Baby doesnt nap for long!

[Dylan118]

Hi
any suggestions help would be great. My 20 week old boy sleeps at night from about. 7pm to about 3am ( wakes for feed) then wakes again at 5am. However he will only nap for 20-30 mins about 2-3 times during the day! This makes him a bit cranky! Sometimes he will sleep for 2hrs but only about once every 2weeks! this has been going on since he was about 8 week's old. How do I make him sleep for longer?

Mine was like this, he didn't feel safe.

He was best in the pram on long walks or lying next to/ on me or in a sling. Pram was good; eventually he just got longer and longer (out n about buggy) and slept longest there.

Sling was handy if I was out.

Feeding to sleep lying down was good as eventually he felt safe on a single mattress on the floor of his room (and I could rest too) and slowly became used to that. Tbh it was buggy till 18 mo, then slowly became bed. At 20 mo he insisted on going to bed in there (we were cosleeping ) so haven't had the whole 'big boys bed' thing to deal with.

He'd go to sleep there and come in first or second wake up. Gradually that's got longer.

A lot of sleep stuff is security, can also be reflux/ wind, in Which case sling is often good.

Even at nursery he hated a cot - would sleep in book area and when saw little low beds indicated he preferred that.

I will add - they're all extremely different. I know some who couldn't stop walking the pram, my son eventually could be popped into the buggy and a brief jiggle would send him off.

Some babies are just incapable of napping for longer than 20-30 minutes until they are older and there is simply nothing you can do that will change that - they just need to grow out of it. Until then, you may find walking with the pram or similar (sling/car seat etc) to help naps will enable slightly longer naps and keep the crankiness at bay. My baby suddenly started napping for longer around 5 months. It should improve as your baby gets older.

I used to let my DD nap on me or in her bouncy chair until she was 4-6mo when we transitioned her to her own room. In her cot she would only sleep 30mins, you could set your watch by her. I tried cuddling her, feeding her, she wouldn't go back to sleep andif she did she would wake if I tried to put her down again. Around 9mo (sorry I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear) I had some success with waking to sleep, where i would go in after 25mins and nudge her til she stirred. Sometimes she would sleep for an hour then in total. She's now 14mo and is transitioning from 3-2 naps so often her morning nap is now 1hr. It's tiring and you get no break but it seems some babies love to sleep and some just don't! Your DS is still little I'm sure he'll get better.

My girl used to nap for 23 minutes (exactly) unless moving till about 6 months when she started sleeping longer (often with a groan at 23 minutes). I assume that is how long a sleep cycle was. She slept really well at night though.