13 week baby

[Laylor]

Hello

Baby wont sleep past 45 minutes at every nap time. Would anyone know why?

It's so frustrating because he wakes up clearly still tired but wont settle back to sleep

Thankyou.

My baby was the same at that age and it was only when he got to 5 months old that he started napping for longer periods.
Is he teething?

Just baby being baby please don't worry 😊 how does baby feed?

@Dk20 I thought maybe teething becauss hes been dribbling loads and stuffs his hands in his mouth all the time but the health visitor dosent think he is.

@K1999 I'm finding it so frustrating because I can tell hes not well rested in the day time. His night time sleeping isnt too bad but he always seems so restless. He has reflux and is on gaviscon so that's fine its literally the 45 min nap. I could set my clock to the minute. I read it's something to do with sleep cycles and hes not old enough to transition from one to the other but not sure how true that it. He is formula fed. X

And hes been like this near enough ever since he was born x

Mine was the same at that age except it was rare she would go a long as 45 mins! Would usually be lucky to get 30.

She started napping longer around 6 months, now nearly 10 months and naps really well usually.

Thanks @PopcornAndWine always nice to know I'm not alone. If he was well rested I'd let it go but he always yawns and gets grumpy very quickly x

45 minutes is the length of a baby sleep cycle so waking at this point is totally normal. Lots of babies take time in learning how to link their sleep cycles to have a longer nap.

@stopchewingeverything is there anything I can do to help him. How can I make sure he is well rested

My 12 week old DD is like this if we put her in her Sleepyhead during the day.

If I let her sleep on me, she will nap for 3-4 hours.

I think the comfort of being with me when in the transition to the next sleep cycle allows her to continue on.

Yes @Alarae my boy is the same. I spoke to the health visitor in the week about various things and this being one of them. I was worried about spoiling him too much by him napping on me all the time and she said you cant spoil them at this age which made me feel so much better. Would just be nice to put him down once every so often. Can I ask how often your little one naps and duration? Thanks

Like pp said, it's the length of a sleep cycle. They start to connect sleep cycles and consolidate naps as they get older. Mine started to at close to 6 months, but still naps in increments of 45 minutes, e.g. 1.5 hrs. They all get there in the end.

Ahh okay. So 45 mins every 1.5 hours? He does get sleepy around the 1.5hour mark but after 30 mins I always assume he hasnt slept enough so fight with him to get him back down. Could he be sleeping too much maybe? We normally get up around 7ish and try and get him down every 1.5 to 2 hours. IIt's just I've read everywhere that babies should be sleeping best part of the day. Makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong

At that age mine could only stay awake for 1-1.5 hrs max before napping again. As soon as she started yawning or rubbing her eyes we'd hold her to sleep. She didn't start napping in the cot until she was about 4 or 5 months old.

It really wasn't until 6 months that she started to be awake for longer and having more predictable nap times. She still naps for either 45 mins or 1.5 hrs now that she's down to 2 naps a day at 10 months old.

Thanks ever so much. My boy is about 1.5 hours awake time. If he naps on me he can sleep longer but still wakes up grumpy. If he goes in his basket its 45 mins then hes awake until the next 1.5 hours although he wakes up smiling in his basket. Its strange. I just worry hes not having the best sleep. Bedtime is 7pm and it's only around 8ish where he properly settles until midnight. Around 5am ish we are back to the waking up and thrashing about x

45 mins is a baby’s sleep cycle and at this age they can struggle to link them together. Eventually they do and they sleep past that initial wake up

He always seems tired when hes been asleep on me. I never know whether to fight him back to sleep. Yesterday he slept for almost 3 hours on me and still woke up with the face on. X

Have you tried the shhh pat (or in our case rock) method? Basically I get my son to settle 4 a nap by rocking and shhhing him. I put him down drowsy and shhh and rub his face till he falls asleep (if needed). When he gets restless after 30mins i gently shhh again and he falls back asleep. I started doing this when he was 13 weeks. He's 21 now and it still works. He's always been crabby after short naps.

@aimzxd I assume you mean 21 weeks and not 21 years!

@aimzxd yes we do this but more often than not he wakes up wide awake literally. If he is on us he will fall back to sleep.

White noise sometimes helps to soothe them as they transition between sleep cycles - try playing this on your phone during his naps. There are teddies and things you can get to do it if it works.

@Laylor my DD will tend to catnap in the morning, probably a 45 min nap twice anywhere between 7am - 1pm.

She tends to then have a long 3 hour nap on me from 2pmish onwards.

We then get her back to sleep after that around half 6, and she will either sleep through until 2am or will wake again around 10pm for another feed.

She is a much better night sleeper than during the day. I think this is because she is more interested in what's going on so will only sleep longer when it catches up to her (around 2pm).

@Alarae do you think it really matters which way round they have their sleep. Hes been asleep on my husband now for 1.5hours.

Thanks so much for your post