Babies: 3 - 6 Months

How do you deal with short naps?

DD naps for 45 minutes at a time. I know this is developmentally normal at this age, I'm just not sure how best to deal with it (and I don't remember how I dealt with it with DS).

By napping 45 minutes at a time and normally tolerating 60-90 minutes of awake time, I find myself having to put her down for a nap 5-6x in a day. She wakes early enough (between 6-7am) and goes down at around 7:15pm. 

It's hard with so many naps because she resists going down in her crib by the time naps #3 or 4 come around. I try to get out of the house for one of her naps (she will nap on the go), but it sometimes doesn't work out.

How do you deal with short naps?
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Re: How do you deal with short naps?

  • Just roll with it. It'll get better in a month or two. My LO did the same thing at that age. There's just so much to see and do now, they can't be bothered to sleep so much! Just make sure she's getting enough to eat and try some more active things with her, like lots of tummy time, but really you can't do much until she gets older. 
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  • I noticed that my LO would wake after 45 minutes on the dot. For her morning nap and afternoon nap, I go in around 40 mins and wait until she starts stirring. When she does I place my hand on her back or pat her bottom. This will put her back to sleep for another 45 mins. I was in the same boat as you. Five naps at 45 mins. They switch REM cycles after 45 mins and may need a little help getting back to sleep. This usually only works for one or two of her naps. Her middle or second nap is usually still 45 mins. She recently has dropped her fourth nap. She is almost six months. Hope this made sense!
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  • I have the same problem with my LO, only his cycle is only 30 minutes long. Sometimes he'll take a longer one on his own, but by the 3rd nap of the day if he hasn't taken a longer one, I rock him back to sleep if he wakes up at the 30 minute mark to make him sleep longer. Then I can usually squeeze an extra hour out of him.
      


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  • Same problem here. Wish I had advice for you. But I just feel your pain. :-( I think what @bmhopkins‌ said is a good idea though. As soon as DD gets used to her crib (she still fights it) I may try that!!!
  • My LO is on the same nap cycle as yours.  45-60 minutes, 5 or so times a day.  Luckily, she took to her crib from day one, more or less, so we don't usually have trouble getting her to nap there.  She can also nap on the go, which is nice for us, so we can get our errands done.

    Do you have a routine?  We take her up to her room, put her in her sleep sack, lay her in the crib, and give her her paci.  It's the same every time and she usually falls asleep on her own within a few minutes.

    If we waited too long or she's fighting sleep, we go to the swing.
    We definitely have a nap routine, it's a shorter version of her bedtime routine. It definitely helps to wind her down, I just find that after she's napped in her crib 3 times in one day, she starts to fight it for the next ones. 

    I can also fall back on napping on the go or in the swing too at least. 
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  • I'm in the same boat with my twins! I have just accepted it for now and really hope they outgrow it! They are almost 6 months and naps are 30-40 minutes with a random 1 hr nap once every other week or so. They take 4 naps a day and they also fight that last nap like yours! Good luck!!
  • Some babies are just short nappers. Both of mine have been that way at this age -- 40 minute naps were the norm. DD1 started taking the occasional longer nap (1-1.5 hours) when she was maybe 5-6 months old. Her morning naps were rarely ever more than 40 minutes until she dropped that nap, though. Her afternoon nap could go to 2 hours sometimes (though certainly not always). That said, she really was never a great napper until she dropped to one nap, around 14 months.

    Can you try stretching out her awake time to get her on a more age-appropriate nap schedule, or does she just get too cranky/overtired? I'm currently trying this with DD2, and she does better with a longer awake period in the middle of the day (~3 hours) than I initially thought she might.
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  • My son is a short napper. His long naps are usually 45 min. He averages about 20min a nap and he too goes down a lot throughout the day. The jumperoo has definitely helped in getting him tired and keeps him stimulated throughout the day so it makes it a little bit easier to get some stuff done BC we aren't carrying him everywhere but he still will not nap very long  
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