Help! I need a nap intervention! Catnaps are driving us all mad!

[nutellacake]

We really, seriously need help. DS (5.5 months) has been a cat napper (30 mins) since 8 weeks old. Each month, I keep thinking, it will change soon... And here we are almost 6 months, and still, naps are only 30 mins.

Sorry that this is quite long but I don't want to drip feed.

Can you help us stage a nap intervention to see if we can sort this out?

Here is where we are. We don't have a schedule as such. I follow DS's wake time and we do eat, play, sleep. I follow his wake time by watching the clock and his sleepy signs.

But it doesn't work! I think we are stuck in an undertired/overtired loop. I know his WT should be around 2-2.5 hours. But it's more like 90 mins.

In the mornings, he's awake only about 60-70 mins before he starts rubbing his eyes etc. Ok. I put him down in the cot, he falls asleep within two mins (self settles). Awake in 30 mins. I tried making this WT 2 hours - it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

He wakes from this catnap - sometimes in a good mood sometimes crying - BUT an hour later he's eye rubbing, fussy, already ready for another nap. I put him down - nothing. I delay the nap - overtired meltdown.

Then the rest of the day is just basically guesswork as to when he needs a nap or not, because he's tired pretty much all the time. Clearly the short naps are not enough. This is what I've tried to extend them:

-extending wake time
-doing more tiring playtime (rolling around on the mat, swimming)

• Shush patting before waking (doesn't work)
• Wake to sleep (doesn't work)
• pushing him in the pram (most days we have to resort to at least 2 pram naps as he's too wound up/UT to sleep in the cot). Didn't work.

We did get some random 90 min and 45, 50 min naps but really have no idea how we got there as they happened after 90min and 2 hr wake times.

HELP! What am I doing wrong? I am going mad because I spend all day trying to prevent OT and get some naps going, and DS is unhappy as he's tired pretty much all the time.

At night, he does 12 hours with anywhere between 3-6 wakings. I know that naps are affecting night time sleep. We are all exhausted.

We have a nap routine (blackout curtain, white noise), bedtime routine. He is BF but we've just started weaning.

So far, I've just tried to accept his catnaps and for a while was happy to push the pram outside every time he needed a nap, or sit by the cot, but I'm going back to work soon and DS is clearly not happy with these short naps anymore.

OMG now I need a and

Oh, I forgot to add.

I've also heard that it's impossible to extend catnaps and that the only way it will change is when the baby's sleep cycle matures.

What do you think, does anyone have any catnap extending tips or did you find they lengthened by themselves?

Dd1 was 40 mins every 2 hours, regular as clockwork. I remember all other nct parents would have child sleeping for 2hrs every afternoon. Iirc dd did lengthen herself (I never tried anything tbh) and by the time dd2 came along at 21 months, she was sleeping 2hrs + after lunch.

The positive bit? Well friends DC started dropping their naps at this time whereas dd1 carried on her 2 hrs till about 4.5. They were the jealous ones then

So long as they are self settling which it sounds like your DS can do, the sleep cycle can mature at 6months. We went from 45 minute naps -never longer, to 2 hour naps. I didn't do anything except teach him to self settle at about 3months (shush pat) and then he did it himself. Good luck it's very frustrating.

Aaaa! So it means I can't really do anything apart from put ds down for a 30 min nap every 1.5 hours?

He does self settle but only if not UT or OT in which case we need to resort to the pram.

My ds would need 30-40 mins nap after 90 mins awake at 7 months. I tried EVERYTHING I could find to lengthen them, none of it worked. He was and still is a crap night sleeper. In desperation and exhaustion I co slept some naps with him & he would go 50 mins max.

Very very suddenly at about 7 months over the space of 10 days he suddenly went 2-3hrs between naps, it was fluid for a few weeks & I just went with it.

At nearly 9 months he has 35 mins mid morning and 1.5-2.5 hrs pm depending how the previous night has been. He's cruising/standing/crawling/teething which is a delightful mix. Am nap in cot, pm in pram in garden as for some reason he has never settled well in cot in afternoon. I spent months trying to settle him in it got so bent out of shape I gave up & put him in pram in the fresh air.

My dd used to sleep for 23 minutes (you could set your watch by her) unless in the buggy or car. At night she slept very well. I tried everything to get her to sleep longer but nothing worked. The suddenly around 6/7 months she got it and started sleeping for at least an hour. (Although also started waking at night again.) Now aged 22 month at home she will have 2-3 hours every lunch time and do 12 hours at night. I didn't do anything to get her to sleep during naps she just wasn't ready till then.

Not all babies follow the babywhisperer (that is the eat, play, sleep one isn't it?) Honestly, all the books are different and will say different things.

I'd go with what works for you, what the baby is doing. We found our baby didn't do eat, play,sleep but as she was bf she would sleep after eating, and not wake up hungry - so ours was more like eat, sleep, play!
There's no magic in the order though! I think as a new parent we want to cling to somethign to make everything all work out ok, but the order you do things in isn't it.

Similarly with naps - its Gina ford who is very specific about nap length. I just let mine nap when they like until it fell into a routine. With no 2 she always slept on the way back from the school run and after lunch as that kind of worked. By 2 I used to put them down after lunch for a nap and theyd usually sleep between 45min and 2 hours. When little though its worth going with what they want/what suits you. So if you're out and about and htey fall asleep in the pram that's fine. If you're snuggled up on the sofa and they fall asleep, that's fine!

Ah, but that's the thing Gerald. I'm not sure what does work.... I'm trying to just watch DS and feel like I don't really know anything about him - I can't seem to predict when he's tired but not too tired to sleep, or how much sleep he needs. And clearly the catnapping thing doesn't work since he's quite cranky and sleepy most of his wake time. Looks ready for a nap an hour after waking but doesn't fall asleep if I put him in the cot (and sometimes in the pram).

Pram naps - glad to see I'm not the only one. Did anyone find it detrimental to have pram naps? I actually don't mind them as I get a bit of exercise, weather is mostly ok and DS sleeps - no incentive to drop the pram napping in my view. Plus DPs, PILs and DH can take over when they are around.

I used a sling first time around - so she would sleep as I walked everywhere, and it would be at the time I was going out which varied depending where I was going. Worked fine.

Second time around I didn't walk as much, used a pram for the school run though and she almost always fell asleep then. I think its ace to walk lots - its good for you, fresh air for baby. Perfect I'd have thought!