9 month old STILL catnapping unless sleeping on me.

[Babydreaming]

My 9 month old has been a religious 30 min catnapper since about 2 months. I usually put him to sleep with dummy in my arms and then transfer to cot. He sleeps through 11-12 hours at night so i know he can self settle. If I hold him he will sleep for over an hour sometimes, but I'm not sure I should be holding him for naps and that isn't feasible when I return to work!

1. Should I continue to hold him so he naps longer or should I be putting him down?
2. Is there any way I can help him sleep longer?!

It's so difficult to get into a normal 9 month old routine with cat naps.

He's tiny, about 7.5kg, do you honk this is why?!

He sleeps through 11-12 hours at night so i know he can self settle

That doesn't mean he can self settle. It means he's not waking in the night, which is great but a different thing to self settling.

You could do with teaching baby to go to sleep in the cot with the dummy at bedtime and naptime, rather than putting baby down already asleep.

This won't necessarily extend naps straight away, but will be necessary for long term sleep hygiene. To ensure baby doesn't get over tired, keep the short naps frequent. I'd suggest 90m awake time between one nap and the next, 2h max.

I must say I don't agree with Fate about the putting baby down awake thing as it doesn't work for a lot of babies but we just differ on that opinion - I don't disagree with her on many things, she is by far one of the best for advice on here!

30 mins is the norm for my 7 month old, regardless of what I do. I leave her and it's 30 mins, I stay with her and it's 30 mins. Very occasionally it'll be longer which tells me she obviously needs it. I think some babies are just cat nappers. I would only worry if baby seems tired/miserable through the day. 11-12 hrs at night is amazing! Not jealous at all