The Vital Importance of the First Nap

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The morning nap is one of the most important, if not THE most important, naps your baby will take all day. Learn why and how to get it down well. Why the first nap of the day is the one worth protecting above all others — and how to time it, troubleshoot it, and never accidentally skip it again.

Baby taking a morning nap

Of all the parenting commitments I made when my babies were young, the one I held to most fiercely was this: protect the morning nap at almost any cost. Appointments got rescheduled. Outings got reorganized. We drove a longer route home if it meant arriving before nap time.

That might sound extreme. But once you understand what the morning nap actually is — biologically, not just logistically — you’ll understand why it earned that level of protection in our house. And why disrupting it tends to unravel the rest of the day in ways that no amount of afternoon catching-up can fully repair.

This post covers everything you need to know: the science behind why the morning nap matters most, exactly how to time it at every age, what goes wrong when it’s skipped or poorly timed, and how to troubleshoot common morning nap problems.

What’s Covered

  1. Why the Morning Nap Is the Most Important Nap
  2. The REM Sleep Connection
  3. How the First Nap Sets Up the Entire Day
  4. How to Time the Morning Nap by Age
  5. Signs You’ve Timed It Right (and Wrong)
  6. Common Morning Nap Problems and Solutions
  7. What Happens When You Skip the Morning Nap
  8. When to Drop the Morning Nap
  9. Frequently Asked Questions

Why the Morning Nap Is the Most Important Nap

When parents hear “the morning nap is the most important nap,” the first reaction is often confusion. Surely the longest nap — often the midday or afternoon one — matters more? Or the last nap, which gets baby to bedtime without being overtired?

The morning nap’s importance isn’t about length. It’s about timing and sleep architecture. The morning nap is biologically the closest nap to nighttime sleep, and it shares a key characteristic with it: high proportions of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.

Most parents think of REM sleep primarily in the context of dreaming. But in babies and young children, REM sleep is far more significant than that. It’s the sleep stage most closely associated with brain development, memory consolidation, emotional processing, and nervous system regulation. When babies are learning at the explosive rate they do in their first year — new motor skills, language input, social development, cause-and-effect understanding — REM sleep is when much of that learning gets locked in.

“…the morning nap has more REM sleep than the afternoon nap; this suggests that in some infants, the morning nap may be viewed as a sort of continuation of night sleep.”— Dr. Marc Weissbluth, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, p. 29

This is the key insight. The morning nap isn’t a separate, isolated sleep event — it is functionally a continuation of the night’s sleep. The brain hasn’t finished its overnight work, and the morning nap is where that work gets completed. Interrupting it consistently means interrupting a biological process that your baby’s developing brain genuinely needs.

📖 What This Means Practically Because the morning nap is high in REM sleep, it’s especially restorative for cognitive and emotional development. A baby who consistently misses or shortchanges this nap isn’t just “a little tired” — she’s missing a developmental window that the afternoon nap, which is higher in non-REM deep sleep, cannot fully replace.

The REM Sleep Connection: What It Means for Your Baby

To understand why the morning nap is so special, it helps to understand how sleep cycles work in babies versus adults.

In adults, sleep cycles run roughly 90 minutes and follow a predictable architecture: light sleep → deep (non-REM) sleep → REM sleep → repeat. REM sleep is concentrated in the latter part of the night. This is why people who wake early consistently feel groggy and emotionally off — they’re cutting short their REM-rich sleep.

In babies, sleep cycles are shorter (around 45–60 minutes in young infants) and the ratio of REM to non-REM sleep is much higher — newborns spend approximately 50% of their sleep in REM, compared to about 20–25% for adults. This elevated REM proportion reflects how much brain development is happening.

The morning nap, as an extension of overnight sleep, continues the REM-rich pattern of the night. The afternoon nap, in contrast, tends to be higher in slow-wave (deep, non-REM) sleep — which is more physically restorative and supports growth hormone release, but is a different kind of rest than the morning nap provides.

This is why you can’t simply substitute one for the other. A baby who naps beautifully in the afternoon but consistently skips or shortchanges the morning nap is getting plenty of physically restorative sleep but potentially missing the cognitively and emotionally restorative sleep she needs.

💡 A Useful Analogy

Think of the morning nap as the closing chapter of overnight sleep — a gentle, REM-rich wind-down from the night. The afternoon nap is a separate event: a mid-day recharge. Both matter, but they are not interchangeable. Missing the morning nap is more like cutting overnight sleep short than it is like skipping an optional mid-afternoon rest.

All about the first nap of baby's day. graphic

How the Morning Nap Sets Up the Entire Day

Beyond its sleep architecture advantages, the morning nap plays a structural role in the rest of the day that parents often underestimate until they see what happens without it.

This nap sets the precedent for the rest of the day. That is why I preserve it.

A well-timed, well-executed morning nap accomplishes several things at once:

It anchors the schedule. When the morning nap is consistent — starting around the same time each day and lasting a predictable length — it creates a fixed point from which the rest of the day can be planned. Feeding times, the afternoon nap, and bedtime all fall into place when the morning nap is solid. When the morning nap is chaotic or skipped, everything downstream becomes harder to predict.

It prevents early-morning overtiredness from compounding. Babies have very short wake windows in the early months. A newborn may only be able to handle 30–60 minutes of wake time before she’s overtired. A 3-month-old might manage 60–90 minutes. If the morning nap is delayed — even by 20–30 minutes — a young baby can tip into overtiredness before she’s ever had a chance to start the day well. An overtired baby is harder to settle, sleeps lighter, and wakes sooner. The damage from a poorly timed morning nap ripples through every subsequent nap and into the night.

It makes the afternoon nap easier. A baby who has had a good morning nap is better regulated emotionally and physically by midday, which makes the afternoon nap easier to initiate and more likely to be a full, restorative sleep rather than a short, fragmented one. Many parents who struggle with short afternoon naps don’t realize the problem started that morning.

It protects nighttime sleep. A well-rested baby during the day — especially in the morning — is more likely to sleep well at night. The sleep-begets-sleep principle is real: overtiredness, paradoxically, disrupts rather than improves sleep quality. Protecting the morning nap is one of the most reliable ways to protect overnight sleep.

🔁 The Domino Effect

Morning nap goes wrong → baby is overtired at lunch → afternoon nap is short or skipped → baby is overtired by dinner → bedtime is a battle → overnight sleep is fragmented → baby wakes early → first wake window is extra short → morning nap is hard to time → repeat. Protecting the morning nap is how you interrupt this cycle before it starts.

How to Time the Morning Nap by Age

One of the most surprising things about the morning nap for new parents is how early it comes. Putting a baby down for a nap at 8:30 or 9:00 AM when she only woke at 7:00 or 7:30 AM feels wrong — like you’re rushing her back to sleep before the day has even started.

But this is exactly right. The first wake window of the day is typically the shortest wake window of the day. Remember: morning waking is not a fresh start from a fully rested state. It is the end of a night’s sleep that has gradually lightened toward waking. Your baby’s sleep pressure — the biological drive that makes sleep feel necessary — is lower in the morning than it will be later in the day. That means she genuinely needs to sleep again soon.

I remember talking to a friend on the phone one day as I put Brayden down for his morning nap. It was around 9 AM. She was shocked he was going down for a nap and asked what time he got up in the morning. She didn’t have kids yet and was surprised he would be napping at 9 AM.

The first waketime of the day is often the shortest waketime of the day. Remember, this nap is a continuation of night sleep, so wake time length should not be long.

>>>Read: Optimal Waketime Length: Finding Baby Wake Windows

Here is how to time the morning nap at different ages. These are wake window lengths — the time between waking for the day and going down for the first nap:

AgeMorning Wake WindowExample: Wake at 7 AMExpected Nap LengthNotes
0–6 weeks30–45 minDown by 7:30–7:45 AM1–3 hrs (variable)May barely have a wake time — eat and back to sleep is normal
6–12 weeks40–80 minDown by 7:40–8:20 AM1.5–2.5 hrsStill short; increase gradually as baby shows readiness
3–4 months60–90 minDown by 8:00–8:30 AM1.5–2 hrsBegin to establish more consistent nap timing
5–6 months1.5–2 hrsDown by 8:30–9:00 AM1.5–2 hrsWake windows lengthening; watch sleepy cues closely
7–9 months1.75–2.5 hrsDown by 8:45–9:30 AM1.5–2 hrsTwo solid naps; protect this one
10–12 months2–3 hrsDown by 9:00–10:00 AM1.5–2 hrsApproaching transition; don’t drop yet
13–15 months2–3.5 hrsDown by 10:00–10:30 AM1-2 hrsTransition window — some days 1 nap, some days 2

Note: These are general ranges. Individual babies vary. Always combine these guidelines with your baby’s own sleepy cues (eye rubbing, yawning, decreased activity, staring) — the cues should confirm what the clock is telling you, not override it entirely.

📌 On Four-Hour Schedules

Once your baby moves to a four-hour feeding schedule, the morning wake window will still not always equal two hours. A younger baby on a four-hour schedule might have a 90-minute wake window followed by a 2.5-hour nap. The total time between feeds is four hours, but the sleep portion may be longer than the wake portion. This is normal and appropriate — don’t force baby to stay awake longer just to make the math feel even.

Morning nap is most important infographic with data compiled from this post

Signs You’ve Timed the Morning Nap Right (and Wrong)

Timing is everything with the morning nap. Too early and baby isn’t ready to sleep yet; too late and she’s overtired and harder to settle. Here’s how to read both situations:

  • Good timing: Baby goes down with little or no fussing, falls asleep within 10–15 minutes, sleeps a full nap, and wakes up in a good mood. This is the gold standard. When the morning nap is well-timed, many babies won’t even stir at this nap — they simply go down, sleep, and wake happy.
  • Too late (overtired): Baby is cranky and harder to settle than usual, takes a long time to fall asleep despite obvious tiredness, may fall asleep quickly but then wake after just one short sleep cycle (30–45 min), and wakes up fussier than when she went down. Overtired babies release cortisol to compensate for exhaustion, which interferes with sleep onset and quality.
  • Too early (under-tired): Baby doesn’t seem sleepy when you put her down, talks or plays in the crib for 20+ minutes without falling asleep, or takes an unusually short nap. If this is consistent, try extending the wake window by 10–15 minutes each day until you find the right window.
  • Good overall sign: The afternoon nap also goes smoothly. A well-timed morning nap makes afternoon nap success significantly more likely. If both naps are going well consistently, your timing is likely solid.

>>>Read: How to Tell if Baby is Overtired vs. Undertired

⏱️ The 10–15 Minute Rule

A baby who is put down at the right time should fall asleep within about 10–15 minutes. If she consistently takes longer than 20 minutes to fall asleep, the wake window is probably too short (not tired enough). If she falls asleep in under 5 minutes and wakes early, she may have been overtired. Use this as calibration data to adjust timing by 10–15 minutes in either direction.

The Babywise Mom Nap Guide

The Babywise Mom Nap Guide

The Babywise Mom Nap Guide eBook helps you establish successful naps from birth through the preschool years. It is a great resource!

Gary Ezzo, co-author of Preparation For Parenting and On Becoming Babywise, states: “Whether it is talking about establishing good nap behavior or offering solutions to sleep disruptions, this is a practical resource that I trust and recommend. The book is well laid out and answers just about every question a new or seasoned mom might have about babies, toddlers and sleep. We view this as more than a nap guided; it is a resource of encouragement that comes with compassion.”

Get Your Copy!

Common Morning Nap Problems and Solutions

Problem: Morning nap is consistently short (30–45 min)

This is one of the most common nap complaints and usually means baby is waking at the end of one sleep cycle rather than transitioning into the next. Possible causes: wake window is slightly off (either too short or too long), baby lacks the independent sleep skills to re-settle herself between cycles, the sleep environment has a disruption at the 30–45 minute mark (light, noise, temperature), or baby is genuinely only needing one cycle at this nap.

>>>Read: How to Finally Stop the 45 Minute Intruder

Solution: For the short morning nap

First, audit the sleep environment: check that the room is dark, white noise is running, and the temperature is appropriate. Then review wake window timing — try adjusting by 15 minutes in either direction for several days and observe. If baby wakes after one cycle and calls out, wait 5–10 minutes before going in; some babies will re-settle. If the short nap persists, focus on independent sleep skills during the nap. Read the Complete Troubleshooting Guide for Short Naps for a full workthrough.

Problem: Baby fights the morning nap / won’t fall asleep

If baby seems awake and alert when you put her down and doesn’t fall asleep for 20+ minutes, the wake window is likely too short — she simply isn’t tired enough yet. This is especially common when parents try to keep the morning nap very early because it “worked before,” without accounting for the fact that wake windows lengthen as babies develop. It can also happen around developmental leaps, when baby is simply too mentally activated to wind down.

Solution: For nap resistance

Extend the morning wake window by 10–15 minutes increments until you find the timing that produces a willing, quick-to-sleep baby. Pair nap time with a consistent pre-nap routine (2–3 minutes: diaper change, sleep sack, a brief cuddle or song, into the crib awake). Consistency in the routine signals to baby’s brain that sleep is coming. During developmental leaps, be patient — nap resistance during these windows usually resolves within 1–2 weeks.

Problem: Morning nap time keeps shifting later

As babies grow, their wake windows naturally lengthen, which pushes the morning nap progressively later. This is normal and expected — don’t try to hold the nap at the same time if baby is clearly showing she needs more wake time first. The shift from a 7:30 AM nap at 8 weeks to a 9:30 AM nap at 9 months is appropriate development, not a schedule problem.

Solution: For a shifting nap time

Follow the wake window, not the clock. As your baby’s wake window lengthens (which happens gradually — usually in 10–15 minute increments over weeks), let the nap start time adjust accordingly. Update your schedule every few weeks to reflect where baby actually is, rather than holding to a start time that made sense three months ago. At some point, you will move to a 4 hour feeding schedule.

Problem: Morning nap is great but afternoon nap is short

Counterintuitively, this can sometimes mean the morning nap is going too long, leaving insufficient sleep pressure for the afternoon nap window. If baby consistently sleeps 2+ hours in the morning and then can’t sleep in the afternoon, consider capping the morning nap at 90 minutes to preserve afternoon sleep drive.

Solution: Capping the morning nap

If you suspect the morning nap is crowding out the afternoon one, try waking baby after 90 minutes for a few days and see if the afternoon nap improves. This is especially worth trying with older babies (7+ months) who are on a two-nap schedule. Note: don’t cap the morning nap in the newborn period — young babies need all the sleep they’ll take.

What Happens When You Skip the Morning Nap

Life happens. Appointments run long. Car rides go at the wrong time. The occasional skipped morning nap is not a crisis. But habitually skipping or disrupting the morning nap — for weeks at a time — tends to have predictable, compounding consequences.

Here’s what typically unfolds when the morning nap is consistently disrupted:

Day 1 of a skipped morning nap: Baby is cranky and harder to settle by midday. The afternoon nap may come early and be shorter than usual, or baby may fight it entirely. Bedtime is often moved earlier to compensate. Baby may sleep well that night — the extra tiredness sometimes produces a solid overnight sleep. Don’t let this fool you into thinking skipping the morning nap is fine.

Over several days: Sleep debt accumulates. A baby who is consistently getting less total daytime sleep than she needs will show it in her mood, her feeding, and eventually her nighttime sleep. Cortisol levels stay elevated, which makes all sleep — day and night — shallower and more fragmented. What started as one short afternoon nap becomes chronic early waking, frequent night wakings, and a fussier baby overall.

The trap: When overtiredness causes early morning waking, many parents respond by keeping baby up longer in the morning, reasoning that a later first nap will help her make it through to the afternoon. This strategy sometimes seems to work short-term, but it often backfires — a later morning nap means later afternoon nap means later bedtime, and early morning waking continues because the root cause (sleep debt) hasn’t been addressed.

>>>Read: How to Fix Your Child’s Sleep Deficit

🚗 On Car Rides and Outings

One of the most common ways the morning nap gets accidentally disrupted is a short car nap — 15–20 minutes in the car that “counts” as a nap but doesn’t provide the full rest of a proper crib nap. This is sometimes called a “junk nap.” A car nap short enough to take the edge off baby’s sleep drive without actually completing a full restorative cycle can make the rest of the day harder than if baby had simply stayed awake. When possible, time outings to avoid the morning nap window entirely.

>>>Read: 10 Proven Strategies to Keep Baby Awake in the Car

When to Drop the Morning Nap

Despite being the most important nap of the day during the first year, the morning nap is the nap to go when baby transitions to one nap a day. This transition typically happens between 14 and 18 months, though some babies make the shift as early as 12 months and some as late as 20 months. DO NOT MOVE TOO EARLY. It leasds to sleep deficit.

This feels like a paradox: if the morning nap is so important, why does it get dropped first? The answer is that as babies develop, sleep pressure builds more slowly — they can comfortably stay awake longer. By around 15 months, many babies can manage a 5–6 hour wake window, which means one midday nap is sufficient. The afternoon nap becomes the single nap because it anchors the second half of the day most effectively and bridges to bedtime without the early-morning-waking problem that a single morning nap would cause.

Signs baby may be ready to drop the morning nap:

  • Consistently resisting or refusing the morning nap for 2+ weeks
  • Morning nap has shortened to 30–45 minutes or less and doesn’t improve with timing adjustments
  • If given a morning nap, baby won’t take an afternoon nap at all
  • Baby is 14+ months old and showing the above signs
  • Baby can make it to an 11:00–12:00 PM nap comfortably without being overtired

⚠️ Don’t Drop Too Early

The 8–10 month sleep regression is one of the most common triggers for parents to consider dropping the morning nap prematurely. Baby starts resisting the morning nap, parents assume she’s transitioning, they drop it — and everything gets worse. Resistance to the morning nap during the 8–10 month window is almost always temporary. Don’t drop the morning nap at this age. The Dropping the Morning Nap Full Guide has everything you need for navigating this transition correctly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my baby need a nap so soon after waking up for the day?

Because morning waking isn’t a fresh start from a fully rested state — it’s the natural end point of a night’s sleep that has been gradually lightening. Your baby’s brain hasn’t finished all its overnight work, and the morning nap completes it. The first wake window of the day is genuinely shorter than later ones because sleep pressure (the biological drive to sleep) is lower in the morning. As your baby grows, this first wake window will lengthen — but it will always be shorter than the windows later in the day.

My baby slept well last night — does she really still need the morning nap?

Yes, in almost all cases. A full night of sleep doesn’t eliminate the need for the morning nap — it actually sets it up. The morning nap’s importance isn’t about compensating for a bad night; it’s about completing the sleep architecture that nighttime sleep begins. The REM-rich quality of the morning nap is distinct from what afternoon naps provide, regardless of how well baby slept overnight.

My baby’s morning nap used to be perfect and now it’s suddenly short. What happened?

The most common culprit is a wake window that has quietly outgrown its timing. As babies develop week by week, their ability to stay comfortably awake lengthens — often in 5–15 minute increments that are easy to miss. If the morning nap was working at a 75-minute wake window a month ago and is now consistently short, try extending to 80 or 90 minutes and see if that restores nap quality. Other possibilities: a developmental leap, a new physical skill baby is practicing, or an environmental disruption in the sleep space.

What if our schedule requires us to be out during the morning nap sometimes?

Occasional disruptions are fine — life happens, and babies are adaptable. The goal is to protect the morning nap as a default, not to never leave the house. When you know a disruption is coming, try to ensure it’s genuinely occasional rather than recurring. If baby naps in the car or stroller on a disrupted day, a shorter or lower-quality nap is better than no nap. Get back to your normal routine the following day and give it 1–2 naps to recalibrate.

Is the morning nap or afternoon nap more important?

For babies in the first year on two naps, the morning nap is more important from a sleep quality standpoint — it has higher REM content and serves as a continuation of night sleep. However, the afternoon nap is more important from a schedule standpoint in the toddler years — when baby transitions to one nap, it will be an afternoon nap, not a morning one. Both matter; they serve different purposes. In the first year, prioritize the morning nap. After the transition to one nap, that single afternoon nap becomes the priority.

My baby is 9 months old and started fighting the morning nap. Should I drop it?

Not yet. Morning nap resistance at 8–10 months is extremely common and is almost always a phase — often linked to the 8–10 month developmental leap, increased mobility (crawling, pulling up), or minor schedule misalignment. Hold the morning nap through this phase. Most babies this age still genuinely need it. Try adjusting the wake window slightly and staying consistent with your pre-nap routine. The resistance typically resolves within a few weeks. The right age to drop the morning nap is generally 14–18 months.

Conclusion

The morning nap isn’t just the first nap — it’s the most biologically important nap of the day. Its elevated REM sleep content makes it a genuine extension of overnight sleep, not simply a convenient morning rest. Protecting it means protecting brain development, emotional regulation, and the structural foundation that the rest of the day’s sleep is built on.

Time it right for your baby’s age, read her cues, protect it from unnecessary disruptions, and troubleshoot it before changing anything else when the day falls apart. The morning nap will reward your effort more than any other nap you work to get right.

And when she finally naps beautifully and reliably every morning? Schedule around it. It’s worth it.

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Importance of baby's first nap

This post originally appeared on this blog September 2010

49 thoughts on “The Vital Importance of the First Nap”

  1. This makes me feel better- I think my little guy may be switching to one nap, so I've been trying to push the morning nap later, but he won't have it. I guess it's ok to keep the morning nap around the same time and just skip the afternoon one. Good to know!

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  2. I have a 3 month old. She sleeps well from 8:30pm to 5:30am, she wakes up and I feed her. Then she sleeps until about 8-8:30. I can't get her to nap well during the day. She sleeps about 30-45 minutes for her naps until late afternoon and then she is sleeping from about 4 or 5 to about 7 or 8. Any suggestions on helping her sleep longer during naptime.

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  3. I am so glad I read this post today. I have a 7 week old and her first nap is usually awesome, not a peep is made – like you mentioned in your post. However, the rest of her naps for the day are not so great. She can't seem to transition without waking. When she wakes and cries, I have been letting her cry so she can learn to self soothe. She will never really fall back to sleep though and then the rest of the day is really a wash until we get to bedtime. She will sleep 7-8 hours at a time now and I am really pleased with that. I have her on a 3 hour schedule but just recently (today) moved her to 2 1/2. Actually she moved herself because she has been hungry 1/2 an hour earlier every feeding. She won't take any more per feeding, so I have just been feeding her closer together. Her naps though… I don't know what to do about them. She wakes EVERY SINGLE time she naps except for the first nap (and at night). I know she knows how to transition it just seems like she may be up too long during her waketime. She is a very lazy eater though and it takes about 30-40 minutes to take a bottle sometimes. So by the time I feed her, burp her, change her diaper and swaddle her it is about time to put her back down. Then she doesn't have any real wake time. It is more just like I am feeding her and then putting her to sleep and then that goes against babywise. I did not have this issue with my #1 DD. She did the normal crying for 20-25 minutes at the start of each nap and then slept the remainder of the time. Can you help? Suggestions would be awesome. Thanks!

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  4. I have a 10 week old & we've been doing a great bedtime routine for a while now, just not being totally consistent with actual bedtime. We've now made it about 7:30. Her waketime is 6:30am. She wakes up multiple times in the night (just wakes, not necessarily hungry). Like this am, she last woke up about 5am and I out paci back in to buy time until 630. Should I have her waketime be around 5am and put her back down to sleep?? We set her waketime at 630 as we both work and take her to childcare around 8 or so. Should we change our hours a bit? Anything to help her sleep sounder or longer stretches in the night??

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  5. Kerry, I am sorry if I gave that impression in this post. Once it is time for one nap, it should be in the afternoon, not in the morning. The morning nap goes away when you go to one nap. But as you transition, it might start around 11 am or in the 12 am hour, but you will want to move it to eventually start around 1 PM.

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  6. Jason and Megan, a possible culprit is that waketime length is not right. See the "optimal waketime" label. See also "Naps: Troubleshooting revised and updated" for lots of ideas as to why she might not be napping well.

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  7. Traveling Turtle,Don't worry about her not doing much for waketime. It isn't against BW because she is awake for the diaper change and burping and everything. It is just the way it is right now. She will get faster at eating over time. Sleep is most important for her right now.

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  8. Garret'sShe is still quite young. Her night sleep is looking great for her age, it just isn't convenient with your schedule. I would suggest the post "early morning feedings before waketime" for ideas on what to do with this situation. All 3 of mine did this as they got closer to sleeping all the way through the night. I know it is annoying, but it doesn't last forever 🙂 She will make it through before too long.

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  9. Valerie,I wasn't sure where to post this but I had a question about my 6 month old's current napping schedule. I am still nursing her every 3-4 hours for a total of 6 liquid feedings a day. I'm ready for her to move to a 4 hour schedule but I am not sure I know quite how to do it. She wakes at 6:00 a.m. (then solids) and then we usually go to the gym from 8-10 a.m. I feed her again at 10:00 ish and she naps (very well since obviously she's tired from being awake at the gym) at 11:00 and I wake her again at 1:00 for her next feeding. She will nurse and do solids and I try to put her back down at 2:30 p.m. but she rarely takes this afternoon nap very well. I don't know what I should do. Do you think I should let her sleep longer for the AM nap and let her wake up on her own? It would be pretty nontraditional for a 6 month old to take only one nap but I am wondering if she would get the sleep she needs during the day but all in one chunk instead of broken up into two naps?Any thoughts? Thanks,Susanna

    Reply

  10. Susanna, definitely do not do one nap a day. I would let her get an extra 30 minutes in the morning nap.But, look closely at what is happening. She is awake for 5 hours in the morning, then you try and put her back down after 1.5 hours for the next interval. It is all very inconsistent for her.Is there any way for you to rearrange your gym time? Maybe go to the gym as soon as she is done eating so you can be home by 8? or put her down for a nap at 8, get her up at 10, feed her, then go to the gym?For a 6 month old, she really should be awake for about 2 hours, then down for about 2 hours, then awake for about two hours, then down for about two hours. Then some will take a third nap and some won't. The third nap would be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

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  11. Please help! I have an almost 7 month old (in a week) and have been doing babywise/baby whisperer since the beginning (meaning I didn't do complete CIO at the very beginning but would pat his back if he was having trouble going to sleep). He has been a pretty easy baby and typically I would just lay him down and within 20 min he would be sleeping and would take good naps. About a month and a half ago he started taking short naps (between 30 min and 70 min). It coincided with a wonder week, so I thought it would pass, but it hasn't and now his schedule is so off and a little different almost every day. I have tried the 15 min earlier nap fix, but 70 min is still his max nap. He is almost always happy when he wakes up (even after only 30 min, but I can see he is tired too). I have tried CIO to get him back to sleep, but even after 45 min or so it almost never works. I have a few questions. 1) any ideas how to help him get back to longer naps? 2) what do I do when he only takes 30 min naps all day? What do you do with feeding if they wake early? If I wait until normal eating time, he is already ready to go back to sleep? And if I feed right away, the day hers more and more off. Honestly, right now every day is different (except wake and bed times). And eventhough he is a pretty happy guy, by evening he is fussy cuz he is so overtired. Fortunately, he has still been sleeping well at night (about 12 hrs). Any advice would be great. Thanks.

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  12. Laura,1-since he was napping well and stopped, you don't want to be shortening waketime. You want to likely be lengthening. Try adding 5 minutes at a time up to about 15-20 and see if that helps things. 2-See the posts "waketime when they wake early" and "waketime when baby wakes early"

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  13. I have a 15 week old baby boy and have been following BW since day 1. He is on a 2 1/2- 3 hour schedule and is sleeping through the night. He goes down around 9:30 pm (usually after showing signs of sleepiness- but not asleep yet and doesn't cry or fuss at all!)and wakes around 5:30/ 6:00 am. After his first morning feeding he goes right back down and falls asleep within minutes. He'll usually sleep for 1 1/2- 2 1/2 hours for the first nap. The rest of the day naps are HORRIBLE! He gets sleepy about 1 1/2 after he eats, but doesn't get really tired 'til 2 hours after (I can usually give him the pacifier and he's fine to make it to 2 hours. We were putting him down at 1 1/2, but he was awake and screaming, so I moved it back to 2 hours). My problem is that he will not go down for any of his naps other than the first nap of the day. I'm talking screaming and flailing his arms all over! I've been working for about 3 weeks now on trying to fix this problem. (Specifically not letting him fall asleep in the bouncy seat or the swing.) I've put him down earlier/ later; let him get really tired in the swing and then move him to the bed; used the sleep sheep, white noise, radio; no music; cry it out; I've tried picking him up and calming him; patting his back… NOTHING has worked. When he was napping before ( when I first cut out the swing/ bouncy seat) it was difficult (crying)and I only got about 45 minute naps from him. I think he is one of those 45 minute nappers, which is fine, but now I'm getting nothing but screaming the whole time and no nap! The very few times that he does fall asleep he will wake up exactly 4 minutes after being put down) and then be up the whole time screaming until his next feeding. I am frustrated and need any advice please!

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  14. Jessica,It could be the wonder week around that age–it is the worst (see wonder week blog label for more).But it does sound like he is going down too late. Especially considering that his first waketime is short and that is his only good nap. I would take it all the way back to one hour, then work up from there in 5 minute increments until you find the right number. See the label "optimal waketime" for lots more guidance on this.

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  15. My son is 6.5 months old. This is our current schedule:7 am wake up, eat (formula and solids) and playtime9 am nap (usually sleeps until 10:30-11)11 am bottle, solids, playtime1 pm nap (lasts anywhere from one hour to 2 1/4 hours)3 pm bottle, solids, play time5 pm nap, but this has almost disappeared7 pm bottle and bedMy problem is that he has started waking up around 6:30 am. He is almost always content to just play in his crib until I come and get him at 7. The problem is with his morning nap. I have been trying to put him down between 8:45 and 9 to stay on schedule but his nap has been only lasting about 45 minutes now. I think it's obvious that he's overtired. His naps are great when he has exactly 2 hours of waketime. When he is waking at 6:30 am what do you suggest I do for his morning nap to still maintain sleep AND schedule?

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  17. My 2nd born does not nap very well. She is 8 weeks and I started her on BW at 3 weeks. I am confused on what the schedule should be if she misses a nap. Does she still need waketime after next feeding if she didn't nap beforehand? I feel I am keeping her up too long and that is why it is so hard to put her down for the next nap if she never fell asleep in the first place. When I have been able to get her down she only sleeps for 15-30 minutes. Then she either stays up or falls asleep in the swing

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  18. Charmingly Ordinary, you will have to find a waketime length that works for now. If you can get it right, he quite possibly could sleep longer than two hours to make up for the missed nightime sleep. Good luck!

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  19. Angie, She most likely will not need waketime if she didn't not nap before. Just let her take a longer nap to make up some of that sleep deficit.

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  20. So after reading all the comments I don't understand why my 4 week old refuses to take his morning nap. I started BW on day 1 and right now he is on a 3 hour schedule starting at 7am. I have been trying this week to let him CIO but he ends up crying through his entire nap and then of course is overtired and the rest of the naps are horrible. He is sleeping great at night, only getting up once somewhere between 1:30am and 2:30am. Do you have any suggestions on how to get him to nap better for the first nap at 8:30am?

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  22. I have a 4 1/2 week old baby. Our first nap has been the roughest. She will sleep for 30 to 45 minutes and then wake up. I either give her the pacifier or make her cry it out. This goes on for another 30 to 45 minutes or so and then she goes back to sleep for another 30 minutes, but by this time it is time to feed her again. I know how important this nap is so I want to fix the problem ASAP. Part of the issue is that I have a 3 year old who goes to school and we have to take him each morning just as it is time to go down for the nap. I am afraid this may be contributing to the disruption. Not sure what to do …

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  23. Rachael,I would say school is definitely contributing. I wouldn't do CIO for the nap. For one, I don't to CIO mid-nap for babies that young. for another, considering that she is going down late because of school drdop-off, that will cause her to wake up mid-nap because she went down too late. She will be waking because she is too tired, and she will have a hard time falling back asleep because of it.As she gets older, the time for her to go down will get later. Until then, I would move her to a swing or something when she wakes. You could also look into seeing if someone could watch her while you take your three year old to school. Or you could see if you could carpool so she is disrupted less often.

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  24. This is my second baby and second time using babywise. She is a 6 week old baby girl who has been on the babywise method since birth. She was doing well but just this week has been causing trouble in the mornings. She sleeps from 6:45pm to 7am (waking about every 4 hours). When she wakes at 7, I nurse her and keep her up until about 7:40am and try to put her down for her nap but she will not sleep. I have let her cry it out, put her in her swing, and rocked her (which I don't want to become habit). I have tried everything and she doesn't want to sleep. Then at 10am she is still awake and I nurse her again and she still won't sleep. She basically stays awake until about 1pm every day without any naps. She isn't overly fussy or anything but she just doesn't want to sleep. I think she is going through a little growth spurt too (she wants to nurse a lot) which may be part of the problem but I don't know what else to do.

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  26. My 9 month old used to nap well (1.5 to 2 hours) in the morning and well in the afternoon (2 to 3 hours). Just recently she's learned to crawl and sit up and when I put her down for her morning nap she just won't go to sleep. There is no CIO option because by the time she gets to sleep, when she sleeps 45 minutes and wakes up it's the normal wake up time.I've increased solids, didn't work. I've moved up the time to nap 15 minutes, didn't work. I've started closing the curtains and doing relaxing things to calm her down before I put her in, doesn't work.She just sits up in the crib and plays (with nothing) and when I come in and tell her to go to sleep and lay her back down, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. 9 months is WAY too early to drop a nap, but could it be that she just doesn't need the sleep?

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  27. This is a totally normal thing to have happen when a child reaches a major milestone like this. I have a post called "nap disruptions: standing, crawling, etc." that can give you ideas of what to do. It is slightly possible she needs a bit longer of a waketime length, but I would first deal with the disruption issue before trying to change other things.

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  28. Today is only day two in my baby wise quest and I've got to say I'm having problems trouble shooting. Yesterday went great! But this morning my son (6 weeks) woke up at 4:30 am for a feeding, no big deal, I fed him and then put him back down and in order to keep to my schedule woke him up at 6:30am to feed him and have wake time. he only ate an once, so at 7:30 he ate another 2 onces I tried to put him back down at 8am, which after reading this post, I now think it was a mistake to keep him up so long. Needless to say he would not go back down for his morning nap. I tried letting him CIO and that didn't work, so after some hesitation I went in to comfort him to see if he would calm down and sleep, but again no luck. So finally an hour after I first tried to put him down I got him up and played with him until he ate again at 10am. It was a challenge to keep him up while feeding and then I gave him a bath in a further attempt to keep him up until his next nap cycle. He did go down at 10:40am after some crying. Now I'm torn on what to do if this happens again. Do I wake him up at noon, which is his next scheduled feeding even though it's only been two hours since he last ate? Or do I extend his nap to 12:30pm or 1pm in order to achieve a three hour time period in between feedings? I don't which is right, I am in desperately in need of some guidance. Where did I go wrong, I'm sure it was on several occasions. Thank you.

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  29. Amber and Alex, It is okay to have some sway. If baby is still sleeping, I would let him sleep an extra 30 minutes, but I don't go beyond that 30. At that point I wake baby up.I think you are doing great and having some bumps is normal at first as you figure things out. Keep waketime length short–figure out his perfect timing. Hang in there!

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  30. Hello! First, I love the site. I frequent at least once a day for many of my unanswered questions/problems. I do have one. I have seen a lot of posts on daily routine. I have a 5 week old who has been on BW since week 2. His schedule is 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm (bath included), 10pm and two more feedings in the middle of the night (I let him wake up, which usually is on the 3 hour mark). My questions is, how long should I keep this schedule? I see some keep until 4-6 months. There are times where he will wake up at the 3 hour to feed and there are times when I have to wake. I keep a daily log of everything as well to help keep track. I think I am on the right track. Thanks in advance!

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  31. I've been doing babywise with my son since two weeks and it's been going pretty good. He's 9 weeks now, but not sleeping through the night yet (he's only 9 1/2 pounds though). However, he's seeming to take more and more wake time and I'm concerned he's not sleeping enough! Of the three hour cycle, he's constantly wanting to stay up 2 hours of it. I've tried different nap times, but he seems to only want to sleep 1 hour of the cycle. However, he's fairly happy and smiley those two hours. But from everything I've read, at his age he should be sleeping almost double that for his naps! Is my son getting enough sleep!?

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  32. NBCWebster, I keep the three hours going until the baby sleeps from dreamfeed until morning waketime. Sometimes that happens as early as 8 weeks, sometimes 3 months or a bit older. Then I usually drop the dreamfeed (10 PM), then I go to 4 hour schedule. With my youngest, I did the four hour schedule first, then the dreamfeed.

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  33. SleepHelp! I would say he needs less time awake than two hours at that age. Most babies around his age are up for about an hour–some a bit longer.

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  34. I am a foster mom to a 4 1/2 month little boy. We have had him since he was just 19 days old, straight from the hospital. We started BW when he was about 6 weeks old. He does not have any medical issues. He was a great sleeper by 12 weeks but things are not going smoothly any longer. I feel like if I can get his sleep/feed schedule back on track the nights will work out. If he wakes up for the day at 6:30 then what time should his first nap be and when should his feeding occur? He was going 2.5-3 hours from wake to 1st nap but then he would wake up hungry. If he ate for the 1st time at 6:30, then napped at 9, he would want to eat at 9:30 or 10 and then have a very short nap. I have searched the book and asked other moms who use BW and can not get a clear answer. With my first son, non-BW and never slept, I remember him being awake for just an hour the first wake time, then (I think) 2 hours the next wake time, then 3-4 hours for the 3rd wake time. That is a very different pattern that what I understand BW to be. Thanks for any help.Thank you,Stacy

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  35. I should add that he also sleeps with a pacifier and we go back in and put it back in. I think he is waking because he loses the pacifier. I have decided to stop putting the pacifier back in. He will be given it when he is put in his crib but I will not replace it and he will have to CIO. CIO for him means crying for 10 moinutes, I check and talk to him for a few seconds, leave for 15 minutes, go back in, check on him. He has never cried more than 15 mintues total. Usually, he is back asleep within the first 10 mintue interval. My question is still, when should that first nap and 2nd feeding occur each day or better yet, what should a daily schedule look like for a 4-5 month old.

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  36. My baby is just a week old, but his wake time in the mornings last from feeding to feeding. We've tried everything to get him to sleep and he just stares at us wide awake, not fussy at all. How do I get him to nap? I want to make sure he's getting good sleep wake cycle but this messes up the whole day. Any suggestions?

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  37. Trying to figure out a schedule for my 3mo and 2.5yo! We can't stay home all morning and wait for the baby to wake up! ha!! This however is her best nap and sets the tone for the day. How long should this nap be?? She is still waking in the early morning–anytime before 6:30 I lay her back down and have to wake at 8:15 or she would sleep until 9! If she wakes at 6:30 I will get her up for the day and she's ready for a nap around 7:30/45. She will sleep for 2+hours if I let her. SO, how long is long enough? She's taking 4 naps a day usually with prob 4ish hours of daytime sleep and a bedtime around 8:30.

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    • I would let her take a two hour nap for her first nap. She will go to three naps around 4 months. I would suggest you pick a time of day to official start. When she wakes at 6:30, either start the day, or put her down and wake her at 8:30Or 9 for the day.

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  38. So many of these comments kill me. Please do not let young babies cry it out. They are crying because they need something. Whether its hunger, discomfort or simply needing love. They are in a big, bright, scary new place. Babies go through many growth spurts in the first 4 months. They should not be on a strict schedule when they are only a few weeks old. There were a few days and nights I nursed my baby constantly. It kept my supply up and regulated to meet his new needs. Those times quickly passed and then he ate more regularly. My baby is 4/12 months and we are on a 3 hour schedule that we are just now working on moving to 4. We couldnt have him up longer or he got overtired and miserable. . I read the comment a about a 4 week old being on the 3 hour schedule?? That's not recommended for such a young age. In the first few weeks they mostly just need to eat and sleep with a little bit of activity. Also it is healthy and normal for babies to wake up several times throughout the night in the first few months.It can be beneficial for your baby to have a schedule as they get older but things happen that disrupt sleep such as growth spurts, reflux, sicknesses and teething. It's our job to adapt and help them with these changes.

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  39. My baby is 1 month old and this is the hardest nap for us. She gets a full feeding and minimal wake time. I try to look for sleep cues but they aren't really as obvious as during the other naps. She spends most of her time crying and I try to comfort her with a paci and patting her but it doesn't work. After this nap of the rest of the day is a breeze. What would you recommend that I do or change to make this nap more consistent?

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  40. Start with doing waketime the same as the others of the day. Then work back from there if it doesn't work. Go back by 5 minute increments. Also consider what might be different from that waketime and nap than the other times of day. Is the sun shining right in? Is there a noise keeping her up? Etc.

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  41. I have a 6 mo old who has been sleeping great through the night since about 3 mo old , for about a month now she is been only taking short naps, 45 min the longest , I have extended waketime and decreased too , I know she's still tired after only a 30 min nap but she won't go back down for so long that even if I let her cry it out she will only take another30 min nap and is still tired…. Her doc who's not a fan of CIO technique even told me to let her cry to teach her boundaries bc she is such a good sleeper but really is so hard ! Any advice ?? Please help! I need at least one two hour nap….

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  42. I have a 3 week old, and we seem to be experiencing the opposite of this. She wakes every morning at 7:30, and is next to impossible to put down again until 2 hours later. Her nights are not consistent right now, sometimes she sleeps well only waking every three to four hours, and sometimes she's up every hour after 3am. I am blaming a bad bum rash for her night wings bit this long awake time in the morning is a mystery to me. She is content to snuggle with someone but wide awake. Sometimes she will start to drift off but as soon as we move to put her in her crib she is wide awake again. Any ideas??

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  43. I'm feeling guilty that my almost 1yo has had to start daycare and they only do 1 nap a day. He's taking to it alright and been sleeping closer to 12 hours a night (when he had more naps he slept 10 hours a night). I guess after reading this I just feel like he's too young, he is still tired shortly after waking but at daycare they just don't do the morning nap. 🙁

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  44. First of all your blog – it's incredibly helpful! I have a 10 week old and we've got a pretty decent schedule but I'm having a hard time figuring out the last nap of the day. I cluster feed her in the evening so feed at 3pm,5pm and then 7pm. I have been experimenting by not putting down for a nap after the 5pm feed and then feed her at 7 and put her down for the night however the last feed of the night she is extremely fussy. I breastfeed her for all feeds except the 7pm and 10pm feeds so my husband can get some time in as well. How can the last nap of the day work? Can it be a small one? The book talks about a catnap but not until later. Any help would be appreciated!!

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  45. Hello,

    My baby boy is 14 weeks old tomorrow. He wakes up at 06:30 am and takes his first nap at 7:45. He makes this nap about 3 hours long if you let him. We started with babywise this week. Should I let him take this nap as long as he wants or wake him up at the 3 hour feed mark? Could this be just him getting used to the schedule?

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    • Hello,

      At his age, he can go a little longer than 3 hours between some feeds if needed. I would let him sleep up to 2.5 hours and feed at the 3.5 hour mark or 4 hour mark–depending on how long his wake time is.

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  46. Despite a consistent bedtime routine, my 2 mo old resists any sort of bedtime prior to 10pm (usually goes down around 11). As you mentioned, the morning nap, therefore, does feel very much so like a continuation of “night sleep.” She often resists naps often during the day, but not this one. And yes, as you mentioned, she’s often not even awake very long before falling asleep again. In fact, as I type this, she has fallen asleep in my arms after 30 minutes of nursing. The issue with this is, when she wakes, after about 1.5 hrs, she will likely not be hungry, so she will resist nursing again and again and again, until the latter half of her next wake window, and then we fall away from the pattern I want to set of sleep, eat, play. (And into a pattern of sleep play eat.)

    My question is, when you get off in the pattern, what’s the best way to get back on?? I suppose I have to push her to be awake a little longer, so that she is hungry when she wakes up? I feel bad doing that because she gets to bed so late and really does need the rest. Perhaps you have a blog on this already, I can’t find! Thanks!

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