Longer naps...what age?

[HollyC255552]

I know this has probably been asked so many times...but when do naps naturally extend? DD is 8 months still only naps for 30-40 minutes max. I thought she would be napping longer now.

Many babies do need a bit of help to transition to longer naps. Resettling (dummy reinsert or rocking in pushchair for example) when initially stirring awake to help stay asleep for example.

In my experience babies are ready to learn to nap for longer from around 5-9 months old. I haven't known it happen without a bit of help from me tho.

Thanks Fate - i've tried all this but it just doesnt work for my DD. Perhaps i imagined they naturally extend or should i say hoping .

For us, it was once DD started to crawl.

DD is 8mo and started napping longer when I began putting her down in her cot. Previously she'd have daytime naps in her bouncy chair and they were only for about 30-40 mins. We had a bit of a battle for a week or so while she got used to the cot being for daytime sleep as well as night time, I had to do some gradual retreat but now she naps for an hour in the morning and 2+ hours in the afternoon

My catnapper just started sleeping longer when she got more mobile so about 11months or so. She went from taking loads of 30min naps to taking one short nap in the morning and a longer one after lunch, then after she was one she just had 2hrs in the afternoon.

Do all babies need to nap longer? Mine has always napped well in the day (but rubbish night sleeper) whereas I have friends whose babies only catnap several times but sleep through at night.

If it works for your dd them maybe don't worry about it. Obviously it's crap for you because you get no time to yourself in the day but I'd swap that for a full nights sleep in a heartbeat... .....

It is not helpful but my ds just did it today for the first time. He is 5mo. I had started putting him in his cot for naps - that has worked the last few days then he went through 2 hours today!

nights are another matter where I reinsert the dummy 158 times per night

My 8 month old has started napping for two hours over lunchtime which had been an absolute godsend but she'll only do so in her pushchair. It's all very strange, if I put her in her cot she'll scream and scream but if I put her in the pushchair (stationary in the living room) she's asleep in less than 5 minutes. It's all very bizarre as she'll happily sleep in the cot at night (but will wake 3/4 times).

This long nap had only recently happened, before she'd only nap in cot/my arms for 30 minutes if that. She dropped her 4 o'clock nap about a month ago and can almost crawl so it seems to me that her lunchtime and 4 o'clock naps have been consolidated.

Thanks all, i wouldn't mind her cat napping if she slept well at night - night times are awful, always have been! I can relate to you poocatch re the dummy too!

Never happened here. By that age we were down to one nap of around 45 mins.

I could have asked this question! I'd love my DD to nap longer in the cot - she will go down and settle in it quite happily (most of the time) but then 30 minutes later - bam! Awake! All smiles and dummy launched out of cot for good measure.

I've tried resettling at the 30 minute mark (it's worked twice out of many attempts - she normally poos which is game over), wake to sleep and just ignoring her. No joy as yet. I resigned myself to doing at least 1-2 naps a day in the cot but ensuring she gets a decent long sleep in the middle of the day - be that pram, car or on me. She's 7.5 months and I'm seriously hoping that when she gets more mobile it will help.

Sorry I had no advice but you're not alone!

Still on the average 30-40 min nap here at 11 months in. I've officially given up hope of a 2 hour afternoon nap!

That is strange Gold. If thats where shes happy & settled then let her be i say. Is that her only nap now at lunchtime?

(I wouldn't mind the cat naps but she's inevitably tired 30-40 minutes later after a short nap - she's a much nicer, happier baby when she's had a decent sleep!)

Good to know my DD isnt the only one.

She has a 20 minute nap at around 9/10 am, (having woke 5.30/6.30 am) again in the pushchair but that's because we are usually out of the house then. She'll nap at lunchtime (most days) then in bed at 6 pm which I believe is quite early based on my friends babies.

Ideally I'd like her lunchtime nap to be in her cot but for now I'm going to roll with it. Her night time sleep has been terrible for the past two months and she is really frustrated by her inability to crawl/walk and I really need this break at the moment as I'm exhausted. She has a tendency to do things for a few weeks then it all changes so I doubt this will last for long.

Mine extended to 1.5-2 hours or so at around 10months, and only ever took one nap after this.

When my DS was 9 months old he was napping for 1.5 hours in the morning and then a further 1.5 hours in the afternoon.

He continued having two good naps a day until he was about 18 months old and then he started refusing his afternoon nap. This was a difficult phase as it meant that come bedtime he was an exhausted mess.

When he was about 20 months I made the decision to stop his morning nap and instead aim for one decent nap in the middle of the day instead. It was difficult at first because come 10am he wanted his morning nap and it was difficult to keep him up but after a few days we cracked it.

He's now almost two and sleeps from 1-3pm each day - sometimes a little longer.

please know you're not alone! Same problem here. My 9 month old has 30min nap in morning and 45 mins (if i'm lucky) in afternoon. She used to get cranky by 5pm but has grown out of that now and lasts til about 6.30pm. She is sleeping through most nights though so i'm resigning myself to the fact that maybe she just doesnt need a long nap in the afternoon... Its hard because I compare everything to my firstborn who used to have epic afternoon naps and I could get loads done! It may all change of course - we can live in hope! :)

After months of trying this that and the other to extend naps I kind of gave up and then suddenly in the past two weeks my DS now 8 months decided that his morning nap would be 1 hr 15 and his afternoon nap 45 minutes(this is from 35 minutes naps before). So it does happen(finger crossed for no regression!) He is still tired after the afternoon nap and will sometimes be coaxed back to sleep but not without rocking and white noise. Of course I would prefer his naps to be the other way round length wise but I will leave him be before attempting another mission. I had an on going thread on my attempts(with Dooboopedo and good advice from FATE(hello again ladies)) called "Extending Naps, any advice? if you want to see what lengths(ha) we went to :)

Hello FiFi! Glad to see that you gave up too and it worked out anyway! I did stick out at for a while but inevitably she wouldn't resettle so now I just leave it at having at least 1 or 2 short cot naps a day and get a long sleep by other methods at some point. I'm hopeful that once DD starts moving it might tire her out a bit to sleep longer - Hopefulky maybe!!!