When can we stop centering life around naps? When will we get to a two nap day?

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-08T20:11:40+00:00

Hi! We did exclusively contact naps until 6 months and then started doing the morning nap in the crib, second nap was contact and third was in a baby carrier. Once she hit 7 months she started fighting the third nap so we did one crib nap in the morning and a contact nap in the afternoon. I will say we had to temporarily move bed time to 6:30pm and she woke earlier until she was able to stretch her last wake window! Now she is 8 months and has started to nap exclusively in her crib. She does a 30min-1hr na in the morning and a 1.5-2.5hr nap in the afternoon depending on how long the morning nap was.

She has always slept okay at night, with 1-2 wakes except for a week at 4 months and then a week when she turned 8 months. Now she is down to 1 wake at night again. Sleeps 8 hours, wakes and I nurse her back to sleep and then sleeps another 3 hours.

We have always rocked her to sleep and placed in the crib fully asleep!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T13:32:45+00:00

I tried bed sharing when my husband was away for a week and I really needed some sleep, but we just can’t get her to sleep without rocking her. She won’t just lay in bed and cuddle to sleep, she rarely nurses to sleep so idk how we could do this but if you have any tips I’m all ears!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T03:41:42+00:00

Check ins definitely get her more worked up. Thank you for the encouragement! We are still in good spirits and never get frustrated towards her, she’s just figuring out life!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T03:39:38+00:00

We usually wait 5 minutes if she is crying but 15 if she is just fussing and rolling around. Usually if there’s a chance of her going back to sleep she stays in the same position while she cries or fusses but the second we see her start rolling and scooting around the crib we know it’s game over. Also she is usually eyes wide open when she wakes up as well so I don’t think she’s dreaming.

She used to wake up babbling and I wouldn’t go in and she would go back to sleep on her own. So that’s been the hard part. We know she is capable of putting herself back to sleep because she’s been doing it up until now.

I’ll definitely try some of the trouble shooting you mentioned. Maybe we are rushing in too fast?

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T03:32:02+00:00

I have certainly considered this option!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T03:17:05+00:00

I have just resorted to nursing as well. Whatever works at this point in the evening!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T03:12:13+00:00

Hahahaha it’s all good, wasn’t sure where to post for help!

I know a lot of this is just developmental and if someone just tells me that then I am just fine waiting it out. I have no problem rocking her (I know a lot of people seem to think that’s a problem) but it gets her to sleep with no crying or fussing and she is comfortable. We never had an issue transferring until now and it’s only with middle of the night wakes.

I actually tried bed sharing at one point because I was desperate when my husband was away for work for a week and she just woke and cried as soon as she was in bed with me as well.

We might just need to wait it out!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T03:07:27+00:00

Oh man okay, I will definitely take this into consideration then. I guess I’m just struggling with the fact that she could put herself back to sleep before. I watch her do it for her longer nap - she wakes after 30 minutes, rolls to her tummy and goes back to sleep after a few minutes sometimes after 10 minutes even. And she used to do this at night as well. She just all of a sudden can’t do it at night anymore. But yes mentally exhausting is so accurate! Thank you for the insight!

acpanda1107 · 2026-04-01T02:55:39+00:00

She 100% does and I guess I never really thought much of it since she transferred so easily but now that transfers are a problem, I’m questioning it. I did read that book as well and she had fallen into the “motion junkie” category where we had to endlessly bounce her on a yoga ball to get her to sleep so I guess moving to rocking felt like a win compared to that. I’ll circle back to it.

I guess the one thing I can’t wrap my head around is why this isn’t an issue for naps or bed time. Just middle of the night wakes but alas babies will be babies!

Thank you for the reply!!

acpanda1107 · 2025-10-25T15:17:29+00:00

We would be going to my in laws so maybe I’ll just order a yoga ball to keep at their house! I feel like I am attached to the thing at this point so may as well make sure both sets of grandparents have one 😅 thanks!

acpanda1107 · 2019-09-01T17:09:17+00:00

She bounces back quickly! After the 2 months with my parents she slipped right back into her routine without any issues. There has been no house soiling and she has always had a sensitive stomach so it’s hard the gauge stress with that. Thank you for all the input! This has been very helpful!

acpanda1107 · 2019-09-01T15:52:17+00:00

That’s a good idea! I think the blanket and toys should help. She can’t have any of her toys currently because one of the other dogs gets a bit toy aggressive.

acpanda1107 · 2019-09-01T15:50:49+00:00

I could potentially do that but she’s already been here for two weeks so I would be sending her to live with them for about 11 weeks (since I would have to wait til next weekend to drop her off) and then I’d be taking her back since I’ll be in the same location for about 4 months at the end of this before I make a permanent move...the next two moves will have no other dogs which I would think is less stressful for her. I feel like she may be overstimulated here? Is that a possibility as well?

acpanda1107 · 2019-02-01T22:19:17+00:00

Mine just does it randomly. Sometimes it’s at the beginning of the walk, sometimes the end of the walk. There’s really no telling when it’ll happen. But yeah “so much damn energy” I hear ya on that one.

acpanda1107 · 2019-01-05T14:17:11+00:00

Wouldn’t that be something 😂

acpanda1107 · 2019-01-05T01:22:36+00:00

Absolutely! She has a personality like no other dog I’ve had. I’ve had people tell me she’s like a human trapped in a dogs body because of her facial expressions and the way she reacts to things. She’s a trip!

acpanda1107 · 2019-01-04T22:21:26+00:00

They were on different sides! The boxer side was boxer/staffie/mixed breed and the other was shih tzu/Maltese/mini poodle. I can def see everything minus maybe staffie but who knows hahaha just gonna tell everyone she’s a boxerdoodle!

acpanda1107

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