30 minute naps

kateraid · March 2013

DS will only take 30 minute naps unless he's sleeping in the car or stroller out for a walk. Has anyone been successful in extending the naps of their LO? I am reading conflicting information on the Internet. Some sites say its normal and they will sleep longer when ready and some say they're not making it through their sleep cycle and need help with some sleep training.

eebaehr · March 2013

Kateraid....I just have to tell you that I think we have the same baby lol. Everytime you post about a sleep issue or a crib issue, we are going through the same thing and vice versa. I think we both switched to crib sleeping at the same time, and you are currently in the 4 month wakeful hell as well right? Shocker, our babies even nap the same:) I know all the information out there is so confusing, and I haven't really found anything that helps C take longer naps. Sometimes I just get lucky and she sleeps for an hour, most of the time just 40 minutes.

Just remember when you are up four times a night and putting your baby down for naps 6 times a day that I'm right there with ya Wink

kateraid · March 2013

Haha that makes me feel better actually. Have you got the crib transition down yet? I actually got J to start napping in his crib as of last Thursday ish and its going ok... Other than the 3040 minute expiration on each nap. He has started pooping at 5:00 am also which means he's wide awake after that diaper change. Oy.

eebaehr · March 2013

We went cod turkey off the swing...all naps and night sleep are in crib now. It was rough, and then just as it started getting better this wakeful crap hit hard. I'm just trying to stay awake most days. That sucks about your 5 am poopfest, I can't wait till LO sleeps through the night because it's so hard to get them back down after those early morning wake ups.

pb_bride · March 2013

I also wanna say that my DS is very similar to yours. He was taking 30-min naps for weeks; and for 2 wks they were down to 20 mins! I thought I was gonna go insane cuz DS was fighting naps too! At one point, it was taking me a whole hour just to get him to fall asleep, and he napped for 20 mins! It was so frustrating and nothing was getting done around the house, not to mention DS was cranky all day due to the short naps!

And like your DS, mine could sleep 2-3 hours IF he was in his car seat, or if he was ON me.

I tried every trick I read on the 'net to attempt to extend DS's naps beyond the 30-in mark, but none of them worked. I resorted to nursing him to sleep (and let him sleep on me), or going out for walks, just so that he could get one long nap a day.

DS sort of growing out of it now - so I hope it's also just a phase for you. In the meantime though, we did sleep training at night, and I don't know if that also contributed to DS's naps extending somewhat. At least w/the sleep training, DS is now capable of falling asleep on his own, so I don't have to spend an hour luring him to sleep. His naps in the crib are usually 45 minutes, sometimes still 30mins. haven't been able to get him nap longer than 45 though.

I still let him take one long nap a day in the car seat. Usually we're out in the car when he falls asleep, then I just take the car seat in the house and let him stay asleep in it.

So I guess I just want to tell you that you're not alone in experiencing this, and hope it gets better for you soon!

tortuga47 · March 2013

My LO only took 30 min naps for the first 3 months too. It's only been in the past two weeks that we're getting an hour and a half and sometimes a two hour nap out of him in the afternoon. Morning and late afternoon are still 30 min cat naps. I'm not sure I changed much other than keeping nap times consistent. After an hour 15 min or hour and a half of him up, we put him down for a nap. On those 30 min nap days that is sometimes four or five naps, but he's so much happier than trying to stretch his awake times. Hopefully your little one will start transitioning to longer naps soon!

Edit: I did think of one thing. We got a white noise machine which I do think helps.

g8trkim · March 2013

DS was like this. He started taking longer naps around 8 or 9 months old. It felt like forever, but.... ever since he's been a great napper. Up until 18 months he took two decent naps a day (at least an hour) and since then he's taken one long nap (2-3 hours). So hopefully you will have the same experience.

Jimsgirl5821 · March 2013

I have the same issue. I thout he outgrew it because he started doing two hour naps on his own. This week he is back to 30-40 minutes. I can sometimes rock him back to sleep for a bit longer. He is starting ay are this week when I go back to work. I am hoping all the new stimulation gets him sleeping better

Kissty · March 2013

My DS is almost 6 mos. and is still a cat napper. Very rarely we can get a 2-3 hour nap. He just won't go past 30 mins. Even when we put him down at night I have to go to his room after 30 mins and put him back to sleep. It is very frustrating. Hopefully he will start to take longer naps. I always laugh at myself on those rare occasions when he naps longer bc I start to get worried. Embarrassed

Good Luck!

kateraid · March 2013

Oh geez! Thanks for your posts ladies. I have been continuing to jiggle him around 20 minutes into his nap to try and extend them. Today it seemed to work. I had to jiggle for over 30 minutes and my arm feels like it belongs to a 15 year old boy but he went down at 11:48 and its 12:45 and he's still sleep. I will continue this and see if it leads to him sleeping through his sleep transition on his own. My girlfriend did this for her baby and it only took four days but then again her baby is super easy.

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