When oh when will short naps end?

[Turtlegurl888]

I know it is normal. I'm trying to just accept it for what it is. But baby taking 30, 20, sometimes even 10 minute (!) naps is getting me down.

Baby wakes up still tired but won't resettle and then we get into an endless loop of overtiredness which builds and builds throughout the day.

Please tell me when your baby started napping for longer. And please tell me it was 20 weeks and 1 day 😂 I can't take any more 10 minute power naps.

Unfortunately mine would only stay asleep while I was holding him or in the pram until about 6/7 months. Woke up immediately when put down.

Will baby sleep longer in the pram on a walk, or in the car ?

The only way I could extend was to contact nap. I did get a numb bum after a couple of hours! Don't worry, even my terribly sleeping son grew out of it and naps in his room alone!

9 months for us, and even then he often needed resettling to go more than 40 minutes! When he was mobile he started wearing himself out.

On a positive note, he is now 2 and still naps beautifully.

About 9 or 10 months for us and it’s still hit and miss at 12 months. She was still doing 3 naps a day until at least 10 months due to the short naps. Occasionally got a longer contact nap or pram nap.

Have you tried trying to get him down a bit earlier than when you think he’s tired as he might already be overtired before starting the nap? Are you trying cot naps or contact naps? Didn’t convince mine to do a cot nap until at least 9 months, before that she would and up after 5-10 min.

Never! DD was always a 20 minute power napper. I was so envious of chat of 1-2 hour naps and what they were doing in that time!

I used to contact nap when they were stuck in this cycle. Couple of days of good sleep on me they were out of the habit and went back to normal.

One of mine was about 12 months, the other one never did. Both dropped them completely at 15/18m. I never got the joy of those long naps, was always very jealous of those who did!

If contact napping was the answer for us I would happily slob on the sofa for hours a day. Unfortunately baby seems to sleep even worse on me. Won't settle or I disturb them. Will sleep in the pram if knackered after much pushing, but wouldn't sleep if I was stationary and just swinging the pram back and forth IYSWIM. Did your son change himself or did you have to work at it with going down in the cot? At the moment we are doing bedroom naps 4-7 times a day (if we get a few dreaded 10 minuters) but I'm sick of being stuck in the bedroom. I can't even put the telly on because my baby seems to be really sensitive to light and sound. Thanks for the hope for 6 months though 😂😭

Will sort of sleep in the pram but pings awake at the 30 minute mark and never properly closes eyes either. So not entirely sure this is restorative sleep or just dozing. Doesn't want to miss out!

Sleeps very well in the car and will go for up to 1.5 hours if I keep driving. Unfortunately I can't afford the diesel to drive for 90 minutes continuously every day 😭 although I do car naps a couple of times a week or work them in if we're going on a trip a fair distance away. Baby will only stay asleep for about 10 minutes after I stop!

Thanks for the hope! I want to contact nap! It worked for a while when baby was newborn but no longer :( I think I must overstimulate unintentionally

Thank you, I have heard that when they can get about they tire themselves out. Long naps seem so unreachable right now!

Oh no 😢 it's luck of the draw. I know so many mothers with great nappers. When I hear "I've just had to wake him up from a 2 hour nap to come out!" I think a vein in my forehead starts throbbing 🤣

I try and be good with wake windows, I don't follow them to the minute because it seems to change every day, and wake windows in the mornings are shorter than evenings so I try and go by tired signs. It's so hard to guess when they are gonna be tired!

Nooo! That is not the news I wanted 😂😂

I know this sounds insane but have you got any tips for contact napping?
Baby has NEVER slept on my chest even when newborn. Just wouldn't settle. For a few weeks baby would be rocked to sleep in my arms but now they're a bit more active keeps trying to sit up in my arms and gets so grumbly.
It's more trouble than it's worth so I've retreated to the bedroom but would love the ease of a contact nap. I like to play video games too and be a general slobber so sitting on the sofa nap trapped sort of sounds good to me.

Oh I bet you were so done by that point! To be honest I would prefer no naps (I know it isn't possible at my baby's age) - at least you don't have the stress of continually putting them down throughout the day. Do they sleep well now at least?

When they stopped napping at 2 and a half 😂 mine would only have a long nap if literally on top of me or in the car. Sorry op, some are lucky and they nap well from day one, others take a while longer and in my case, they just never get it. "This shall pass" and all that shite.

Yes I was and yes it is easier when you're not wasting hours trying to wrestle them into a nap! The hardest bit for me was getting over the idea that I'd ever get that 2 hour stint to get stuff done or (heaven forbid) put my feet up! Took a long time to not feel bitter about that.

Ha no sadly not, the older one isn't too bad these days but didn't still through properly till about 3 and the little one is 3 and still up every couple of hours at night . It's crap!

5 months was the glorious time I think. Only in the cot though. He still pings awake at 40mins on the very rare occasion that he falls asleep in the buggy and the car is 50/50.

All three of mine had two 25 minute naps a day from about 4 weeks to 9 months. You could set your clock to it. After 9 months, they would have one 90 minute nap a day.

some kids are just like this. None of them have ever napped in daylight hours (except occasionally when they are really ill) since 20 months old. They slep well at night so we just rolled with it.

My DD is 8.5 months and still hit and miss. Will only do 30mins in the pram. In the car, will do longer maybe 25 percent of the time but otherwise 30 mins.

The past few days she has randomly started to do the odd long nap in her cot! But not reliably so. She's currently been going just over an hour upstairs and I'm in shock!

Her night sleep is terrible too. How's yours?

It's nothing you're doing wrong OP.

My DS was a horrible cat napper. I had time to make a quick coffee but never got to drink that coffee 😅 then they got a bit better around 6 months but only contact napping.

8 months it ended for us. He's 14 months now and naps amazingly in his cot for 2-3 hrs. I have to wake him up even sometimes... !!

Hold on hun. It will get better

Lasted from about 5-8 months with us, drove me mad as I got nothing done (2nd child) but it didn't seem to bother him or affect night sleep so I had no choice but to ride it out. He just snapped out of it eventually and now at 11 months has 2 1.5 hour naps a day.

It changed for us because we did sleep training at 6 months. We did it because he was a horrendous night time sleeper - used to wake up every half hour.

Once he’d learnt to settle himself to sleep he was able to stay asleep. We did it for the nighttime really but it also meant that he could settle himself to sleep for naps and then stay asleep for an hour or 90 mins. Never had the really long naps that some babies do.

Night sleep is ok, of course I'd like an uninterrupted night but normally down by 7:30pm and up at midnight and 3am for feeds, then up at 6 ish for the day. Which I can survive on for sure.
Sorry the nights are crap for you:( how often are you up?

I don't mind being up twice or even three times as as soon as my babe has finished the bottle they pass tf out! So it's a short wake for us both.