Constantly tired 11mo won't sleep longer than one cycle during the day.

[Namethattune]

DD1 has never been a great sleeper, but when she wakes at night she will usually go back to sleep, sometimes even without any intervention from us. But during the day she will never sleep longer than one cycle, and nothing will persuade her to go back to sleep once she's woken up.

We're lucky if she sleeps for an hour in the day, usually she wakes after 40-50 minutes. Things are better than they were, as during the 9 month sleep regression she'd only sleep for 20-30 minutes at a time, but it's still a problem, especially as she's clearly still tired when she wakes up, and is constantly yawning and grizzly. We have blackout blinds, so it's pitch black in her room, so that's not the problem.

Any ideas?

:-(

My ds is 11 months old and is (thankfully) still on 2 naps per day. Always 1 sleep cycle though, I can count on 1 hand when he's slept through 2. I've always had to control ds naps though, ie he needs to be in his pram, I usually do this in our hall then I get on with bits and bobs.
How many naps is DD having OP?

She needs 3. If we miss the afternoon nap, or if it's a short one, then she has an overtired meltdown and I have to put her to bed early.

Have you tried white noise ? It needs to be on constantly through the nap to help them through the light part of the sleep cycle. We have a CD with a 10 min track of water noises on repeat.

Can you post her routine so we can see when she wakes, when she naps & when she goes to bed?

It may be she's tired when she goes for her nap, but not quite tired enough to sleep for any longer than 1 sleep cycle iyswim? Then she gets overtired as the day wears on hence why she still needs that 3rd nap. Most lo's this age just have 2 longer naps & a few will just have 1.

If nap timings are adjusted a bit you may be able to get her sleeping longer which will be more restorative & enable you to ditch the late afternoon nap.

is she getting enough to eat? I found when dcs where established in solids and nice and full from lunch and a bottle of milk they slept really well 2-2.5 hours. until then I had the same problem as yourself. Good luck

Sorry, I haven't checked this thread for ages! Thanks for the suggestions from the new posters. Things have improved a little, but still not great. Naps lasting 45mins-1hr now, but I'd really like to consolidate them into 2 longer naps if possible!

omama She usually wakes at about 7.30, then goes down for a nap at about 8.45. I don't stick to a strict schedule, I put her to bed when she starts to give tired queues. So then she'll wake up about 9.30.

She goes back to bed between 11-11.30, and if I'm lucky will sleep for an hour now. Then she has another nap about 3. She's usually looking REALLY tired by this point.

nearlymum She hardly eats. She's always had a small apetite. I've tried giving her lunch before her 11ish nap, and it's made zero difference to how she sleeps.