Still in nap hell 🥴

[Scottishbump85]

I’ve posted previously about my DDs short naps. She is now nearly 6 months old and they are still not lengthening.

She goes down in her cot fine, self settles with no dummy, but like clockwork is awake after 30 mins. If I go in quick enough and give her a dummy she’ll fall back asleep (sometimes for to an hour), but is this stopping her from learning to link day time sleep cycles on her own? It also means I don’t get any time to myself when she’s down as I’m just constantly watching the monitor waiting for her to stir! It’s exhausting! :(

I should add and sleeps very well over night and usually does 9/10 hours straight without any intervention from me! Just wish this could transfer to day time naps!

She'll be able to do it when she's ready, it's not something you can teach as such. It's good that she's like clockwork even though they're short, because you can go in at say 25 minutes and gently stir her and resettle, so another cycle starts before she wakes fully. I used to do that with DS until he started to lengthen them on his own.

I would give him a little shake, or slightly jiggle the mattress, and then put his dummy back in and tap it and pat his bum.

@addler thanks! What age did he start to naturally sleep longer??

It definitely wasn't by 6 months! His was always 35/40 minutes. I think when we dropped to two naps one of them started being longer, with a short one in the morning still, so I guess by 7 months ish he didn't need always need me to resettle him. But it wasn't linear, he still had days until he was well over one when he would just randomly do a 40 minute nap but they were few and far between at least.

It will pass. I can't exactly recall but I think somewhere around 15-18 months DS's naps lengthened (to 2-3 hours in fact) I remember the leader of our mommy and me group saying they would and me and my friend just didn't believe it.

My son was a total cat napper until he dropped to two naps a day (at about 10 months). He's nearly 3 and he can still nap for hours if we let him so it does get better!

Honestly at 6 months you can’t have it all. She self settles and sleeps 10 hours at night, just take that for what it is and enjoy it.

Thanks all. I’m probably obsessing over it a bit much and should relax. But I really hate it when she’s a cranky pants 😂

You’re expecting far too much I’m afraid. 3 kids here, none napped for longer than 20-30 minutes til they were 12 months old. You’re lucky she sleeps overnight!

@DSGR perhaps I am! I just know other babies around her age that nap really well and it feels like I’m failing at it!

Been there!! Mine finally did around 9-10 mo when he started crawling and tiring himself out. He still wakes in his naps sometimes but he's easy to settle again

Honestly so normal! If you're getting good night sleep then don't mess with anything just enjoy that! The naps will lengthen when they get a bit older.

Yep so normal and nobody talks about it. Mine and almost all of my friend’s kids are/were the same. Got noticeably better for us when he dropped to one nap around 14mo and he started sleeping for 1-2 hours and still does now at 2.

DS didn't nap for longer than 30 minutes till after 1yo and would wake multiple times a night too. I'd say you're doing alright!

Been there and it’s so stressful and exhausting when you never get a break in the day, I get it. Mine naturally lengthened about 13 months, nothing that changed routine wise but maybe linked to her becoming more mobile and tiring out more? Who knows. Went from 30 mins to an hour and a half plus (this was while on two naps, but we had been on two naps for months and months before they suddenly lengthened). Now she’s on one nap at 17 months (dropped about 15 months) and usually we get around 2 hrs. Hope this gives you some hope although appreciate that probably seems like a long way off! I dealt with it by never getting anything done in nap time that I couldn’t do while she was awake. So she came in the bathroom while I showered and did chores around the house with me. So I could use those precious 30 mins to sit with a cuppa x

This!!

I'd have killed for that sleeping pattern overnight at 2, let alone 6m.

Thank you for your understanding and sharing your experience! I also do the chores when she’s awake and drag her around with me so I can sit and stare at the monitor chill when she’s asleep.

I know I’m extremely lucky with her overnight sleeping, for those that have commented! I am grateful! It’s just that she’s so grumpy without good daytime naps so it makes the days (afternoons especially) a little draining.

Honestly @Scottishbump85 i felt the same with my DD as I seemed to be the only one with a cat napper. I remember my friends babies having 2 hour naps and being so jealous. But it will come of its own accord!

Thanks! I do hope so!