Getting baby to sleep longer then 30mins during day

[lizanne135]

Hi, I'm looking for any tips or advice about how to get my dd to nap for more than 30 minutes at a time during the day.
She naps in her cot, or in the sling or in the pram but never for more than 30mins. I try shushing and patting and rocking to get her back to sleep but it ends in tears from her. She tends to jerk herself awake, or when she turns her head.

She clearly needs more as she yawns from when she does wake up, and her wee eyes are red. It's then about an hour to an hour and half before I can get her back to sleep - usually after a feed, (bf) especially if it's the sling or cot. (She has to be full for the sling otherwise she just boob bops and cries till she gets it!)

She manages about 4-6 (on a good day) of these little naps, way below the recommended amount of sleep for a 9 wk old.
Any advice on how to get her to have longer naps? Or is it just one of those things that will come?!

It's normal at that age, the longer naps come as they get older.

Yeah I'm so sorry but Ds only slept longer than 40 minutes once he dropped to one nap at 15 months. It was a long slog but now it's awesome!

Some of my friends had babies that slept an hour in the morning and in the afternoon and I was green with envy (and just exhausted!) I had one of those babies that fought sleep ALL the time, day and night. I spent my whole life trying to get him to sleep. It was like hurdles, nap after nap after nap after nap, I hated it. But honestly it gets easier, much easier, it's just an age thing.

Don't worry too much about recommended sleep times - my son was the same and he is as bright as a button, some babies only need booster naps and lots of them. Just keep watching sleepy signs and giving your dd an opportunity to nap as you are doing.

Keep going, it won't last forever though it might feel like it!

Have u tried pick up put down? Thr reason theg only last about 30/45 mins is that thats how long the human sleep cycle is. So basically, once he rouses from that, u need to train him to go back to sleep on his own. My advice, which worked for me, is take him upstairs, put a cot lulaby thingy on, same thing u use at night before sleep, stick him in his sleepiny bag, in the cot, blinds down, and pupd. If u get him in his sleep window he will nod off within minutes. Watch the monitor, and as soon as he starts moving around, go in, and pupd. This may take ages. He wont like it. And u may find yourself up there until the next feed comea round. In which case, feed, and force him to stay awake for at least half an hour then try again pupd. Its a long slog, but ultimately it works. Some babies are blessed with naturally good sleeping habits and others have to be taught. We are their parents and so we have to do it. Makes life a lot easier having a regular napping patten.

Have u tried pick up put down? Thr reason theg only last about 30/45 mins is that thats how long the human sleep cycle is. So basically, once he rouses from that, u need to train him to go back to sleep on his own. My advice, which worked for me, is take him upstairs, put a cot lulaby thingy on, same thing u use at night before sleep, stick him in his sleepiny bag, in the cot, blinds down, and pupd. If u get him in his sleep window he will nod off within minutes. Watch the monitor, and as soon as he starts moving around, go in, and pupd. This may take ages. He wont like it. And u may find yourself up there until the next feed comea round. In which case, feed, and force him to stay awake for at least half an hour then try again pupd. Its a long slog, but ultimately it works. Some babies are blessed with naturally good sleeping habits and others have to be taught. We are their parents and so we have to do it. Makes life a lot easier having a regular napping patten.

Oh Hun -I feel for you. This was me. It's soul destroying.

I tried everything. And I mean everything. And none of it worked
Suddenly around 8 months my DS started sleeping for an HR at each nap. But sometimes would still wake at the half an HR mark.

He stayed like this until he learned to walk. And then suddenly started doing 2 HR naps.

I changed nothing.
It's horrid and it's exhausting. But I actually found that once I accepted for what it was - life was much better. There was nothing I could do to change it - I swear I had tried everything - all advice, everything on mumsnet. The full works.

If you can live with it that would be my advice. (I found if he slept through the night I could cope with the short naps!)

Good luck and don't beat yourself up about it. And try not to be jealous of all those people with babies that sleep!

Yy same as tatums and mrshope1, my ds actually stopped napping at all between 5&6 months unless I took him in pushchair for hours... No advice just do what feels right for you two.

It's normal for that age. I used to go in at the half hour mark and pat and shush him when he started to rouse. It takes a good few weeks ago persevere. He's 1 next month and he's just having his long lunchetime nap - hang in there!!

Hi guys, thanks for your replies.
She sleeps so well at night (21:00-05:00 without a feed) so I know she is getting a good chunk of sleep each night.
She gets so red eyed and gurny even after those 30 min naps, so I'm pretty vigilant about a half hour nap every 2 or so hours during the day - the sling is my (so far fail safe) back up plan, if all else fails she will go off in that with a gentle hum and rocking motion. It's not the most social or going out friendly of routines but this is all for such a short time in the grand scheme of life! :)

I've tried the shush pat with her as she starts to stir, I can sometimes get another 5 mins from her, so baby steps I guess!

Now just going to try moving the bedtime routine a bit earlier over the next few days to see if we can get a bit of our evenings back! #thedream!

My now five month old is the same, half hour naps at a time. They are fairly predictable now though, morning, lunchtime and afternoon then bedtime at 7ish. He's always been a power nappper but also a very good nighttime sleeper. DS1 would have 2-3 hour naps during the day but was a demon at night, so I much prefer this. Although must be hard if your LO isn't content between naps... Maybe it will get easier as she gets bigger.

Mine didn't nap for longer than 40 mins until she was 8 months old. She would only nap in a moving pram too so I had to take her for 4 40 minute walks a day. Good for the weight loss! At 20 months she now has one nap of an hour and a half, it's bliss.

Mine will only sleep in his cot so I know about being stuck indoors!

She might be a bit overtired? DS was like that until I stopped trying to follow a routine from a book and put him to bed when he was tired even though it seemed an unfeasibly short time from last napand naps eventually started to get longer. He would have first nap about 90 minutes max after getting up and then not last much more than an hour before he was ready for another.

Oh I've just read she's 9 weeks old. Agree with the pp about putting her to sleep earlier, 90 mins after she has woken up.

Yeah I've noticed especially in the mornings, her first nap she is so ready for it between 60-90mins after getting up (even after a 12hr night!) - that one is always the easiest to get her down for :)

I'll keep an eye out for those sleepy signs - see if she is displaying them earlier, though I will still keep the maximum two hr limit in time between naps if she hasn't, she would be far too overtired if she went over the 2hr gap!