What To Do With Babies That Have A BAD SLEEP Day?

[Lilbutterflie]

I'm looking for advice on what y'all do with a baby that has a "bad sleep" day. I have a 6 month old that generally sleeps 3-4 hours during her 10 hours with me; divided among her morning nap and afternoon nap.

About 2 days out of the week, she has a day where she sleeps alot less than that. Mondays are usually good sleeping days for her; but today she has slept just over 2 hours divided among the 2 naps. Here it is; 3 hours before her mom picks her up; and she is fussy and exhausted.

What do you all do? The choices I see are:

1-what I really want to do-put her back to bed and let her take an afternoon catnap; even though naptime is long over.

2- try to keep her as busy as I can to minimize the fussy... but this requires soooo much effort!! This means rotating her among my "stations" every 5 minutes b/c of how fussy she is.

3- let her be fussy and don't change the routine at all. It's me who ends up exhausted at the end of the day... but this is what I've been doing! It's so hard to listen to crying babies for long periods of time!

[daycare]

I'm looking for advice on what y'all do with a baby that has a "bad sleep" day. I have a 6 month old that generally sleeps 3-4 hours during her 10 hours with me; divided among her morning nap and afternoon nap.

About 2 days out of the week, she has a day where she sleeps alot less than that. Mondays are usually good sleeping days for her; but today she has slept just over 2 hours divided among the 2 naps. Here it is; 3 hours before her mom picks her up; and she is fussy and exhausted.

What do you all do? The choices I see are:

1-what I really want to do-put her back to bed and let her take an afternoon catnap; even though naptime is long over.

2- try to keep her as busy as I can to minimize the fussy... but this requires soooo much effort!! This means rotating her among my "stations" every 5 minutes b/c of how fussy she is.

3- let her be fussy and don't change the routine at all. It's me who ends up exhausted at the end of the day... but this is what I've been doing! It's so hard to listen to crying babies for long periods of time!

I would not change the routine. Consistency is key...

thats my two cents for ya...

[Lilbutterflie]

I was afraid I would hear that! LOL It's just so draining on everyone to listen to her crying. And I know just how to fix it- sleep! And then I feel bad (though I know I shouldn't) when her mom walks in to super fussy and crying baby. Her mom understands she gets this way from being tired- and has told me she prefers that I don't let her the catnap.

But then, many times, her mom will say upon pickup "Well, looks like you'll be taking a short nap when we get home." UGH!

[cheerfuldom]

I would put her down for another nap because she is still young, some days are still "off" at that age and because you know mom will mess with the routine in the evening anyway. Might as well get her rested and happy on your time.

[lpperry]

At 6 months, I would give her the catnap on short nap days. She needs the sleep.

[daycare]

ohhhh I misread, I thought it said 16 months....dang I am mean..

I would at 6months let them run the show with food and sleep. Of course I would try to have them on my schedule, but feed them when hungry and let them sleep when tired.....

[countrymom]

I have one like this, a bit older. If I let her sleep too long, then they complain she doesn't sleep at night, but yet she is unbearable to deal with. I let her sleep, I don't think the rest of us need to suffer for 10 hours while the parents want her to sleep at night.

[Heidi]

It wont help you today, but I say, put her back down for another nap.

When she wakes up from a shorter nap, does she cry? Do you go right in? I've noticed that the twins I have often wake up after an hour into nap and cry, but if I let it go for a few minutes, they go back to sleep. They are older-15 months, but they have done this since I got them at 9 months.

[SilverSabre25]

oh totally let her have the catnap!

[Meyou]

I'd put her back down to nap at that age. 3 hours is too long for her to be up in a row anyway IMO.

[Lilbutterflie]

I kept her awake yesterday for those 3 exhausting hours until she got picked up. She got a "2nd wind" that last half hour; but as soon as her mom came she made sure her mommy knew she was tired! LOL

Thanks for all of your advice and opinions! It sounds like everyone overwhelmingly says go for the catnap! I think I will discuss with her mom that it is just too difficult on me and on the other children to allow her to go so long crying and being fussy on the days she doesn't sleep well during her morning and afternoon naps.

At what age do you all stop allowing those catnaps? I've always started at 6 months; which is why I have been keeping her up and toughing it out.

She has actually come a long way with me; I have posted threads on her before. She used to sleep 30-35 min at a time, all day long, every day; when she was younger. I started following the EASY schedule and following the advice for sleeping longer and she does do much better. Now it's just 1-2 times a week for whatever reason she wakes up at the hour mark. Despite my best efforts, sometimes she just refuses to go back to sleep.

[cheerfuldom]

Do you have to discuss it with mom? Really you should have a routine but getting into the minute details might just make a conflict that doesn't need to be there. I would just put her down for the that extra nap if she needs it and then leave it at that.

[Lilbutterflie]

Do you have to discuss it with mom? Really you should have a routine but getting into the minute details might just make a conflict that doesn't need to be there. I would just put her down for the that extra nap if she needs it and then leave it at that.

Well, I fill out a sheet for mom every day that says her feeding times, nap times, etc... The previous agreement with mom was to try to not allow the catnaps; so mom might be upset if she started seeing that I was letting her take a 3rd nap without discussing it with her. So, I feel as if conflict would arise if I didn't discuss it with her, KWIM? I think mom already knows this is coming, anyway. I am sure her daughter is unbearable in the evenings on the days she doesn't sleep well. She might be ready to ask me to allow the catnap (for the time being) anyway!

[mismatchedsocks]

I would stop cat naps at about age 1.

But I am all for cat naps if they are SO fussy. No matter their age!

[Rachel]

At 6 months, put down for a nap. I have a 4mo, 5mo, 6mo and they all sleep as needed, including at the end of the day. The only time I don't put them down is after about 4pm (pickup is 4:30). If they are fussy at 3:30, yes, they go down for a nap.