Any one else have a 6 month old who only naps for 1.5 hours a day??

[MoragG]

DD is just over 6 months. Except from when she was a newborn she has only ever napped for 30 minutes at a time. Until recently she has had 4 30 minute naps a day. This has never seemed very much ; however, she does sleep very well at night time (down at 6.30/7pm, dream feed at 10.30/11 wakes at 7.30/8am). However, for the past few days she has refused to nap more than 3 times, meaning she is only getting 1.5 hours a day now rather than 2. This really doesn't seem enough, and means she can be awake for over 3 hours - previously she needed a nap after 1.5 hours. Her naps are still no more than 30 minutes whether she is in the car, pram or in her cot. I wouldn't mind, but she gets really fed up when she is awake for this long! Not sure I can do anything about this, but would be reassured to hear from anyone else whose DC naps so little at this age!

I think babies work towards naps with breaks of 2, 3 then 4 hours of awake time (so wake, morning nap after 2 hours, awake for 3 hours, lunch time nap then 4 hours til bedtime).

You could try putting her down earlier for her morning nap, say after being awake for nearly two hours? 30 min naps are usually a sign of being overtired so not relaxing enough.

At this age it gets harder to tell when they're tired - my DS is now 10 months and I stopped putting him down for a nap when he showed tired signs and instead put him down at the same time (roughly) every day. It took a bit of tweaking but he's now having 1 hour in the morning and 90 mins post lunch - before he used to be a serial 30-45 min napper!!

Yep, although my DS (now 7 months) does 45 mins if fed to sleep, or 30 mins if in pram / car / sling (assuming he goes off, that is). If we're at home, I always feed him again when he wakes up and occasionally he'll go back to sleep for a second cycle, but often won't. He's generally had 3 naps a day for the last 3 months or so, I'd say.

Lots of my friends IRL have babies who do the same, as do lots of people on here.

Maybe one day they'll get longer!

Mine is the same at 7 months. She will occasionally crash out for an hour or longer, but it's normally three 30 minute naps. She's far too nosy at the world around her!

Not a lot of help I know, but I have a friend who's baby has never napped at all during the day really - maybe the odd 20 minutes in the car but nothing like 90 minutes in total between 6am and 8pm (has done this since 4 or 5 months). Not exactly recommended I'm sure, but she is fine, doesn't get grumpy/tired with it and seems just to need less sleep than many babies. I'd just go with whatever baby seems to need.

Yes my DD (now 14 months) did a maximum of 1-1.5 hours worth a sleep in the day from about 4 weeks onwards. It was usually split over 2 naps, usually one of 30 minutes and 1 hour long one or two 30 minute naps in morning and afternoon. Very rarely she had a day where she'd have 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon after 30 minutes in the morning. Also she'd usually wake after 30 minutes and I'd have to go in and resettle her - usually feeding to sleep again.

Now at 14 months she'll do one nap of 1 hour to 2 hours and has done since about 11-12 months. Tends to do 1 hour on the days she's in nursery and then up to 2 hours at home (4x a week).

I always envied people with babies that slept for 2-3 hours at a time. They seemed to have so much spare time to do stuff.

Not that it will be much consolation at this point but may indicate she's pretty bright. Or maybe that's just the line HVs tell desperate mums to make them feel better.

Yes me too. My DS is 7 months - has 3 lots of 45 minute naps. Occasionally might go for longer. Have come to the conclusion he is just a short napper. He seems fine on this routine. Has been doing this since about 12 weeks. I would prefer him to nap longer so I can get stuff done but there you go!!

If she sleeps well at night then she might have short naps in the day because she has had enough sleep.

both my dc's were like this. they both dropped naps all together at around 15 - 18 months. all fine now (2 & 4 yo).

the good thing about bad sleepers is they don't get so horribly tired when they get to school. or so i'm hoping

Um ,my DD1 didn't nap once, ever, during the day, from the moment she was born. She also never, ever, not once slept in beyond 6am before the age of 14. She was put to bed at about 10pm btw when she was younger (otherwise she would wake at 4am) and now goes to bed well after me at about 1am. She is on track for training as a doctor so there is not too much wrong with her.

Everyone is different and if your baby seems content then (possibly unfortunately for you) she is getting enough sleep. It will be an asset to her when she is older not to need much, and I agree with the last poster about not being too tired for school.

DD2 slept for England

Yes, DD1 did exactly as you describe. In addition she was a rubbish sleeper at night and I'd regularly have to get up to her 3 to 4 times a night.

Going to nursery at aged 1 seemed to help a bit with daytime naps as by then she was down to 1 nap a day at about 12 and she would (and still does) sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. There doesn't seem to be any set pattern.

All of a sudden at about 21 months (i.e. last month) she started to sleep through the night from say 7pm to 6am. Bliss. Sadly, she is now teething - again - and DD2 was born 10 days ago so I'm back to about 4 hours sleep per night in 2 or 3 chunks.

I know it's probably no consolation but at least your little one sleeps at night. I'm just hoping that DD2 is a better sleeper than her elder sister!

What's a nap? It doesn't seem to exist in my house, which rarely sees a hoover because it's impossible doing jobs that last more than ten minutes with a baby who never naps.

My 8.5 month old has never really napped for longer than 30 minutes at a time and only when in car, in buggy or on boob. The longest he has ever napped is 2 hours once and 1.5 hours a handful of times. He sometimes sleeps for 12 hours at night and sometimes sleeps for 8. It varies. It drives me mad some days when I need to do certain jobs, and some nights when he's still bouncing at 10pm. But I have to keep telling myself he's not a machine, he's a human being. And a happy one at that! I spent a few months stressing over hours and what he's supposed to need and then realised that he knows the answers better than anyone. I now follow his lead and trust my instincts.

My 8 mo DS sounds a lot like Adamsmam's. No naps at all during the day is pretty common, though he does have an early regular bedtime. My advice is the same too: accepting it is much better than stressing about it, which I also did for a few months. I give him plenty of opportunity to sleep, putting him in his cot after feeds, and leave it at that.

My son didn't nap at all until the last month or so. He's nearly a year old, 9 months corrected as he was prem. He now naps but only for 10-20 mins at a time. He's tired by the end of the day but he sleeps well all night and seems happy enough. I wish he would nap, I never get anything done! He gets tired enough for me to put him down, then wakes up crying. Just the way he is I think, he's afraid he might miss something.