Extending day naps 8month old

[Newmummy2026]

Any advice on how to extend day naps for my 8 month old? Her naps range from 10 to 30 minutes a time and she usually has 3 spaced out in the day. I feel like this isn’t enough for her, she can get really irritable easily not long after her nap finishes. I encourage dim/dark room, quiet, wind down etc. her bedtime is 8pm and her wake up is around 6/6:30am. I read a lot that baby naps at this age ideally should be around 45mins to 1.5hrs. I’m lucky if she naps for longer than 30mins???

How is she going down to sleep for the nap?

Usually with patting and me singing to her. In her cot for the first two naps then her third in the pram usually on a walk

Mine pretty much always had 30 min naps until she transitioned to 1 nap. Try longer gaps between naps, she should be able to manage on 2 naps soon. Does she sleep through the night?

Contact naps, naps in a sling, naps in car or pushchair. Mine never would have napped if I expected them to nap in a cot in a dark room alone.

If I leave longer gaps she shows tired signs like rubs her eyes, yawns, becomes fussy. And she sleeps quickly once I settle her down. we’re working on night sleep, she is EBF since birth so she has a feed to sleep association at night.

she rarely sleeps on me, occasionally in the pram. I never leave her alone until she is asleep, I help soothe her and she drifts off.

Does she doze a little bit when you are feeding her?

There is research that babies who nap outside, sleep for longer. This was definitely true of my children. Do you have an enclosed back garden that she can sleep in the pram ?

https://mabelandmoose.co.uk/blog/5-benefits-of-outside-sleeping-for-babies

I would try dropping a nap - no way mine would have done 3x 1h naps by 8 months

Pushchair or car works well