5 month old catnaps - do they grow out of it?

[lysie]

Hi,

My ds is 5 months this week. Over the last month or so he has stopped taking naps any longer than 45 minutes. He sleeps every 2 hours or so in the day so usually has about 4 naps. He seems happy and healthy to me (a bit snotty at the moment as he has a cold but otherwise cheerful).

Having researched this a bit I have learned all about sleep cycles etc.

Some sleep books say that 45 mins is not enough - that only naps of an hour or longer actually count as restorative. I have noticed that I can easily extend morning naps to 1.5 hours if dd sleeps in the sling; i feel him stir and a quick jiggle and he's off again.

In the pushchair or cot he only ever sleeps for 45 mins. Ds can self settle at night but not in the day.

If your baby was a catnapper - did they grow out of it? Did you use sleep training to extend naps (I am dubious about this as it seems to be going against ds' nature)?

His night time sleep is reasonable, he goes down easily between 6 - 7pm and wakes around 6am, with 2 feeds (ebf) in between.

Mine does this, except her naps are 3x20 min a day. She seems fine and healthy, and is doing just what her now 16 yr old big brother did. He just hasn't ever needed as much sleep as the manuals suggest he should, and he never grew out of it. In fact he was always in such a bad mood after a longer nap in the daytime, and then would not go to sleep until 11pm, that we stopped his naps at about 18 months and went for an earlier bedtime instead (8pm)

My baby is sleeping 11 hours in 24, which is on the lower side of normal. I wouldn't worry about your DS unless he seems unhappy and unhealthy. If he is getting himself back to sleep at nights he sounds fine to me.

My DS did this...four naps a day of 25 minutes each. You could almost set your clock by them, people were always surprised I could tell them the exact time he would wake up. I did used to try and extend them - go up to him, stroke his head, replace dummy (gah..) etc, but to be honest it rarely worked.

However, at the age of about eight months, he started napping twice a day for an hour each time, by one year old he was having one nap at 12.00 lasting about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. He is now 2 1/2 and still naps for this amount every single day !

He did this pretty much of his own accord without any conscious training on my part. Seem to recall he just started going for his first nap later and later naturally and then staying asleep for longer.

His naps never seemed to affect his night sleeps - bed at seven, then up at half six.

I read the same books and worried too as ds would only ever nap for 38 mins maximum. He could sleep longer if I held him but he has had major problems sleeping at night (sometimes waking every half hour) so I didn't want to hold or nap with him in case this was affecting him at night too. Suddenly on christmas day at 8 months old I put him for a nap in his cot and he slept for 1.5hrs. He's 10months now and will sometimes have a longer nap, maybe twice a week and only in his cot or the car, never the pram. This can either be for morning nap or afternoon nap. Its difficult because if we've something on that day I hate to wake him up if he's having a rare long nap.
After months of trying to get him to nap longer, driving unnecessarily, worrying, reading every book I could etc he has done it of his own accord so I wouldn't bother trying to change this, especially if your ds is sleeping well at night!
StantonLacy, this sounds just like my ds so I'm hoping he starts to nap as well as your ds!

TomThumbMum Fingers crossed for you !
Must admit it is an absolute god send, for him and for me. He got to the point where he would rub his eyes a bit, walk to the stairgate and say "mummy, bed" and that was that. The fact that he has continued with his naps up until now is lovely, especially since I now have a six week old DD who also seems to want a two hour nap at the same time ! (I'll shut up now, before fate comes and gives me a good kick in the teeth)
I'm sure it won't continue much longer...(but hope it does)!!

Thanks, sensible words from you all. I here by declare that I shall not stress over ds' naps and let him be.

Just wanted to let you know that ds has currently been a sleep for an hour and 20 mins, fourth day in a row that he has had a long nap in the morning. Its just fantastic! For all of you with catnappers, take heart, I NEVER thought this would happen after months of 38 minute naps!

Hello

My DS1 (now 5.5) did this, and DS2 (4 months) is exactly the same . 45 minutes on the dot, you could set your watch by DS2 during the day. He does the same thing in the evening - bed around 7, sleeps 45 minutes, then screams the place down, but resettles with a cuddle. He too can self-settle in the night though, has a late breastfeed at 10pm then sleeps through till 7am.

Obviously can't guarantee this will happen for others, but with DS1 I found that around 6/7 months the 45 minute thing just stopped being a problem, and he suddenly started sleeping for 2 hours after lunch. Always had to wake him up after that I put this down to a combination of 2 things :

1. he was just that bit more active - going in door bouncer, rolling, etc - so tiring himself out more

2. he was on protein solids at lunch - this made a massive difference IMO - and definitely helped the daytime sleep.

I also have enough friends whose catnapping babies grew up to be 2-hour-nap-after-lunch toddlers to reassure me that it's probably quite a common thing. So don't despair - it may well just come. I would just keep putting them down for a cot nap (so that they continue to be happy to go down for naps in the cot) even if they only do 45 minutes. I wouldn't personally do sleep training, as all you are likely to achieve is a stressed out mummy and unhappy babe!

Just thought I'd post to say that ds who is now nearly 6 months, has stopped doing the 45 minute thing, without any intervention from me.

In the last week or so all of his naps have been 1-2 hours. I couldn't believe it the first time he slept for 2 hours; I was rushing around trying to do everything in 45 mins and ended up having a whole hour to sit down and put my feet up (inbetween staring at ds every few mins to make sure he was still breathing!). This has corresponded with longer awake time, ds now needs a nap every 2 hours 15 - 30 mins. I noticed that ds still stirs at 45 mins (opens eyes slightly), but just goes back to sleep without any messing.

This last week has been great, so much easier to get stuff done.

Moral of the story: catnapping is a normal dvelopmental stage for some babies - sleep trainers are just trying to make off with our cash by pretending it isn't.

mine both did at about a year old they started to have one long nap in the middle of the day