12 week old napping.

[imwithspud]

How long do your 12 week olds (or babies around that age) nap for?

I started putting DD2 upstairs in her cot for naps a couple of weeks ago as the noise DD1 was making running around, playing, talking/shouting etc was disturbing her and she was having trouble dosing off like she did when she was a newborn resulting in a screaming over tired baby. I have little trouble getting her to sleep, I usually sit by her cot and occasionally stroke her head/face and replace dummy if she starts fussing which generally calms her and she can usually be fast asleep within 15minutes, sometimes sooner if I time it exactly right.

Unless we're out and about I can't seem to get her to nap for longer than 45 minutes. There were two occasions over the past week where she napped for 2 and a half hours at home and I thought we were finally moving on from lot's of little naps stage and consolidating them into maybe 3 longer ones, but I haven't been able to replicate that. Resulting in her having 4 or 5 'cat naps' as I like to call them through the day, which I guess isn't much of a problem but it does mean I'm having to leave DD1 downstairs with the TV whilst I go and settle DD2 multiple times a day. I'm at a loss of what to do to encourage her to take longer naps, I try and be as 'baby led' as possible but maybe some sort of routine might help? Any tips would be great.

Gosh if my little one had naps of 45 mins I'd be over the moon!!! He sleeps through the night but during the day it seems to be bang on 30 mins nap then an hour to hour and a half awake, then the nap again and so on! Oh for a 2 1/2 hour nap..... Him and me

Jokes aside I found that the more fresh air I can get into my boy the better he sleeps (nap and night) and can definitely tell a day where he's not had as much. Consequently I walk miles with the pram, might be worth a try? Having said that, sounds like you're already doing better than we are, I'm so very jealous!

Thanks, looks like more walks in the park are in order. She generally sleeps like a dream when we're out, the other day she slept for like 3 hours in the pram whilst I went for lunch and shopping with my DN and DA lol. Just don't understand why she can't do that at home, when I could really do with it to get on with housework or dinner lol. Babies are strange.

12 weeks is early to be expecting fewer, longer naps.

I would expect 3 longer naps to start emerging from 5 to 6 months old. Until then, I would aim for 30-45 minutes sleep in every 2-2.5 hours throughout the daytime.

Naps will be short at this age. The key is to make sure they are frequent so that baby gets plenty of daytime sleep.

Thanks FATE that's helpful. I remember dd1 only having two naps at around 6/7 months, but she also had short naps at around this age too, you're right I probably am expecting a bit much from DD2 at this point. Will definitely ensure she gets frequent naps throughout the day if that's what she needs, she's a total nightmare if she gets over tired!