How do you get babies to nap longer in the day?

[Jayfer]

My DS will only sleep for 30-40mins at a time. He will have a nap at 9am, 11.30am and 2.30pm then bed at 6.30-7pm. This has been working fine but recently he is looking really tired between naps and struggles to get to bed time without getting really grumpy.
He will sleep ok at night time but will not sleep any longer during the day. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to sleep longer or do I have to wait til he is more mobile and tires himself out more?

Any suggestions really really welcome!

Hi,my DS is six months and has recently started having longer naps in the day....not every day either!

It was doing my head in that he wouldn't go longer than 45 minutes but then I just accepted it.So I would put him down for 4,45 minute naps.

How old is your DS and does he sleep ok at night?

My dd does this also, i bought the book healthy sleep habits, happy baby and they suggested to bring bed time forward to about 5.30-6pm.
We have been doing this for a week or so, not only do we sometimes get longer naps but she sleeps later in the morning too.

If a baby is only sleeping 45 mins, the book suggest that this is due to over tiredness so by introducing the earlier bed time it allows the baby to catch up on some extra and much needed sleep.

Well, if he's on 3 naps a day, I'm guessing your DS is no more than 6/7 months. 3 45min naps is totally normal - as he drops naps and his sleep cycle lengthens, you may find that they naturally may get longer. Or he may be a child who doesn't need a lot of sleep as he gets older. All the options are pretty much normal.

If you are worried, try taking him out for a long walk or in the car - if he still wakes up after one sleep cycle (45 mins at that age), then he isn't tired. Or stick with current naps but opt for an earlier bedtime. Whatever works for you.

I think if you think he's tired, he probably is.

It sounds to me like he isn't able to get himself into the next sleep cycle. Overtiredness could easily be the culprit, as barbie suggests. (I would also recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It's hardcore cry-it-out, which isn't for everyone, but has a lot of good medical information on sleep.)

The No Cry Nap Solution (Elizabeth Pantley) offers suggestions for helping LO get into the next cycle -- the only one that worked for me was keeping the boob in the mouth, unfortunately. Her main idea is to soothe the baby (as you would when you put him down) before he fully wakes, easing him into the next cycle. This can be done using patting, his mobile, reinserting the dummy, whatever works.

If he sleeps well in the pram, you could go on some long walks and get him to have some long naps, dealing with the overtiredness first and then work on lengthening the naps.

How are you putting him down? If you're feeding to sleep (like I always did) he will wake up because the boob is gone. I used to lie next to DD and reinsert the boob till I was sure she was into the second cycle. That eventually became unsustainable and we had to break the FTS association, which was traumatic.

Thanks for the replies. My DS is 6 months but has only ever slept for more than 40 mins a couple of times in his entire life. He sleeps well at night only waking once or twice and will go down without much fuss. He has a bottle and then a dummy in. He's usually asleep by 7pm and sometimes still asleep at 7.30am although has recently started waking earlier and babbling to himself.
I've even tried holding him whilst he is asleep during the day (dangerous precedent I know) but he will only sleep for 10mins more or so. He will sleep longer in the car.
Will investigate those two methods you've suggested. I'm sort of hoping that as he becomes more mobile he'll tire himself out more and sleep longer.