Shorten morning nap to encourage long lunchtime nap, or just let baby sleep what she wants? Opinions, please:)

[Buzzy]

Dear mummies and daddies,

Could I get your opinions on what I should do with my LOs daytime naps? She's 7 months old and usually sleeps for about an hour at 9am, an hour at noon and half an hour at 4pm. I'm following Lisa Clegg's Blissful Baby Expert book quite closely, and her advice has been pretty solid in every aspect. Except, she strongly recommends a short morning nap of 30 min (or less) and a long lunchtime nap of at least 2 hours. I really struggle to achieve this, and I don't want to do crying it out during the day to lengthen her lunchtime nap. She can resettle herself between sleep cycles at night, because she sleeps for 11 hours solid, but at lunchtime, she just seems to wake up at the end of each sleep cycle, instead of resettling. She seems in a good mood when she's awake, so I'm thinking she's getting adequate amounts of sleep. But a good long lunchtime nap would fit better with the nursery routine I'm hoping to send her to when she's a year old. What do all you other parents do? Shorten the morning nap to make sure baby is tired enough for a long lunchtime nap, or do you just let sleeping babies lie?

Thanks all in advance,

[Hidden]

Finley is 9 months he sleeps 11hrs and has a 2hr nap frm 9 then an hr frm 2 and thts it till bed. I dont let him nap after 4 or b4 9.. if u think u can easily change it then do but she sounds happy.. by the time nursery happens she may hav adjusted the routine herself. . Now finley is climbing. . Crawling etc hes soo tired tht its obv helping him sleep x

[babesinbrum]

Hi buzzy,

My LO is also 7 months old & she pretty much sounds fairly simular to your Lil one in regards to the sleep pattern as i find my daughter can sleep from 1:30 to 2:am straight through onto 6am & then stay awake up to "or just after" 9am to take about a 30 min to 45mins nap.

As i find she seems to nap in average every 4 to 5 hours i personally just let her be as she seems to be fairly active with her older sibling when awake & will at least have had a Lil snack in the time of awake-ness.

Of course it's up to you but as long as she seems to be fine with the amount or duration of nap i don't see an issue.

xx

[Jacksonla]

It sounds like she's doing fine with the naps as they are! As ceribean said, once she becomes more active nap times & length will probably change themselves anyway so don't feel like you have to change now to fit into a possible nursery routine.

My LO is 7 months as well. His daytime naps are hit & miss but he generally has 1-2 hours at about 9.30am then maybe the same again at about 1.30-2pm then maybe 30 mins at about 5pm but that's only if he's not had much of an afternoon nap (sometimes he can do as little as 30 mins at lunchtime). Then he goes to bed about 7.30-8pm and does a 9 or 10 hour stretch x

[Lynstoun]

I'd say go with it. I think you'll find it will change of its own accord. My LO is 9 months and has dropped the late afternoon nap. She's been doing 9 - 10.30 then 2 - 3. She's never slept for two hours during the day. Maximum is 1.5 and she is crawling now. I've found her awake window lengthening and I expect she'll drop the morning sleep at sometime and that's when the longer lunchtime sleep comes in. Today she only slept 40 mins in morning so went down earlier and has so far been asleep for an hour and 15 mins. I love it when she's in a clear pattern and it's predictable but have learned to adapt! I did try shortening the morning one for a short spell but she didn't sleep any longer at lunch and was mega grumpy. She also sleeps from 7pm to 7am. X

[scoffcat]

My LO is 5 months and has 2 hrs from 9am and an hour around 3pm. He is definitely more tired and needs a longer nap in the morning. I'd say go with what suits her best rather than try to force a change.