How Long Between Naps

My 10-month-old wakes up around 8 a.m. everyday and usually takes his first nap around 9:30/10 and naps for 2-2 1/2 hours ... his next nap ranges anywhere from 2:30-4 and he naps usually around 2 hours at this time as well. I base his afternoon nap when he seems to be getting tired. :-)

From the time my 12 month old was about 5 mos until just recently he'd nap twice a day, about 2.5-3.5 hours apart. Sometimes when I know that he is tired but I want to stretch out the time a bit I take him outside for a walk, or some other kind of change of scenery to buy some more time.

a baby... will usually get tired/sleepy, after 2 hours of "awake" time.
for this age, even a bath is an 'activity.'
Also, they get over-tired and over-stimulated easily at this age.
Then they get fussy... because they are already over-tired.
Over-tired babies/children do NOT sleep well, nor fall asleep well and have a harder time sleeping well.

For the 1st year, my kids napped 3 times a day. At that age.

Your baby is tired. Needs to nap.
If not, it makes it worse.

My son as a baby, had that late afternoon nap at that age... it was fine. He needed it. If you make them not nap... it makes it worse.
If they need to nap, they need to nap.

everything I have read so far says in the first year there is 1-2hours of wakefullness. Once I started watching for my sweeties tired cues all crankiness seemed to disappear (until she started teething 3 days ago)

you need to read teh book Healthy sleep habits happy child by Weissblth.

basicly infants shouldnt be awake more than 2 hours at a time.

they need to sleep.. many babies take a short nap at 500 or 530 or they go to bed at 630 or 700 pm sound like your child is over tired and needs more sleep.

at 9 months my kids took 2 naps. i wasn't on a time schedule but more of a routine. the first nap came quick, after about 2 hours of awake time. then like you, i tried not to put them down until 2pm or later for the second nap. it really depended on how cranky they were, how early they got up, had colds etc. it sounds like you're doing great. as long as she is getting good sleep, you're fine.

My 10 month old doesn't have a strict nap schedule. But there is definitely a "trend" to the madness of our days. She wakes around 7 am and I can usually get her down for 20 min. - 1.5 hr about 3 hours later. In the afternoon, after about 1 or 2 pm, she sleeps for another 1-2.5 hrs. She sometimes, not often, takes a short nap if I nurse her in the evening after dinner between 5:30-6:30. Then then it's nurse and bedtime between 8-8:30. I try to be consistent to give her the best chance for a nap, but sometimes it just won't happen either because of our schedule or because she's distracted by her toys and everything else in the world. If I see her rubbing her eyes or getting fussy and act quickly, it usually works. I've had many a rough day and a few tears over the nap thing. Especially when I see her struggling and when I'm trying to get some work done.

my baby usually goes 2.5 to 3 hrs between naps. if i put him down before then he just plays in his crib. he is ten months old and usually sleeps about one hour during nap time...sometimes 1.5. which doesn't seem like much but he sleeps 13-14hrs at night straight through

Check out the book Sleepeasy Solution. They have great charts and info for how long your child should be awake between each sleep period (nap and overnight) and how long they should sleep for each time.

The book itself uses crying it out as their method, which I know a lot of people don't agree with. So even if you don't like their methods, they give great advice on when to sleep.

K.
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My son is almost 10 months old and have gone from 3 naps to 2 naps more than a month ago. He usually wakes up at 6:30 to 7am but sometimes he would be awake at 4am but we put him down to sleep at least til 6am. He takes a nap at 9am and then his second nap is at 2:30pm or 3pm. He sleeps for one to one and a half hour each nap but usually one hour. So he is awake for a long time between his first and second nap but we try to put him down earlier for his second nap and he won't have it so 3pm works for him.