Short naps (kind of long sorry!)

bgrant172

Is anyone else dealing with a chronic cat-napper? My son will be 6 months next week and up until about 4 months he napped mostly very well, several times a day time for long stretches. Since then though half hour naps have been his norm with the very occasional hour and a half stretch here and there (which leave me desperately trying to figure out what was different that time and recreate it). Our pediatrician said to work on night sleep first and that some babies lack the ability to nap for longer until 5 or 6 months so I've been following her advice. However now he's almost 6 months and I don't know what to do. He does well at night, he can put himself to sleep for naps and he sleeps in his crib in a dark comfortable room but at 30 minutes his eyes pop open and he is wide awake! If i hold him sometimes he will go longer stretches but everyday I'm conflicted, do I hold him for some naps so he doesn't get over tired or do I nap train like I sleep trained; same routine, every time, everyday and hope that he gets the message? I've tried the wake to sleep thing and it has worked sometimes but not very reliably. I'm so confused!

Knottie1459358632

We had/have the same problem. Bubs will be 6 months next week and he slept well until the 2 month mark. He went from 2+ hour naps to 30 minutes max. We have progressively made it to consistantly 45 minutes with some 1.5 hour naps. I've heard that it's a problem with being able to transition from one sleep cycle to the next. There's lots of things to "try" to help them transition, but what I mainly got out of a million articles on it is that it's a neurological milestone that you pretty much have to wait it out! It's frustrating to say the least. We are barely starting to make it 3+ hours between getting up at night, and I'm pooped!!

Sonadora

We are in the same boat. Went from really excellent 2-3 hour naps up until right before 4 months, then, bam, I can set a timer by it, he wakes up at exactly 35 minutes. 2 months later and that is now 41 minutes, with a once in a blue moon and completely random 1.5 hour nap, never longer any more. He falls asleep on his on in his crib and the routine is the same every nap...nothing seems to help. So you aren't alone!

ElleMF728

Your pedi is completely right that most infants are able to nap longer by around 6 months, some special snowflakes, like  my DS1, struggle a bit longer.  There are always things you can do like playing with his wake window or using a swing if he hasn't passed the weight limit, but my first was just a little slow to get with the picture in the sleep department.  I will say that there was a huge change around 8 months (ish?) when he started dropping that third nap.  It was like something clicked in his head and he turned into an awesome, dependable napper. 

This is a great resource for trouble shooting.  I definitely recommend going through it and seeing if you might be able to use some of them.  

Vanquish Crap Naps

kettlekitten

My DD did this and so does DS. DD eventually started napping longer when she got bigger. I did try (on advice) to leave her in her cot for longer after she woke up to allow her time to resettle or just chill. But I think at some point she just matured and her naps turned into 1.5 hour long naps. It is annoying having a cat napper but try to push through and encourage the baby to resettle after they wake. Hopefully eventually longer naps will come.

onaed

Having the same issue more recently. Have any of you ladies made progress? I'm going to ask my pediatrician about it at my 6month this week:

bgrant172

So in the two weeks since I posted this question things have been improving somewhat and naps have begun to lengthen here and there. He still isn't 100% consistent but is definitely starting to get the hang of transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next on his own. I don't know if the things I did made a difference or if he would have made this change on his own anyways but I have been following a nap routine, added blackout shades to make the room even darker, will leave him in his crib for 10 minutes or so if he only sleeps for a half an hour and then if he has a bad nap day I'll hold him for at least one nap so that he will sleep longer and won't get way over tired. As an added bonus his night sleep has been moving in a positive direction as well, although at this point I've learned not to get too used to anything because it's constantly changing! Here's hoping things keep going in this direction and also here is a link to a website that I've referred to a bunch of times and that might help. 

https://childsleepscience.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/nap-101-post-1-does-my-baby-have-a-nap-problem/