How to get a cat napper to sleep longer?

Hoosier722

My daughter is still following the newborn schedule of eat, play, short nap. She will sometimes take a little longer nap in the morning (about an hour), but usually she only sleeps for about 45 min about 5 times a day. Her twin brother has gone to the typical 6 month schedule of 2 long naps, and a cat nap in the early evening. I'm going back to work in a month, so I'd really like DD to get on the same schedule as her brother.
Any ideas in how to get her on a better nap schedule? Should I let her fuss when she wakes up after only a half hour or so? I read the Healthy Sleep Habits book, but it assumes they naturally put themselves on a good nap schedule. TIA!

INmommy871278

I would keep her in the nap atmosphere lights out, darkened room and soothe her and see if you can get her back to sleep. That's my omly suggestion, both my kids did what your boy did and got themselves in a normal schedule.

ADC1979

Do you use white noise to help with sleep?  I think that can make a big difference.  LO typically catnaps at daycare, but when he's at home for nap time we darken the room and put the white noise on and it helps him to relax and go into a deeper sleep.  

nolemomma14

I'm in the same boat with DS. He's currently on his 2nd cat nap of the day and will probably take 2 more. When he hit the 4 month sleep regression his good 1-2 hr naps went out the door. He's started to sleep better at night though, so I'm hoping soon it'll translate into better naps.

I try to keep his nap routine consistent. We go to his room, I pull the shades closed, read a book, rock for a bit then in his crib. He's usually up 30 minutes after that, so I'll go in, rub his belly and try and let him nap a bit more. Sometimes he falls asleep for another 30 minutes sometimes he's up.

bluejeanbaby1217

Follow this! My dd is a horrible napper! She'll take 15-30min naps every few hours and by the end of the day she is a cranky screaming monster! I'll take any advice to get her to nap longer!!!

[Deleted User]

If she's just fussing when she wakes, I would leave her and see if she goes back to sleep. It sounds like she's waking after one sleep cycle and unable to put herself back to sleep. When DS wakes early I leave him to fuss for 5-10 minutes and he usually goes back to sleep. I can tell when it's an "I'm still tired" cry or a "Mom I'm pissed, come get me now" cry.

earichar23

I wish I had an answer but I'm in the same boat. DD sleeps for 3-4 30 minute naps a day and still doesn't do more than 5 hrs straight at night and that's a good night. She doesn't fuss when she wakes after her cat naps though. She'll roll around in her crib for a while and start babbling and if I wait it out she'll eventually start babbling louder so I hear her.

alohababy14

I'm in the same boat. DS is taking 3-4 15-30 min naps a day. When he wakes up, he's ready to play but he's always grouchy in the evening when we're trying to have dinner. It's rough!

dobbyisfree

All of this. LO is good for about 4 20 min naps.

Aimes33m

My daughter was exactly the same way. 30 min naps all day. Like clockwork she'd be up after 30 minutes.

What helped us is her putting herself to sleep. At this age (less than 6 months) they are supposed to be up maximum 2 hours from the time they wake up to the time they fall asleep again. (On the pediatricians recommendation starting a couple weeks ago) at 2 hours we do a mini bed time routine (rocking, white noise, shades drawn) and then put her in her crib awake. It took a little crying (but surprisingly not too bad) the first few times but now she babbles for a few minutes and then goes to sleep. Her naps are now an average of 1.5 hours, sometimes as much as 2 hours.

If she falls asleep on the boob or when we're out running errands it's still a 30min nap.

ADC1979

So I'm noticing with my LO that the cat naps relate to DC, for him.  He's taking very short naps there, but when he's at home, with some effort I can get him to sleep longer.  So for us with cat-napping babies, how many of us have them in childcare that's not us mommies?

At our DC, since they're taking care of multiple babies that don't nap at the same time, the room is always brightly lit, which doesn't help with good napping.  Whenever he naps at home, I make sure that the room is dark, or at least dim, and he has white noise on.  

Now I've got to figure out how he could possibly get better sleep at DC.  Right now when he comes home with me, he eats and then it's pretty much lights out because he's so tired.  I'd love to be able to interact with him more than just feeding him--I miss my sweet baby.

alohababy14

ADC1979 said:

So I'm noticing with my LO that the cat naps relate to DC, for him.  He's taking very short naps there, but when he's at home, with some effort I can get him to sleep longer.  So for us with cat-napping babies, how many of us have them in childcare that's not us mommies?

At our DC, since they're taking care of multiple babies that don't nap at the same time, the room is always brightly lit, which doesn't help with good napping.  Whenever he naps at home, I make sure that the room is dark, or at least dim, and he has white noise on.  

Now I've got to figure out how he could possibly get better sleep at DC.  Right now when he comes home with me, he eats and then it's pretty much lights out because he's so tired.  I'd love to be able to interact with him more than just feeding him--I miss my sweet baby.

DS is at home with me and is a catnapper. I keep it dark, use white noise, etc., and he still only naps 15-30 min.

Today he actually napped for an hour (after staying up 2.5 hrs past his bedtime last night), so I know he's capable of napping past one sleep cycle... If only I could convince him to do it more often!

bluejeanbaby1217

DD finally took an hour long morning nap today, this is after over a month of nothing but 30min naps. Her afternoon nap she did the 30min crap again, I let her fuss for a little while but finay brought her to bed with me (I work nights and need a nap on days I work), she nursed and then slept 2 hours in my bed! This just might have to be our temporary fix for now.

alohababy14

bluejeanbaby1217 said:

DD finally took an hour long morning nap today, this is after over a month of nothing but 30min naps. Her afternoon nap she did the 30min crap again, I let her fuss for a little while but finay brought her to bed with me (I work nights and need a nap on days I work), she nursed and then slept 2 hours in my bed! This just might have to be our temporary fix for now.

That's our fix for now too. We're going to be traveling for a month at the end of January so I'll worry about fixing it after that...

Hoosier722

Thanks everyone! I've been trying to put her in her room with the white noise machine, but it's hard because the twins wake eachother up. I'm going to try to let her fuss more though to see if she'll put herself back to sleep.