Naps - what the actual hell?

[Newmummy2225]

So after MONTHS of my DD having 30 minute naps, she seemed to finally be able to link day time sleep cycles and was having good long naps for over a week.

However, the past 3 days she has gone back to 30 mins (sometimes 20!!!). I haven’t changed anything! Why is this happening again? It’s exhausting! Resettling isn’t working now either!

She is 8.5mo.

My DD took longer naps when I put her in a Zipadee zip transition swaddle sleeping bag at 7 mos. She had never previously been swaddled so I was reluctant but she immediately went from 20-30 mins naps to 1h+. It covers their hands so they feel more secure I guess?

thanks but she’s never been swaddled and she sleeps in a gro bag x

I don't know but naps have always been the biggest pain in the arse for us.

Try not to stress about it. Naps come and go, they lull you into a false sense of security and then they change completely just to mess with you. You have no control, just accept it and be thankful for what you get.

@Alitlebitsleepy glad it’s not just me! Lol!

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername I try not to, but she really needs decent naps or she’s a total grump!

@Newmummy2225 my DD had also never been swaddled and slept in a gro bag, but when I switched to the zipadee she instantly took longer naps... it was our nap silver bullet. We used it from 7-18 months.

@Endlesslaundry123 oooh sorry I didn’t read your first post properly! That’s interesting!

How many naps is she having a day? Is she still sleeping well at night (to be honest this is the priority- I remember getting mine to finally have longer naps and they started waking in the morning at stupid o'clock!)

@mewkins it really depends! If she naps well in the morning (over an hour) then it’s a 2 nap day! If she has crap half hour naps then it’s 3 a day!

Yes she sleeps all night (with the exception of a few ropey nights due to colds / teething). She normally goes down about 7 and sleeps till 6ish! So that part I am so lucky with!

@Newmummy2225 I found 8-10 months to be the sleep nightmare with mine. My third is 16 months and her sleep was bad between eight and nine months (she wasn't great before then either). Naps were fine just night time sleep. It settled around 11 months and she sleeps for 12 hours at night now. Hang in there.

Wake windows might need increasing in order for LO to be tired enough to sleep for longer. I’d recommend having a look at a typical sleep schedule for their age and see how it compares to what your aiming for

Apparently after 8 months they become hard to resettle because they expect you to get them up, and get frustrated.

Is she crawling yet? Mine started at 9 months and that was when he started having decent naps. From 0-9 months, his naps were 20-30 minutes long without fail.

I have been to hell and back with my DDs naps and night time sleep, and any time I make any progress she seems to regress and we’re back to square one so you’re not alone! It’s something I’ve now stopped questioning, it’s just her temperament because I’ve tried everything under the sun, every method, every sleep training idea, gentle and more tough love, experimenting with wake times, earlier naps, later naps, more naps, less naps, extending naps on boob, earlier bedtime, later bedtime, basically, nothing makes any difference and it’s just who my child is.

I have come to accept they will just do what they want when they want and there's no point trying to fight it, like a pp said, enjoy the good times whilst they last and roll with the bad. Let go of trying to work anything out because the babies haven't read the manual apparently!

Thanks for all the replies! It seems she has gone back to napping well and it might have been a teething blip!! Fingers crossed it continues :)