one of the things that everyone talks about.....I have twin boys who are seven months old. They have started taking significantly shorter naps, but still 3 naps (9am, 12:30, and 4pm approximately with a 6:30/7pm bedtime). When and how do we phase out the 3rd nap. I'm wondering if it is interfering with their night time sleep. They have never been good sleepers in that they have a hard time staying asleep and sometimes a hard time getting to sleep. They had "colic" and we are still dealing with significant GERD issues. All that to say that although they haven't exactly "mastered" sleep it seems like they were starting to do a little better and have now regressed again. Any thoughts or resources?
With my triplets, I switched them to two naps a day at 6 months old (one morning and one afternoon nap). They took longer naps and slept all night finally. Good luck!
unless they aren't sleeping well at night for you, I would let them tell you when to phase out a nap. I never stopped giving my kids naps. They just stopped needing them, and you will know when that's necessary. Some babies need more sleep than others. They're doing a lot of growing as babies. I just know that sleep is very necessary for growing and healing.
good luck!
Fortunately, my son didn't have GERD or colic. But when he was seven months old I had him on a 2-3-4 sleep schedule. I read it on a blog and I wish I would have bookmarked the page, but I never did!
For the 2-3-4 schedule I would put my son down for his first nap around two hours after he woke up, his second nap would be three hours after waking up from his first nap, and his bedtime would be four hours after waking up from his second nap. The hours don't have to be set in stone. My son's bedtime is five hours after waking from his second nap. It took about a week to get him adjusted, but it has worked really well for us.
Good luck!
With a 6:30-7:00 bedtime, I would try to phase out the late afternoon nap. You can do this gradually by pushing the morning nap back a half hour at a time each week. This in turn, should push the after lunch nap back accordingly. Ideally then, eventually they would sleep longer in the afternoon and then be ready for bedtime after your routine after dinner. Good luck!
For 9mo old still does 3 naps a day and goes to bed 6:30/7. In my opinion sleep during the day = better sleep at night. We have the most trouble when our LO is over tired. Our ped said they'll let you know when they're ready to get rid of it. Good luck!
Kudos to you for making it thru colic and GERD with TWINS! Our younger son also had those issues. He is 11 months old now. I would say that by 7 months our son was doing 2 naps with the later one ending about 3:00. Depending on when he woke up from that second nap he would have a bedtime between 6 and 7:45! So we had a big range. He slept best when he started sleeping at 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Now he has been sick for about a month and teething, so he is back to waking up durig the night. Oh, and he is no longer in the mood for 2 naps per day anymore. ;)
We've found that whenever we have sleep issues with our kids that a visit to the chiropractor does wonders. I suggest getting them adjusted. It usually improves all areas of their life.
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