The question often comes up about how many naps a baby should take each day.

Below is a general idea, but always remember that each child is different and the numbers below are just a guideline for some common napping patterns for babies.  Parents who listen to their child’s natural rhythm and use good judgment and common sense will likely have the best results.

Newborns

At this point, you don’t need to think about napping. A newborn baby’s sleep is a series of naps, each between 2 to 4 hours at a stretch, both day and night. You may not see any pattern or schedule to these sleeping cycles. It’s just important your baby sleeps when they need to.

Babies

At 6 to 8 weeks old, your baby will probably begin to sleep less often and for longer stretches at a time. Your baby will likely need two to four naps a day, but perhaps even more.

Around 3 to 4 months, begin to develop a more predictable daytime sleep patterns. You can begin to developing a nap schedule at this point.

Older Babies

When you get near 6 months, baby will probably be taking two or three naps a day: one in the morning, one in the early afternoon, and possibly one more in the late afternoon, though this isn’t always the case.

Somewhere between 9 to 12 months most babies will consistently take two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Toddlers

Around 18 months your baby (now a toddler) may often stop taking a morning nap entirely, but may snooze in the early afternoon. Our baby now regularly goes does down between noon and 1 PM for about 2-3 hours.

Again, these are suggested patterns, but as with everything there is no baby-law that requires them to follow them. Each baby will have their own sleep habits and patterns.

But this is a good starting point if you aren’t sure.

Feel free to leave a comment below on your results or experiences to share with other parents.

Image Credit via Flickr [CC License]

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1. Daytime Naps Are Key For Night-time Sleep

I recently was asked how to handle baby napping on vacation.  Apparently a baby somewhere had a hard time on vacation and they needed advice before the next tip. Can you imagine that ever happening?

Did you detect any sarcasm in that last statement? Well, if I had trouble getting baby to sleep on vacation I wouldn’t be too surprised. In fact, I’d expect it.  I think there are many of us adults whohave a hard time sleeping in new places or new beds, don’t be to shocked that a baby would react the same way as mom or dad.

A Unique Problem

Parents start out very accustomed to dealing with night-time sleep issues and sleep training. Napping however, poses some unique problems especially when you are on vacation.

• People don’t want to spend their entire day in a hotel room.
• Daytime is typically noisy and often we don’t have control over the situation like we do at home.
• We are thrown out of our (and our baby’s) sleep routine.

What can we do to get our baby to nap on vacation?

Here are a few tips to minimize the problems.

Take Shifts For Napping

If possible switch off sleep monitoring duties between parents to allow one parent to enjoy the time alone, or to take the other kids out of the hotel room.  It might even be relaxing to be hanging out and relaxing with nothing else to do.

Prioritize Baby’s Sleep

Even if you find yourself suddenly stuck in your room for nap times at odd hours because of a large time change, realize that your baby’s sleep is important and it ultimately effects your ability to sleep at night. Try and decide what your priority is. If it is getting out at all costs, then by all means do so and bear the possible consequences of an over-tired baby later.

However, you may want to sacrifice that last afternoon at the beach or that museum trip for the sake of everyone being able to be well rested. But since it’s your vacation, I leave this to your discretion.

Take a Day Trip

If your baby sleeps well in the car, consider taking a long drive and letting your baby sleep in the car seat. This will let you see the sights and get a nap in. What a great combo!

Vacation Close to Home

While staycations were a popular buzz-word in recent years, you don’t need to stay at home. Find local trips within the same time zone and you won’t have to worry about schedules thrown off because of big shifts in your daytime routine.  Every state has it’s share of local adventures that can entertain you while giving you a chance to get out of the house. It may even save you some money.

Bring Home With You

Don’t forget to bring your comforts of home to encourage baby’s sleep.

Bringing your own crib sheets or mattress cover to wrap around a hotel-supplied pack and play can help simulate baby’s home environment. Also, if you don’t already use a white noise machine to mask external noises, consider getting one before you travel. There are several low-cost and portable white noise machines for sale here.

In Summary…

Don’t let baby’s sleep derail your vacations. But do consider making some effort to maintain a sleep schedule, especially if your trip is longer than a couple of days.  Otherwise, you might find yourself wishing yourself at home.

Related posts:

1. Getting Baby To Sleep On Vacation
2. Baby Won’t Sleep On Vacation Is No Vacation
3. Sleep Training and Vacation

Here’s a cool gadget for anyone sleep training baby for the first time.

It’s called the Goodnight Sleep Trainer (I like it for the name alone!) and it’s a pocket sized device to track and help get your baby to sleep through the night on their own.

It was designed by a pediatrician specifically for sleep training baby.  Sometimes this process gets complicated by writing stuff down and noting wake times and all kinds of other data. This device makes it simple to keep track of all this when you decide to begin to train baby to  sleep through the night.

Most parents using this method report significant improvements in only 2-4 days and nearly all report their baby sleeping through the night in less than two weeks. The Goodnight Sleep Trainer includes a manual that teaches the process step-by-step and access to the Goodnight Sleep Trainer website where you can upload the data from your device and track your baby’s progress. Imagine how great it will be two weeks from now when you can wake up rested and refreshed after a full night’s sleep!

You can get more details and order the Goodnight Sleep Trainer here.

Check out and let us know your results in the comments below, we’d love to find the perfect gadget for sleep deprived parents!

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1. Sleep Training and Vacation

If you ever want to start a debate, just bring up full moons.  Many people have strong opinions on whether or not there is an increase in crime, insomnia and just plain weird occurrances during the full phase of the lunar cycle.

I have been trying to get more information on full moon affecting baby sleep and here are a couple of interesting facts.

No matter which camp you find yourself in, try this experiment in the coming months.  Print or copy down some of these dates below which are the full moons.  If you notice any sleep disruptions during this time, you may be able to understand and cope with them better armed with this information.

Whether or not it is actually the moon affecting your baby’s behavior, is up to you to decide, but any knowledge helps put things in perspective and may bring more awareness to our baby’s, and perhaps our own, sleep cycles.

So what do you think??

Does the moon affect your baby’s sleep?

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Attention Parents In Western US

Another recall product notification. This time a pacifier made in Mexico.  Looking at the picture is horrifying at how poorly this item was designed and manufactured. If you can’t tell this is a choking hazard just by looking at it, I’d be surprised.  What do you expect for 25 cents?

Please make sure you are not using this item.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Kariño Baby Pacifiers

Units: About 44,900

Distributor: Antonio Flores, of San Ysidro, Calif.

Hazard: The pacifier fails to meet federal safety standards. The nipple can separate from the base easily, the pacifier handle is too long, the mouth guard is too small and there are no ventilation holes on the mouth guard. The pacifier could pose a choking and aspiration hazard to young children.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The pacifier has a ring-shaped handle and a round-shaped mouth guard. “Kariño” is printed on the handle side of the mouth guard, and “Mygra” is printed on one side of the handle. The nipple is filled with corn syrup.

Sold at: Independent grocery stores in California and Texas from October 2009 through March 2010 for about 25 cents.

Manufactured in: Mexico

Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled pacifiers away from children and contact Antonio Flores for a refund or exchange.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Antonio Flores collect at (619) 395-4543 Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT.

See the original link from the CPSC here.

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1. Crib Safety Recalls