Tell me about your three nap schedule for your baby.

[Anonymous]

My baby is 3 months old with no clear nap schedule but I would like to implement one. He has an older sibling which makes putting him on a schedule a little harder but we would like to try to have sone three nap structure. Baby usually wakes up at 7:00/7:30 am.

[Anonymous]

What time does your DC go to sleep at night? My DS was close to 7-7 at 12 weeks. His nap schedule was 8:30/9 - 10/11, 1-3, and 4:30-5:30. I have a singleton, so I didn't have to work around another DC schedule. You may want to see where you have pockets during the day to realistically have DC2 nap. Keep in mind that at your DS age he shouldn't be awake more than 2 hours.

[Anonymous]

Second the bedtime question.

We didn't move to 3 naps until 5 months (had a chronic catnapper until 7 months), so at that point I was keeping her awake a bit longer. At 3 months I'd aim for something like 1-1.75 hours awake between naps, and I've read that most babies like the shortest awake intervals in the morning.

Does he have any clear pattern of how long he naps or when he seems drowsy? Since I have a singleton also I could flex and just use time awake between naps rather than a by the clock schedule.

[Anonymous]

I have a 3 month old and the naps are 8:45ish-10ish, 1-3:15, ans she needs one by 4:45 but that usually doesnt happen with dinner prep/older kids homework going on, so she's exhausted by bedtime. On days when she has had a 3rd nap, she sleeps 8-7:15. On days without the 3rd nap, 6:30-6:30.

[Anonymous]

Have a 3 month old and a 22 month old. Here's what works for us to give the baby some good naps and the toddler time out of the house:

Wake up: 7am
AM nap for baby: 8:15-10:15
Get out of the house and play/run errands (baby usually takes a 20-30 min. catnap sometime while we are out): 10:30-12:15ish
PM nap for both: 1ish-4ish
Bedtime for baby: 6:30pm
Bedtime for toddler: 7:30pm
Baby usually just wakes once, around 3 am for a feeding

[Anonymous]

I would LOVE to implement a nap schedule for my 3 month old, too, since I too have an older child and would like things to be more predictable for outings and such...but alas, she does not nap for longer than 40 minutes, and becomes incredibly fussy after this brief nap if up for longer than 90 minutes. Has your baby demonstrated readiness to consolidate naps at all? Even with a little nudge-- pacifier or nursing or rocking mid-nap? Doesn't yet work for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would LOVE to implement a nap schedule for my 3 month old, too, since I too have an older child and would like things to be more predictable for outings and such...but alas, she does not nap for longer than 40 minutes, and becomes incredibly fussy after this brief nap if up for longer than 90 minutes. Has your baby demonstrated readiness to consolidate naps at all? Even with a little nudge-- pacifier or nursing or rocking mid-nap? Doesn't yet work for us.

Thank you for all the responses... Very helpful! Baby goes to bed anywhere between 7:30-8:30. We have been loose with this because DH likes to see baby if he comes home from work at a decent hour.
Baby really hasn't slept in his cot for longer than 30 mins and is definitely a cat mapper. When I put baby in the carrier or we are walking outside with the stroller baby will nap for a good two hours.

[Anonymous]

We had a lot of success with the 2-3-4 schedule (first nap 2 hours after waking in morning, second nap 3 hours after waking from first nap, and third nap four hours after waking from second nap).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of success with the 2-3-4 schedule (first nap 2 hours after waking in morning, second nap 3 hours after waking from first nap, and third nap four hours after waking from second nap).

At 3 months your baby could stay awake for 3 and 4 hours without getting overtired? My 11 month old can just now do 4 hours and couldn't do 3 until around 7 months!

[Anonymous]

Most babies don't consolidate their naps until 6 months. Your baby is probably not physiologically ready for 3 naps. She needs to sleep every 2 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What time does your DC go to sleep at night? My DS was close to 7-7 at 12 weeks. His nap schedule was 8:30/9 - 10/11, 1-3, and 4:30-5:30. I have a singleton, so I didn't have to work around another DC schedule. You may want to see where you have pockets during the day to realistically have DC2 nap. Keep in mind that at your DS age he shouldn't be awake more than 2 hours.

So you did not have night feeding at 3 months? How did you do that? That sounds wonderful... My twins are 3 months and after going to bed around 7pm, still wake around 1am, and then again around 5 or 6am... I believe it is too early for sleep training? Of course they were 5 weeks premature, so really they are only two months old, but even at 3 months, I didn't think I could sleep train.

[Anonymous]

3 months is waaaaaay to early to sleep train folks!! Don't do it. Definitely not good for the baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a lot of success with the 2-3-4 schedule (first nap 2 hours after waking in morning, second nap 3 hours after waking from first nap, and third nap four hours after waking from second nap).

At 3 months your baby could stay awake for 3 and 4 hours without getting overtired? My 11 month old can just now do 4 hours and couldn't do 3 until around 7 months!

Ugh! Sorry but I missed the part about only 3 months old. Guess I'M the one who needs three naps a day. No, at three months we weren't on a good 2-3-4 sleep routine with fixed naps.

[Anonymous]

I've always just put the baby to sleep when he seemed tired. I'm not being sarcastic, I swear. I didn't know how to go about it any other way. As I got better at noticing those pre-tired hints from the baby, I'd put him in for a nap when he was ready, and he naturally settled into a routine of three naps per day, but yes, older than 3 months.

[Anonymous]

3 months is too young. Just when he's sleepy - put him down.

Eventually it should move to three naps.