8Month Old Refusing Naps!

It is time to cut out the nap. If you lie down with her and read a story and she doesn't fall asleep, she isn't tired. Don't push it, she'll adjust. She is growing up! Maybe let her have some quiet time in her room, not necessarily a nap.

well, my 2 yrs old dont have nap time at all and she always full of energy, since she was 6 months. She goes to sleep at 9pm and wake up 9am. My 3 months old take only 1 nap, normaly 2 hs nap. I put her for sleep at 8pm and she wake up at 11am, and her nap time its 2pm at 4pm.
Every Kid its diferent. My opinion, she have more that enoght nap time.

hi K., it sounds as if she's transitioning into a new phase (which babies do about every other day) and you're somehow invested in keeping her in one she's finished with. if she's fighting a third nap, why so convinced that she must have one?
and why so set on it that you actually plan her feeding schedule around it?
way too much planning, babes. babies change. let go the insistence on things being just so, and enjoy the flow.
it will probably also do you worlds of good to let her sleep without a bottle, and introduce some noise and light and activity into the process. after all, you probably really don't WANT your baby to sleep only at specifically proscribed times and under strictly controlled circumstances, do you?
toss that baby in a backpack and let her nap during a fireworkds display!
:) khairete
S.

Babies can't tell time very well. They are all unique and their needs change as they grow and they grow a lot the first couple of years. Just because "the book" says she needs 3 naps does not mean she needs nap. She did not come off an assembly line in a factory. I would relax and enjoy your baby and put her down for a nap when she seems tired.

As children get older they will take less naps. Your child is at the age that my three were when they (all 3 of them) started taking only one nap a day. It is good that she/he sleeps through the night

Give up one of her naps. My oldest started taking only 1 nap a day at 9 months. Also, it is a really bad habit to let your child take a bottle to bed

why are you so sure she needs 3 naps? that could be the problem. all babies are different and she may just not need 3 naps anymore. my youngest went from 2 naps to 1 nap before he was 1, which seemed may early but it was what he needed. i would also try to break the pattern of her "having to go down w/ a bottle." maybe she needs the bottle to help knock her out because she's really not ready for a nap? i would delay the mid-morning nap and eliminate the 2nd, making the 3rd nap a little earlier. hope that helps.

There seems to be a general idea of how much an infant "should" sleep, but as is with each adult, we require different amounts. I was amazed to find out how long children of other moms I knew still napped, when both of my girls stopped napping around 1 year old! They slept 12 hours each night, and didn't seem tired, so all was good! Your baby is already 8 months old, she is getting bigger...growing up (a smidge)! Her body is changing, and so will her sleeping patterns. That will be a constant throughout raising her. If her body is getting enough, she is fine. When she goes down earlier, is she waking up earlier as well?
If needed, here are some things I did with my daughters...one fell asleep to a CD playing softly in her room every night, the other loved listening to the running faucet. Have you tried rocking her as well? If her sleeping patterns are a bit crazy right now, she is probably trying to get into what feels right for her right now...give her some time and it will get better!
Good luck!
K.

She probably doesn't need 3 naps a day at this point. Especially if she is sleeping 12 hours at night. That is alot of sleep! Maybe she is refusing the naps because she is wanting to spend some time with you. Also, I would be very careful to put her to bed with a bottle. We made that mistake with our oldest and now she has dental issues. It's not worth it. Good luck!

All I can tell you is what we did. We only did two naps a day at that age. A mid-morning one & then one after lunch. My daughter's bedtime was between 6:30-7. If your child is tired before 7p, then you need to adjust that by putting her to bed earlier.

Right shortly after, around 10 months, she dropped the morning nap.

My youngest was in bed by 6:00 for.... I can't even tell you how long. It was probably just this summer that he started staying up till 7:00, and now he can even go to 8:00 if he needs to. He still wakes up usually by 6:00AM no matter what time he goes to bed. (He's 2 1/2.) My neighbor's daughter is the same age and when I was putting my son to bed at 6:00 her daughter had already been in bed for at least a half hour. She now usually goes by 7:00. One thing with kids -they are CONSTANTLY CHANGING.

she is just changing her sleep pattern perhaps. as they get older their sleep habits change. she will not keep the 3 naps a day thing forever. Maybe try to keep her napping a little longer on the 2 other naps. Good luck...sleep patterns are the hardest thing to adjust to.

K.,
Every kid has their own nap schedule and if she's tired, she'll sleep. There is no "should" for the amount of each nap.

My daughter always took really short naps -- 2 45-minute naps (rarely longer) until she was about 13 months old. At that time, she went down to one nap, which is about 2 hours. She is also a good sleeper at night. Our ped said that some kids just chunk all their sleep together at night, which is what we should want them to do.

As far as her bedtime, if she wants to go to bed early, put her down. She knows when she is tired.

Best of luck.

If your girl is 8 months, sleeping 12 hrs at night and taking 2 naps, that sounds perfectly normal. Most babies aren't doing 3 naps at 8 months. Can you put her down earlier for the first nap? That way, she will be more tired for the second. Good luck!

I agree with the other posters on here - your baby sounds like she needs only two naps a day, and should be going to bed earlier than 7pm.

Not sure why you think these things are mandatory (3 naps and staying up until 'at least' 7pm), but one thing I know for sure - every baby/child is unique and we as parents need to adapt our expectations to that.

My girls, for example need/love their sleep. Both have slept through the night from an early age (at 3 months, 11-12 hours), 6:30 was my oldest's bedtime until she was one or so, then we moved later gradually. She's 4 1/2 now, wakes up about 7:30am and has a bedtime of 8pm and still takes a nap of 2-3 hours every other day or so. By next year when she starts kindergarten she'll probably have done away with the naps altogether, but who knows?

My youngest just turned one this month - she's been on a two nap schedule for about 6 months now - 10am to noon and then again 3pm to 5/5:30pm every day. She's also in bed by 7:15/7:30 every day (and also wakes up about 7:30am.)

None of my friend's kids sleep/nap as much as my kids do - most gave up their naps entirely before they were two! My girls are both happy and healthy and right on track developmentally - they just love sleep, just like their mother! = ) So, relax about it all and do what is right for your baby - if she is telling you she is tired - put her down earlier to sleep. Sounds like she is definitely telling you she only wants two naps!

PS - I'm also a big fan of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child!

Good luck!

We still put our 2 yo to bed at 630 (used to be 615 when he was younger), he usually sleeps through until 630-7 the next morning. Babies at this age usually only need 2 naps, sometimes only 1. I would put her to bed earlier, especially if she is done. If you keep her up, she will not get the sleep she needs. Get her sleeping good with an earlier bedtime and then slowly move her bedtime back. She could also have some teething issues.

Around 8 months is when my daughter went from 3 naps to 2. It was a ROUGH month. She always seemed tired (eye rubbing,yawning) but wouldn't go down. Once I finally stopped forcing that 3rd nap, she adjusted to the two and is much happier now.

good luck!

Great book... Healthy sleep habits, happy child by Marc Weissbluth. It sounds like your little one isn't napping well in the afternoon because she is overtired by the time you put her down... also she should really be learning to fall asleep on her own by this stage and not going down on a bottle. Helping her learn self soothing skills now will really pay off in the long run whereas you won't have a 4 year old that needs you to lay in bed with her until she falls asleep :)

Sounds to me like your little one is trying to tell you she is ready to give up that third nap during the day. By 8 months my youngest was down to one nap at about 11:30, that lasted about 2 and 1/2 hours. She was going to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 and sleeping until around 7am when I had to make her wake up to go to day care. One thought that I have is if you can get your little one to stay awake a bit later in the morning, and then give her another nap before dinner, it might help get her into a routine that will fit her body's needs. In the day care, the 8 month olds are beginning to cut out the third nap during the day. Some of them still do very well with just one nap, but others still need that afternoon "pick me up".

I have to agree with the other ladies and say that your daughter probably doesn't need 3 naps anymore. She might take 2 slightly longer naps suring the day. My kids, almost 4 and 2, take a nap still and it is usually 2 to 3 hours long. The naps did change a lot though. One other thing, I would suggest introducing some noise while the baby is sleeping. It is good for kids when they can sleep through noise. Say you have another baby and it cries during the night or naptime then you want your other child to sleep through that.

hi K.- she is probably ready to cut out that third nap. esp if she's sleeping 12 hours a night. in order to adjust she might need to go to bed earlier (my 13 month old still goes to bed for good at 6:30- she just can't stay up any later) it might take her some time before she gets everything set. you also probably want to wean her off the bottle before bed- in a few months she'll be off the bottle completely, and she should learn to get to sleep without a bottle. Just curious- why do you refuse to put her to bed before 7? kids need a lot of sleep, esp when they are growing so fast in the first year. As long as she wants to be sleeping (and not the other way around) let her dictate. :)

IT sounds like you're doing great! If she's sleeping 12 hours at night and having an hour nap during the day, if she gets one more nap, she's getting her 14 hours right there. Some babies just do things a little differently. Kinda roll with the bedtime. Sometimes I would put my daughter to sleep around 7, then 7:30, then 6:30, then 8pm(these were over the course of several days to a week) when she was this age. But my daughter didn't sleep all the way thru the night. She's probably just getting a lot of her sleep then. Count your blessings that you get to sleep thru the night!
A.