9 mo still having short naps

[WantToMoveNorth]

Is this ever going to end?!

I have DTs that are 9 mo. One of them is a perfect napper (has 45 mins in morning & 2hrs in afternoon) but the other one is very different.

For the past month my 'problem' DT started napping for longer at lunch and I was so pleased! She had also been waking up v early in the mornings (5ish) and once she started having a longer lunchtime nap she started waking up much later too- I was so happy and thought Id cracked it! However, for the past week she's gone back to 30- 40 min naps and is getting crotchety in the afternoons making it hard to do anything. I don't think she's teething and she has been poorly but is better now.

I thought it was a developmental thing for her, but maybe really I should start some sort if sleep training with her? That's what my HV told me to do, but until now I've been waiting for her to grow out of it- but she's already 9 months so I thought she should have learnt by now?

Please does anyone have any advice?

I wish I could be more positive but some babies just don’t nap for that long (my dd now 20 mths is still a 30-40mins napper). When my dd was 6-9 mths I used a very experienced maternity nurse to try to increase her naps. She managed to sometimes get dd to do a 90 min post lunch nap but only by dropping her morning nap and relentlessly stimulating her all day (not letting her drop off for 20 mins in pram etc), giving her plenty of food and formula and even then sometimes having to pat her back to sleep in the cot when she woke after 40 mins.

It took a lot of effort, there was a fair bit of crying (dd was never left alone to cry, she was patted in the cot) which is why I couldn’t face doing it myself. I didn’t have much choice at the time as dd wouldn’t sleep with me in bed, was up every 1-2hrs overnight and would only sleep in the pram for 30 mins (after I’d walked for 30 mins). I was utterly exhausted.

I did see a brief improvement when dd started to crawl/walk but it only lasted a couple of weeks, could that be why you’ve seen an improvement recently? In the end as dd got older I decided to just let dd have two 30 min naps a day, after a bottle. Sometimes if she was fraught I’d take her out in the pram around 4pm and walk her round till she dropped off for 20 mins. Now dd is at nursery and she is almost always the first toddler to wake up whilst others have to be woken by the staff after 2 hrs. Nursery staff say she’s just full of beans all day.

We had early waking too (and still do sometimes). I used to check dd’s nappy, make sure she wasn’t ill etc, give her milk then put her back in the cot and leave her to grisle till she fell back asleep. Not for everyone but dd was exhausted and needed the sleep.

It does get better as they need less sleep as they get older. Now that I’m back to work ft I’m quite glad dd doesn’t nap for ages as I get to spend more time with her. And I never have any problems getting her off to sleep in the evening ?

Thanks very much million

It was good to read your post, as maybe it's just a case of me lowering my expectations of her. Did your DD seem to cope well with that little sleep? Mine doesn't really, so I always feel that she needs more.

Interesting that you used a maternity nurse to help. I've been wishing for one for months but thought they only cared for very little babies. If you don't mind me asking, roughly what area are you in & how much did it cost? I have a 2 yo DD & 9 mo twins and no family nearby so I've sometimes wondered if I should buy some help.

Thanks again.