Naps - where am I going wrong??

[Sleeplesssister]

Need to pick some brains pls. My DD is 23 weeks and for the last 3 months or so her daytime naps have been a mess - she always wakes after 30 minutes. I used to be able to extend the nap by walking with her in the pram, or driving, but for the last month or so she wakes after 30 mins even in the pram/car. She is starting to get more active and the lack of daytime sleep is making her so grumpy, its got to the stage now where I just feel I can't take her to activities in the afternoon because she invariably starts to cry, and cry, and cry... Ironically she is now very good at night, feed and asleep at 7pm, we wake her for a feed at 10:30, then she usually sleeps through until about 6am (except for the odd growth spurt, its taken months to get like that mind). I just need to perfect the daytime sleep and we would be a much happier mummy and daughter.

I've bought all the books under the sun, does anyone think CC would work for this? She naps at 9am, noon and then again between 3pm and 4pm-always for 30 minutes on the dot. How can I help her sleep longer during the day? Am I going wrong by feeding her to sleep at 7pm and 10:30pm. Any advice appreciated!!

My first did this exactly for naps, though it was 40 minutes on the dot that she used to wake up. I used to sit alongside her cot and stroke her tummy slowly, saying sshhh over and over until she calmed and then would leave her (had tv on mute in my bedroom watching boxset DVDs of sitcoms) and then go back and repeat and repeat and repeat etc until she went back to sleep.

It took a week to see an improvement and within a month I could just put her down for a nap and leave her. She is still really good now and still at nearly two she sleeps 2+ hours every lunch time.

I should add it was an awful week, hard work but it worked.

Hope you find something that works for you.

Does she need the nap at noon? My dcs always got into the habit of having 2 long naps a day (morning and afternoon) at about this age. I would be inclined to keep her busy over lunchtime and let her nap earlier in the afternoon.

I read somewhere that the sleep cycle of a baby is around 30mins and they will wake at this time. If anything bothers them, like noise or they are cold or not tired enough, they will not drift back to sleep. One piece of advice was to go in after 25mins and sit with your hand on baby's tummy so that when they did stir they would have reassurance and drift back. After a while they settle themselves.

At 6 months my DD was having 2 long naps a day, one at about 10 (she woke at 7) and one at about 2. Maybe try going out for a while around noon and see if you can delay this afternoon nap? Good luck.