Waking from naps

mbss

DD is a pretty good sleeper at night. Napping is really hit or miss. Lately she's been taking two, 30-45 minute naps, after which she wakes up immediatley fussing which turns into terrible crying after just a few moments. She usually takes a nap later in the afternoon for about an hour and a half -two hours. She wakes up MUCH happier from this nap. Is it possible she's not ready to wake during these morning naps? Just curious how your little ones during their day time routines.

kellyperk85

Naps are still a hit and miss here too.  GL .. it'll get better. 

FWIW, I have a crappy sleeper.

MarthaP18

My son wakes up cranky if he doesn't nap long enough. When that happens, I'll usually hold him for a bit and let him finish his nap in my arms. It's better than having him screaming and over-tired.

ACR

If DS wakes up crying, it usually means he needs to go back to sleep (most of the time he's woken because he's hungry). So I keep it quiet & dark, and nurse him back to sleep.

If he wakes up with a smile, he's good to go.

mom2binKC

Same story here.  We usually get one long nap (anywhere from an hour to 2.5), in the afternoon, typically, but the other naps are sketchy.  When he wakes after a good long nap, he is smiley and cooing.  But if he wakes from a morning nap after 30-40 minutes, he is crabby.  I can tell he wasn't ready to wake up, but I can NOT get him to go back to sleep.

The sleep book I'm reading says that babies' sleep will cycle from periods of deep sleep to periods of light sleep, and when babies are still "learning" to sleep, they will sometimes come fully awake during those periods of light sleep.  They have to learn how to put themselves back to sleep, and eventually to not wake up at all during those times.  The book advocates letting LO cry through that period to learn to put himself back to sleep, but DS doesn't seem quite ready for that.  His crying just escalates, and I have let him cry for as long as 15 minutes, but that's all I'm willing to do.  He has not yet gone back to sleep after one of those catnaps.

Right now I feel lucky that we usually get one long nap a day, and I'm hoping that the morning nap will develop over time.  He typically takes a couple of catnaps -- one about 1.5 hours after he wakes, and another around 11.  So I'm hoping that eventually those two naps will consolidate into one decent-length nap.

Speaking of which, I hear him now, waking from his first 40-minute nap of the day!