2 mo only sleeps 30-45 minute naps

mintynerd007

My 2 month old is only sleeping 30-45 mins at a time for her naps. I’m putting her to sleep when she’s tired after her awake time and then put her in her bassinet, do the dishes and pump, and then she’s awake. The only way I can get her to sleep longer is through contact naps. And it’s not as if she hates her bassinet at all. She doesn’t cry when she’s put into the bassinet nor does she cry mostly when she wakes up unless she has a dirty diaper or is hungry. Does anyone else’s 2 mo old do this? Is this normal? 

knottie9149482847985336

Hello,

My 2 m 3 week old does this as well! I am unable to fill the day with as much nap time sleep as I see in all the charts and recommendations. He gets around 3-3.5 hours of nap sleep per day. He will sleep on me in his rocker for longer stretches (45 min-1 hour), however when I rock him to sleep then transfer him to the crib or other nap space, he wakes after 15-30 min. He will usually go back to sleep if I then rock him again and let him sleep on me. Currently I’m practicing with the crib to get him used to it, hoping he will start to have longer stretches in it. I sit in the nursery while he sleeps. But I simply don’t get anything done while he naps. It’s seems to be a group activity. If I leave the nursery while he sleeps, he senses it and wakes. He always wakes happily. 

Ive been happy to share his naps with him and hold him, but I do worry that, as his naps start to consolidate to 3 per day, he won’t be getting enough sleep. 

Have you tried any strategies so far to increase the stay-asleep time? 

mintynerd007

this is exactly her. I’ve tried to extend her wake time just a little but it seems like it doesn’t help and there’s no change. If anything it takes her longer to fall asleep when I do that because she gets overtired and becomes cranky. It just took her 40 mins to fall asleep and she didn’t even sleep for 30 mins. Talk about not reaping the rewards of your labor. 

Right now I’m just trying to leave her in her bassinet with her mobile going and she keeps staring at it and is loving it as it moves around. It’s kind of making her tired but obviously not enough to go to sleep on her own. I only did this so I could finish the dishes and have a cup of decaf coffee. She’s still as happy as can be and not crying. She is trying to let off steam though with a few frustrated grunts. 

I’ve maybe read sometimes when this happens maybe I’m putting her down too early, but all her cues show the opposite. I feel so confused!  

mintynerd007

So I’ve only tried this once but it’s worked this time…. I have had a white noise machine but it never really seemed to do that much of a difference. 

I have an iPhone and there’s also a couple white noise sounds on there in the accessibility settings as “background noise”. I just tried dark noise and put it close to her when she started to rouse and she went back to sleep!

Maybe it will work for you too! Good luck! 

knottie9149482847985336

Thank you! As I’ve been practicing napping the crib without me in the room, I’m getting 10 - 30 min naps. Oh man. Hoping the practice helps. 

knottie74b7cea527d80a7b

Sounds like the dreaded sleep regression! Our son is doing the same. It's tough! Sending lots of luck your way, we find a bath helps when the crying gets out of control and we were told that he should be napping every 60-90 minutes now for about 45 min. So much different than when we brought them home!

mintynerd007

I almost wish it was a sleep regression because they only last 2-6 weeks. We are past it lasting that long it’s been very hard and we have resorted to saving her naps by contact napping because it’s better than having an overtired baby.

knottie389e47421d593fdb

I've had similar struggles with my baby who is about 2 1/2 months old. A sleep specialist did tell us that it's normal, it just tends to mean more naps through the day, but as long as your baby is sleeping well at night it's probably just fine. However I had trouble getting anything done or even showering because I never knew if he'd wake up after 10-15 minutes, so she gave me some tips that have really helped to extend his naps (though usually still no longer than an hour during the day, they are more consistently between 30-60 min instead of 10-30 min). 

1. Dark room. We got blackout covers for our windows as recommended by the sleep specialist and that alone makes a huge difference. He has nothing to get distracted by if he cant see anything!

2. Noise machine (or use Spotify from your phone, either leave your phone in the room or connect to a small Bluetooth speaker) using the same noise filter for night sleep and day naps. He always sleeps longer with the thundershower noise playing in the room.

3. Wake windows. At 2 months the avg wake window max is 90 minutes, so even if he's not showing sleepy cues by that mark, I try to get him to nap and it usually works. At 3 months the window tends to increase to a 2 hour max, so we'll be adjusting soon, but going by this guidelines has decreased the amount of fussing and he falls asleep faster.

Lastly just want to say, if you have the means it's totally worth a consult with a sleep specialist. But either way, there's were general tips not specific to our baby so I really hope they help!

purple_coro

I think baby long for contact naps, try baby wrap carriers it does it for me she can sleep 2 hrs


First nap of the day we contact nap 2nd we wrap, I Bounce on corner of bed until she sleeps, again on the third nap by 7pm I lay her down in dark room red lights and she coos  and low stimuli interactions by 745 she self soothes and by 815 she dozed by 830 she's asleep