Babies with a pattern of long naps during the day might have very late bedtimes or wake excessively in the night
Long blocks of baby sleep during the day might not be good for family sleep
It's tempting to encourage your baby to take a number of long naps during the day, because this gives you, as primary carer, some time out. It's normal to look forward to your baby's sleep! If nights are going well, then you don't need to worry about the length of your baby's daytime naps. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Parents are often advised to make sure their baby has long naps in a predictable routine during the day, often in a quiet dim bedroom. Or you might have noticed that your baby wakes whenever you put her down during the day, so you keep her close to your body to make sure she has good blocks of sleep.
You might even have heard that you need to do this for the sake of your baby's capacity to learn and develop in the best possible way, which is not true. You might have been told: "First tired signs, get her down to sleep! Don't miss the wave!" These phrases come out of the sleep training approach to baby sleep.
But long daytime naps can disrupt your baby’s body clock, and result in
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Increasingly fragmented sleep at night. It takes time to change the settings of the body clock, so you won't experience excessive night waking until a few weeks after your baby starts longer daytime naps
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Unmanageably late bedtimes.
Long daytime naps are more likely to become problematic if you have a moderate to low sleep need baby (which is, in fact, the majority of babies on the bell curve of baby sleep needs).
Common daytime sleep situations which can cause either unmanageably late bedtimes or excessive night waking in a few weeks time (or both)
In the following five situations, encouraging your baby to nap for longer during the day might result in excessive night waking two or three weeks down the track.
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You've received advice to link your baby's sleep cycles during the day. You might have concerns that your baby wakes up crying because he needs more sleep, or you might have heard that you should encourage your baby to go back to sleep if he wakes after 45 minutes or so during the day.
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Your baby starts day care. Your baby may now be in a situation where the other little ones are napping for long periods during the day, sometimes in a quiet dimmed room together. I discuss what to do about naps when your little one is at daycare here.
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You're trying to deliver on paid work (often in front of your computer or laptop) throughout the week, with little support during the day as you care for your baby. You hope to get your baby into a regular sleep routine, with long blocks of sleep at nap times, because then you'll have predictable free time each day to do your paid work. You feed your baby back to sleep when she wakes. You can find out more here.
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Your baby is about four months of age, and his sleep needs are decreasing. You're still putting him down for the same pattern of daytime naps, but he has begun to wake excessively at nights. You can find out about what some people call the 'four months sleep regression' here.
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You find late afternoons particularly challenging, whether it's because you're juggling other children, or your baby is fussy, or you don't have support and are exhausted. It's such a relief when your baby drops off to sleep, even though it's late afternoon or early evening!
If this article describes your family's sleep situation, a reset of your baby's body clock is likely to make sleep much more manageable.
Of course, you're likely to have a lot of questions about this. How can you cope with the days as primary carer if you can't rely upon your baby's daytime naps for a break? What's the impact on your baby's development if she only catnaps during the day? Is she dialling up because of overtiredness?
These are important questions for those of us caring for the little people who are our planet's future, and I will continue to answer them as carefully as I can in The Possums Sleep Program.