NAPS!! help please!

[chloeandharper]

hi all, i was hoping someone could help me with some advice regarding my wee girls naps! she's 7 months, but since about 5 months has refused a decent length nap and always wakens after 25-35 minutes. she sleeps well overnight but the past few days is waking at 4:30-5:30, sometimes i get her back to sleep until 7 and sometimes not. she doesn't usually wake overnight and this is the closest we have ever had to overnight wakings really. i don't think she's getting enough sleep as a result of the short naps and early wakings, currently am in the process of trying to switch to 2 naps but this is the first solid day of it. she's had some 2 nap days previously due to a random hour nap she would take so i know she can do it! i just don't know how to help with this transition. sorry if this is a ramble and not making much sense. my girls had some health issues, was NG fed until a few weeks ago due to cardiac defects which she had repaired in open heart surgery back in august. she's had a lot going on for a week toot, bless her. id just love to get her naps under control so she's rested as shes super grizzly all day and i presume it may be a lack of sleep. any advice at all is welcome! X

Where is she napping now @chloeandharper?

she still sleeps in her nextome in our bedroom but looking to get her in to her own room in the next couple of weeks as she's getting a bit big for it now!

Ok so try setting her cot up but sleep with the sheets before you put them on and try her in there just for naps for now, before you move her in there at night.

We moved to 2 naps and into his own room at the same time. They very quickly adjust to being on a sleep schedule and their body clock then starts to know when it’s nap time, which is so much easier than using wake windows.
You need to make sure that the room she’s sleeping in is pitch black - if you can see your hand infront of your face then it’s too light. Using white noise is helpful if you want to use it to minimise noise disturbance. And have a consistent pre nap routine, which should be similar to your bedtime routine. For example for bedtime we do a feed, bath, story, into sleeping bag and cuddles and then turn on white noise, turn off light, put into crib and say Night Night. Then at naps we do the same routine except the feed and bathtime. Having the same routine before each sleep period will really help her to get into sleep mode. It does take time but eventually she’ll start sleeping longer once she’s used to her routine and her sleep space.

I don't think transition to 2 naps usually completes this early, more like closer to 9 months. But i might be wrong.

I would hold off transitioning to 2 naps until she is older and consistently having one long nap. It does tend to improve with age!

the problem is she has completely started resisting the 3rd nap now! im having a total nightmare with it the past couple nights now as she gets so overtired by bedtime and is now going down to sleep at 6pm as opposed to her usual 7pm🤣 and she will often cry, used to be good at self settling but now needs lots of extra bosies (not that im complaining 🙈) im at a loss by now no idea what to do and poor baba is getting so frustrated at the routine too. she's absolutely exhausted 🤦🏻‍♀️

This is why we moved to 2 naps. He’d just refuse the 3rd nap, and this was when he was 6 months old. We used a sleep consultant to guide us and she suggested we try 2 naps as he was showing signs he might be ready to it. She did say it’s unusual for babies before 9ish months to be down to 2 naps but sometimes some can cope well with it. Anyway, it works for us.
His sleep ‘schedule’ is:
6:30am wake
9:00 - 10:15am nap
1:30 - 3:15pm nap
6:30pm bed

The nap length does vary but usually he’ll do at least 40 mins minimum for his first nap and minimum 1.5 hrs second nap. If his daytime naps have been as short at those then he goes to bed at 6.
He’s 9 months old so been doing this for 3 months and we’ve not had issues. The first week or so that we tried it his naps weren’t very long so he was going to bed at 6pm every night but his naps soon started to lengthen out once he got used to the routine.

sounds like a good routine you have going! everyone keeps telling me it's too soon to transition but with her refusing the 3rd nap most days and becoming overtired as a result we would really just like to establish a 2 nap routine for her too. she has a really difficult time transitioning to the 2nd stage of sleep though and that's the main issue as the naps are consistently only 30 minutes long or shorter 🤦🏻‍♀️ it's difficult isn't it. we have been using huckleberry to track her sleep and try to help however don't seem to be moving further forward. her naps sound very similar for timing to your little ones as she's typically awake at about 6:30/7 now too!