Almost 8 mo and still 30min naps. Very tired baby

[Jellybabie3]

Any suggestions. I've tried 2 hour AT. 3 hour AT. Everything. Hes just very tired in the day now. Sleeps OK at night but the last stretch to bed is hard as he hasnt slept enough in the day.

I did try sitting in the room and shushing at 30min but that seemed to wake him more!

Anyone have tips to lengthen the naps for him?

Btw he self settles in his cot. White noise, sleep bag, dark room (not pitch black in the day mind)

Have you tried putting him outside? Mine will only nap for any length of time if he’s in the garden. His morning nap has gone down to half an hour some days though.

@csa26 hmm no. Not unless we are out and about. Even then he wakes after half hour unless i can quickly start pushing again. So wierd. I would get it if there was still a sleep association. Maybe its just something he needs to figure put himself but it does strike me he is overtired.

Worth a try though thanks!

Is he sleeping on his tummy?

Mine's exactly the same at the same age. No advice here so will see if anyone else has any! My DD goes to nursery and they can sometimes get her to sleep longer by swaddling her if you would want to give that a try?? How many naps does your LO take?

How many times do people have to say this is normal
Mine never napped more than 30 minutes ever until they dropped all naps at 16 months
Some just don't nap for hours

How did you get lo to sleep through? I remember the non sleeper threads and mine still wakes 2-3 times.

Sorry for the detail!

No he sleeps on his back.

I would agree, for some it is normal. But hes overtired and wakes up cranky like he wants more sleep. I dont have an issue with the 30min naps but it appears he does?

I did a kind of gradual retreat. So first night I decided only to feed every 3 hours and comfort him for any other wake ups inbetween. Then we did 4 hours etc.all I did was sit next to the cot, hold his hand and talk to him and keep repeating 'its sleepytime' but never let him cry manically, ever, only grumbles. It took 3 days and then he was happy with me sticking head in and saying 'sleepytime' and he would go to sleep. But he was also lengthening the gaps of his daytime feeds since weaning so I think he was naturally managing to go longer without waking. Then I guess he worked out if he wasnt waking for feeds he neednt wake at all! Now I hear him wake during sleep cycles and 8/10 times he goes to sleep by himself.

This excludes a period of teething and any dramatic development leaps mind!

Mine was cranky to
It never got better

He has 3 naps.

I'm not gonna force him or expect a dramatic change its just not nice seeing him so tired. I know hes figuring out how to crawl so perhaps thats not helping.

Ah ok. Hes obviously just like that too then. Ah well. Atleast he has something and a good night sleep now.

The drive to sleep is greater at night
It's not so much in the day

Yeah i suspect your right. He is so inquisitive in the day i get the impression he doesnt want to miss anything. He makes some god awful tired grunts when he fights it bless him. (Someone actually asked me if he was constipated once ). I guess as i have exhausted all the AT and stuff I cant do anymore. He will figure it out. Otherwise the childminder will!!

I just wish someone had told me that not all babies extend naps .
Some really don't ever figure out the whole napping thing

Well alot of people told me that it would change after the 4month regression, then 6 months....and here we are at 8 and nothing has changed since the day he was born except the odd freak day here or there. ( i think i got excited for 3 days once where he slept for an hour - mustve been a growth spurt or something). You read so much about helping them consolidate naps etc it kind of felt like i was missing a trick but obviously not! Thanks

I will just take the long ones when they happen (although I am usually sat there waiting to do something hes ordinarily now so predictable haha!!)

I spent two weeks solid working on extending naps and now my DD sleeps 2 hours no bother. I have to wake her up. It is possible!

Thank you! Mine wakes less but still not great at self settling

I know it's common to hear that cat nappers start to extend their naps at 6 months but in my experience it's later than that. I've had two 30min nappers. DD1 started sleeping longer at 8 months without me doing a thing With DD2 I started helping her from 8 months - I would rock her back to sleep the second she woke. At first I would have to hold her for 15min until she went back into a deep sleep. With time it was enough to hold her briefly when she woke before putting her back down. She's gradually got better and started to sleep 1.25 hours and now does 2 - 2.5.

At nursery she often has to be shushed back to sleep at the 30min mark but they know her now and are ready and waiting!

Good luck! I know how frustrating it can be. Then again, as you say, the predictability has its advantages!

Yeah it certainly does as I know I can get everything ready to leave while hes napping for example, or if we have a drive to a baby group/town he wakes on arrival so there is that!! Before long I will be tapping my foot for an hour and a half complaining I cant go anywhere with him haha

Thanks!

Ha ha! With both of mine I was so used to running around and getting things done in 30min that I didn't know what to do with myself if they occasionally slept longer! It was good though as it was really easy to time their naps around baby groups as I'd just set off in time for them to fall asleep in the buggy and sleep for 30min before they started!

DS only started extending his naps when he ditched the dummy at 8.5mo - could have been coincidence mind! Then until 9.5mo he’d have one 40min nap & one 1.5-2 hours nap.

Now at just over 10mo he’ll do 2x 1.5-2 hours or longer. That’s only in cot though, in buggy it’s 20-40 mins, so we seem to spend our time revolving round his naps.

Jelly
He may never extend his naps
Please don't set your self up to be disappointed like I was