Article Featured in:Parenting OC Magazine – Ask the Experts October 2011 issue - My 6 Month Old Won't Nap
Article Featured in:Parenting OC Magazine – Ask the Experts October 2011 issue
Nap training is time-consuming, usually involves tears and
is hard on everyone, but once it falls into place both baby and Mommy will enjoy much needed rest during the day!
Originally written for Parenting OC Magazine
Written By: Michelle S. Donaghy
Q: My 6 month old resists or refuses to nap. She sleeps great at night, but naps are a complete nightmare. It feels as if trying to get her to nap has taken over my life. What can I do to help the situation?
A: I know from personal experience how incredibly
frustrating it is to have a baby who doesn’t nap during the day – both of my
children took catnaps until they were approximately 6 months old. You are lucky she sleeps through the night as
most children who take short or skipped naps usually have nightwakings. I know it isn’t logical - but sleep, begets
sleep!
For babies who aren’t
sleeping through the night, I would recommend you solve bedtime and nighttime
issues first. It is critical that your
child be able to fall asleep on her own at bedtime.
If you put your child
down already asleep she misses the opportunity to learn the skill of putting herself
to sleep. Bedtime is the easiest time to
learn this skill. If you rock your child to sleep at bedtime (or
use any sleep crutch) and she sleeps through the night but doesn’t nap well
during the day, you first need to make changes at bedtime. “What happens regarding sleep at night will
definitely affect sleep at other times.” says Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D. author of
How
Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night’s Sleep.
Scheduling and Sleep Windows
The first step is to look at your nap schedule. 6 month old babies need 3 ½ hours of day time
sleep spread over two to three naps, says Dr. Ferber and author of Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. The first two naps should be
approximately 1½-2 hours each. The third
catnap is optional if she sleeps well during the day, but it is a must if the
earlier naps are less than 1 hour each and/or the sleep window is longer than 3
hours from the last nap until bedtime.
Ensure you are watching her sleepy cues and don’t miss her
sleep window. If you wait too long, she
will get her second wind and will be overtired - making it more difficult for
her to fall asleep.
For a 6 month old, (sleeping the recommended 11 hours at
night) her sleep window is 1½-2 hours for morning nap and no more than 3 hours
for afternoon nap(s). For younger
babies, the sleep window is no more than 2 hours and no more than 1½ hours for
newborns. Once she is about 9 to 12 months, she should nap around the same time every day
to help set her internal clock. It is
important to remember that the sleep windows are from the end of one sleep to
the start of another asleep, so leave plenty of time for a short nap time routine.
Wind-down time
Establish a good nap time routine to help her transition from
playtime to sleep time. It can be a
shortened version of her bedtime routine, without the bath or pajamas of
course. You can read a book, sing a
song, and snuggle. Babies need a dark
and quiet sleep environment, therefore I recommend to all my clients that they
install room darkening shades and use a white noise machine for all sleep. Your child should be awake when you put her
down, just like at bedtime.
Drowsy but awake
After your baby’s nap time routine put her into her crib
‘drowsy but awake’ so she can learn to do that last part of falling asleep on her
own. “Imagine a scale of 1 to 10, 1
being wide awake and 10 being a deep sleep,” says Kim West, LSCW-C and author
of The Sleep Lady’s, Good Night Sleep
Tight. You want to put her down for
all sleep about 7 or 8, says West. You can stay nearby the crib and use soothing
techniques such as your physical presence, your voice and your touch to
encourage her to fall asleep. For some
babies; anyone staying in the room gets them more upset - you may want to use
timed checks or soothe from outside the door.
The timing of the checks depends on your child’s temperament and your
tolerance level for tears.
At this age, try for 1 hour to get her to take a nap. For a younger baby, try for 30 minutes. If she doesn’t sleep, watch her sleep cues as
she will be ready much earlier than her usual nap time.
Catnaps
Sometimes your baby may take a 30-45 minute nap, don’t rush
to take her out of her crib. Go to her
and try to soothe her back to sleep. If
she goes back to sleep (even for just 20 minutes), wonderful she did it! If she doesn’t go back to sleep, even after
trying for 30-60 minutes (depending on her age), you will need to adjust her
schedule and shorten the awake windows until she learns to sleep longer. The skill of falling asleep independently
will most likely help her to start to take longer naps on her own.
Originally written for Parenting OC Magazine
Written By: Michelle S. Donaghy
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