How Many Naps?

A question I get a lot is how often and how many naps should my child take? I find every child to be different in this regard. Newborns without much of a night routine can sleep throughout the day and that is completely normal. As children start to sleep more at night (around 1-2 months) there's more control of when to best put your LO down for naps.

My general response is do what works best for your child. If your child wants 3 short naps that's great. If your child wants one long nap that's great. If your child wants one long nap one day, and the next day two naps, that's also great. As a parent you can generally sense when your child is tired or not (often based on facial expressions, increase of crying, or the way they are acting). Once you teach your child how to self soothe there's really only one nap rule that's most important.

Allow for an appropriate awake period of time before nighttime.

For every child this will be different. Around 4 months your child probably shouldn't be napping past 4-5 PM. Around 1 year they probably shouldn't be napping past 2-3 PM. It's not illegal if they do nap past these times, it just makes it more likely they will have difficulty falling asleep at night or sleeping throughout the night. Sometimes your child may be falling on their face at 5 PM. You then have 2 choices. Do everything in your power to keep them awake until an appropriate early bedtime (perhaps 6:15 PM) or let them nap recognizing it may be late bedtime tonight. Whatever works best for you and your LO!