Your baby will drop his late-afternoon/early-evening nap at around six
months of age, leaving two naptimes—one in the morning and one in the
afternoon. The naps are usually about 1½ to 2 hours long. (For more
information on this period of development, please read On Becoming
Babywise II.)
Sixteen Months and Older
Between sixteen and twenty months, the morning nap is dropped. Your
baby should be sleeping ten to twelve hours at night and two to three
hours during one afternoon nap.
Waking Up Happy
Between four and six months of age, infants generally develop a wake-up
disposition—one that you highly influence. Your baby’s disposition can
be happy and content when you follow three basic rules for naps.
Rule
1:Mom, not baby, decides when the nap starts.Rule
2:Mom, not baby, decides when the nap ends.Rule
3:If your baby wakes up crying or cranky, it’s most often because he
or she has not had sufficient sleep. Other factors to consider are a
dirty diaper, a noisy neighbor, sickness coming on, or an arm or leg
stuck between the crib slats.
After having been put down for a nap, your baby will move from an
active sleep state to relaxed sleep in thirty to forty-five minutes. In the
next thirty to forty-five minutes, he or she will move from relaxed sleep
back to active sleep. At the end of that cycle, your baby may begin to stir
and cry. Parents often interpret this to mean naptime is over. Going in to
pick up the baby, they assume the child’s crankiness is his or her natural
way of waking up. But that’s not the case.
Remember, if your baby is waking up cranky or crying, he or she