3 month old - 30 minute naps :-(.

[Nini100]

My lovely 3mth old girl has over the past 5 weeks begun to cat nap in the day.
She wakes after 30/40 mins max in the car, cot, be, sofa anywhere. She often wakes crying and yawning. Ive tried to get her back to sleep sometimes with success only if shes rocked or i sway her in front of our spin dryer. I often have to lie down with her to get an hour but don't want to encourage this bad habit.
Shes doin quite well at night, only waking once for a feed.
Any ideas on how to help my tired girly.
Thanks

My LO does this (although if moving in his pram will often sleep longer).

I either have him nap in his bouncer and bounce it if I see he's stirring and for first 10 or so minutes, or he sleeps on my bed (I lay down with him to get him to sleep) and put the hair dryer on.

He's better some days than others, used to be really bad (10/15 mins) until he was put on meds for reflux.

Does your LO have silent reflux? From what I read catnapping is common with it.

How many naps is she having? By this age I'd expect her to be coping with about an hour and a half awake then 45 minutes asleep. In another month or two stretching out to three regular naps per day. Dropping the third (late afternoon) one around about 6-7 months. Do you put her down with a full tummy? If they're put down hungry they often wake up earlier than they would otherwise.

It sounds pretty normal, to be honest. 40-45 minutes is one sleep cycle and at 12 weeks that's about right for naps during the day. It'll change, don't worry! These aren't catnaps they're proper length naps for her age. Also I wouldn't rely too much on one-feed-per-night - that may well change as you approach the 15-week/4 month sleep-regression-growth-spurt phase.

Hi ladies
Yep about an hour and a half wake time is pretty much her lot. We have to have about 5 naps a day. I may try the full tummy thing.
It will prob be like that today as she is due a feed when it's her next sleep. Not sure bout the silent reflux?? If this was the cause would she not have probs at night too??
Today she seems to be doin 30 mins tops. It's beginning to really get me down
I just hate reading all these books and speaking to other mums saying there bubs sleep for 2hr stretches and this is what babies need??!!
Might invest in no cry nap solution.itbso hard to be consistent each day with a nap in cot etc etc.

Mine did similar until he was about 6 months old - he was on a 2 hour cycle which involved 1.5 hours awake followed by a 0.5 hour nap, all through the day, despite having slept through at night from about 10 weeks. That was just his natural routine, and if I tried to interfere with it he was constantly grumpy.

Ignore other mums/books, every baby is different! If it's any consolation, it drove me mad too, but from 6 months DS started having fewer and longer naps, and from about 11 months he started having just one 3 hour nap which made all my friends jealous!

p.s. My DS had/has reflux, but it didn't stop him sleeping well at night

Thanks for info im beginning to think its just her ways.
Will look into reflux thing. I think if she slept all night i would.be less grumpy.

I don't think we had two hour naps until dd was over a year old. I wouldn't worry about it.

I had a similarly frustrating experience with DS1. All he ever napped was 45 minutes and always woke crying like he was upset. I had to give him 3 naps a day until he was about 6 months old but he always seemed tired. Gradually as the year went on he napped longer and longer at lunchtime, stopped crying and dropped the morning nap a few months ago. As someone said to me at the time, he'd grow out of the catnapping. And he did... Have faith

My DS did this - he would have perhaps 5 or 6 20 minute power naps a day and that would be it. At around 7 months he started to take longer naps and now at 9 months, at least 1 of his naps is 90 minutes and another perhaps an hour. It will be better the older they get.

Im so pleased you have taken the time to post. Starting to feel better bout it already.
Is 5 naps a day ok??
Her naps are the following:
Wake 630/7am
Nap 8.30-9
Nap 11/1130 -12
Nap 2pm-240
Nap 330-4pm
Nap 5.30-6pm
Then bathtime and bed at latest 7.30.
If i dont do that late nap she would meltdown for bath and bed

It is just a phase. DS (now 14 months) used to do that, he grew out of it at about 7 months. It's very common, despite what the books say, it means they can't go back to sleep after one sleep cycle.

I would do anything to get her back to sleep, don't worry about bad habits, she is too young for that. Also, she is catnapping because she is overtired, it's now a vicious circle, so maybe if you get her to have a decent nap by all means necessary she will sleep for longer and find it easier to stay asleep. She will grow out if it, I know how frustrating it is, but it will pass.

Five naps a day is fine at her age - she's getting 2-3 hours total which is fine.

My LO sleeps well at night despite his reflux, it's just during the day (eg today he's slept about 45 minutes reluctantly and yesterday, day before he had about 3-4 hours).

Might just be her cycle as others have said. Does she keep up the grumpiness when she wakes up? I try to have LO at least doing something more relaxed if he's not going to sleep, like just having him in his bouncer.

Another whose baby was exactly the same. I think taking him into bed with me for a longer nap when he was truly knackered actually helped him learn to self-settle, rather than encouraging bad habits.

I really kick myself for holding out against it so long, like you I was worried about bad habits but I think it helped him to learn how to settle back down after that first 30-40 min sleep cycle because he was waking up with me, not in his cot alone. Noticed a gradual difference after we started co-sleeping for at least one nap a day but he still rarely went longer than an hour until 7 months (earlier this month). I went back to work the day after he turned 7 months (DH is home with him until the summer) - got a text that first day saying DS had slept for 2 hours in the morning, which he's done every day since!

Try not to get hung up on what everyone else's babies are doing. I really regret all the time I wasted trying to get him to nap longer, it just wasn't his style.

My 3mo is doing almost exactly the same thing. She sleeps for 30 mins and then wakes - if she is in her pushchair she will go off again in a few minutes, if she is on me then I can jig her off with about 5-10 mins, but if she is in her cot then she wakes herself up properly, and ten minutes later she starts crying for more sleep. So at the moment she naps roughly, around a 3 hour feeding cycle...

Wake at 8
Nap 10-10.40 (our longest one!)
Nap 12.30-13.00, 13.15-13.45
Nap 15.30-16.00, 16.10-16.40
Nap 18.00-18.15
Bedtime is between 7.30-8

So it sounds a little similar, though DD wants her 2 naps closer together?

What everyone else has said really but just wanted to say my DS has been the same and it drove me mad too. Then one day at around 5 months he slept for an hour and a half, I couldn't believe it! Then we had a couple more days like that and he's now 6 and a half months old and he fairly consistently has longer naps. He has also had/has reflux. I became happier when I just accepted it and got on with things. Self settling may help him sleep longer too?

Sorry I meant 'her' not him

So pleased to hear from fellow mommies that have gone through my madness.
I had a good day yesterday trying a technique I read on another site.
Basically after bubs falls asleep I know I have a 30/40minute window before she goes into light sleep. This is crazy but at the light sleep stage I go and sit next to her and wait for the first jerky movement or breathing to change I then just hold her arms down and sssshhhh her back into the zone.
Yesterday I got one nap of 1hr55!! And another of 90mins!! She was a happy baby throughout the day
The only prob is I'm sat by her side the remainder of the time as I'm Not sure when she's back into deep sleep. I'm just hoping this routine will help her self settle in the future eventually. I've tried the swaddle to stop me doin this but she hates it and it doesn't work..
Just find it weird that bubs can self settle at night but not daytime sleeps.

DS1 was like this - often having five 20-min naps a day. All of a sudden at 7-8 months he started sleeping for 90 mins, think it's just a developmental thing, they do it when they're ready.

Ooh, nini, did that work?! My dd wakes at 30 mins when she's in her cot, I'd heard that technique but hadn't summoned up the patience to try it! But if it worked for you I might try it... I could cope with sitting by her side reading, that probably wouldn't be a hardship!

Lexiesgirl give it a go!! It certainly worked for us. I just held her arms and kept ssshhhhing. I reckon the phase lasts about 15/20 mins until back to deep sleep. I'm currently on a wait now. Hoping to do this on one nap a day. Let me know how it goes

It maybe harder in cot but I do it with bubs on sofa or my bed. Easier to sit next to her then x

I tried it in her cot for this afternoon's nap and failed miserably! But I think it was because I didn't know whether I had 'woken' her enough from her deep sleep into light sleep, and so she woke up within five minutes. We often have her afternoon nap curled up on the bed, me reading, her on my lap, so I'll try it then. Did you start holding as soon as she started shifting a little? I'm desperate for just ONE nap a day that lasts a good hour or so, I can see now that she really wants one long, deep sleep.

Sorry to hear about the fail. I had a fail this afternoon too, only 40 min nap.
I soon as the first flinch I put my hands on the arms but have to keep them there for a good while.
Even though it was a fail my bubba didn't cry after waking and seemed generally happy. So let's hope for a good night ahead.

Seems like it will be trial and error - oh well, here's good luck to both of us to start getting some decent naps! Let me know if you have any eureka moments