Napping!

[Ruann]

Hello
Looking for a few suggestions on getting a 6 month old to nap for longer than 40 minutes! He's always been a catnapper but hes still tired when he gets up and can then get overtired by bedtime. Also think its disrupting his nightime sleep a bit. I've tried leaving him to settle for 10-15 mins but he just plays in the cot and eventually cries, then is tired again within an hour. Tried singing to him, shush-pat, rocking but no luck!

He does settle himself at nightime and after any nightime feeds too

Thanks!

This is normal .
My eldest never extended her naps .
Was a 30 minute napper until she stopped napping at 20 ish months .

My youngest is 14 months and does around 45 minutes to one hour at lunch time but before that just did cat naps to

Following as my (younger) baby only does 45 minute cat naps too. Easy to plan as so regular but means I have to stay in a lot as he has so many naps and I cannot extend them (he seems wide awake!)

Anxiousmama did you just have more naps in day to make up the lack of length?

I find my LO from 8 weeks (who's now 15 months) will sleep for a good few hours during the day provided the room is dark and there's no noises... when he is at his Nans he won't sleep for more than half hour because she puts him on a cushion on the living room floor by the window and the telly.

I always put him in his bed for a nap aswell, no way would he sleep at all if I didn't.

Hope I'm not just stating the obvious, i wasn't sure what you had tried.

Thanks for all the replies, thought it was normal enough but had been told that they would extend naturally by about 6months - ha!

Emilyyy, we have a routine that's just a bit shorted than bedtime routine - change nappy, darken room, white noise, into sleepbag, cuddle for a few minutes and sing a lullaby. He'll go to sleep ok but it never lasts. He used to sleep really well at night, 12 hours with just one feed, but recently this has increased to 3 times a night. Wonder week was definitely disruptive but think he's through that now so maybe it will sort itself out...here's hoping!

Admittedly, I'm not always consistent with napping at home, sometimes we're in the car or on a walk. Have you always put your boy into his cot for naps?

Thanks for all the replies, thought it was normal enough but had been told that they would extend naturally by about 6months - ha

Haha.
Naps are just purr luck.
Some nap for hours and some don't

I really believe if they extend, they'll extend naturally. When I started to go a bit crazy through lack of rest, I did try to be consistently at home for naps and ours did lengthen, but I reckon that could've been coincidence. We also lengthened awake time...

Not always no sometimes it's in his car seat in the car, sometimes in his pram (which we don't really use much now because he can walk really well), when he was under 6 months he used to nap on his baby bean bag but his naps never lasted that long and they still don't if they aren't in his cot. Even when he naps at nursery he usually naps for no more than 40 minutes. I have to put him in his cot to nap at home anyway as that's the only place that he is safe and he can't wander about lol.

you might find your little one naps longer as he gets more active crawling, cruising etc...

My little boy sleeps right though 12-14 hours every night and still squeezes in 1-2 naps a day usually 1 decent one then one shorter one. With that being said he is very very active when he is awake and doesn't stop for a second lol. Even if he 2nd nap has been late, my little boy goes tired as soon as I've bathed him and put his pjs on. I try to keep bedtime and naptime routine as basic as possible and that's what's always worked for me, I'll read stories and cuddle my little boy during the day and then just give him a quick kiss and squeeze before putting him down for a nap, if I stayed with him for more than a minute he probably wouldn't end up napping as he wants to start playing.