Nap advice

[tirednotsoyummuy]

My son is 4 months (19 weeks this week) and the napping has really gone down hill, he used to nap pretty well, but since the regression around 13 weeks his naps are 30 minutes and so hard to get him to go down. I've put blackout blinds in his room and we can generally get him off by pushing him in the pram with a blanket but the naps just aren't long enough so he gets increasingly overtired through the day and I feel like I'm constantly getting him to nap.

The HV told me to try some baby rice but that's against all other advice I've heard.

Does anyone have a good routine and any tips? Luckily he sucks his thumb so can self sooth!

Although frustrating, short naps of 30mins can be developmentally normal for young babies. A lot of babies will take short naps untill 5/6 months and then then start to extend them. Is baby happy when he wakes after 30 mins? Is it just towards the end of the day he’s unsettled? I don’t really see how baby rice would help with napping but that’s just me.

Have you tried a sling? Will he sleep in moving pram or in the car for longer? Or when putting baby down for a nap have you tried white noise really loud? I’d also keep an eye on awake times. At that age I’d think baby should be awake for no more than 1 1/2 to 2 hours at the very lastest. Whether they are showing signs of being tired or not aim to have them sleeping by this point. It may take a bit of trial and error to work out your wee ones comfortable wake time.

That’s terrible outdated advice from your HV I would report her/him! It’s so old fashioned to believe all sleep problems are sorted by food. Some babies sleep 30 minutes naps and some do magical 2 hour naps, they’re all different. I would just focus on awake time and watch tired signs.

My DS is now 8 months but went through phases of fighting/short naps. I worried at the time but they sorted themselves out. He now naps 3 times a day varying from 30 mins to 2 hours and self settles without any help from me! There is lift at the end of the tunnel! I’m sure it’ll all go tits up at some point though.

Oh my MIL gave the baby rice advice to get my baby to sleep through the night - at the time he was waking at 2am and 5am for feeds. Eventually I caved and gave him some - that night he woke up every 2 hours from 10pm! So it's nonsense.
Anyway, my 6.5 month old was like this but at around the 6 month mark he began to nap for longer so I think it's just a phase.

My baby did this, but it started at 6 weeks and drove me absolutely bonkers! Everywhere I read online would say you need to extend them by "wake to sleep", or their going down too early/late, they can't self settle...it's all bollocks. Some babies take short naps, and over time it will extend. By around 5 months with me doing nothing, my baby went from taking 30 minute naps (unless on me which would be slightly longer) to napping for 1hr30 in her cot. Your baby will get there, just ride it out and try not to stress too much.

Just want to say sometimes they dont extend at all.
My dd at 10 months was only taking one or two 30 minutes naps a day and that was a good day!
She doesn't nap at 22 months now

@Candyfloss1122 I know I swear I do all these things! He can self sooth because he falls asleep fine just wakes like clockwork!

Okay I will try to not stress about it, tbh it doesn't impact night sleep so it's just to make his mood a bit better, frustrating when he's grizzley because he's such a lovely happy baby when he's rested!

Thanks all for the advice - fingers crossed it will pass x

@icantdothis2017 so frustrating- was she cheerful or grizzley? How is her night sleep?

GrIZZLy .
Very grizzly.
Gets better with age .
She copes much better now.
Night sleep usually 11-13 ish hours solid since 6 months old