Short naps at 6m. Wake to sleep?

[Sew3stitch]

My son is nearly 6 months and the king or 30-40 minute naps. Every few days he throws in a long nap to keep me on my toes but can't see any pattern to it or reasons why.

I've tried wake to sleep by setting an alarm for me to go in at 30 minutes with mixed results. I can't always do it for every nap (4 times a day!!) due to also having a toddler.

I remember my daughter started having longer naps at 6 months as we were on holiday at the time she cracked it and I put it down to the heat...

So I guess my questions are has anyone had success with wake to sleep and does it need to be for every nap? Or should I just embrace the 30-40 minute sleeps despite how hard that is with a toddler to entertain?

Would love to hear how others managed to extend the naps as the days he does a fluke long nap are so much easier.

Just happened by itself for me, around 8-9 months longer naps became more regular and then nothing less than an hour. Before that it was 30-40 minutes the same as you! The first 2 hour afternoon nap was a revelation 😂

What's the bap schedule? 4 naps may be too much?

@Russell19 generally gets grumpy if he is awake longer than 1h45 / 2hr. Awake anytime between 6 and 7. Taking yesterday as an example:

Wake 6.30
Nap 8.30 - 9.15
Nap 11.15 - 11.55
Nap 1.45 - 2.25
Nap 4.30 - 5.00
Bed 7ish

Not sure if it makes a difference but breastfed on demand but after waking rather than fed to sleep broadly following EASY routine.

He can be tricky to get down for last nap and sometimes i give up but he's very overtired trying to go through from mid afternoon to bedtime.

This is just a suggestion and obviously you know best but looking at that, you could try and get rid of the 11.15 nap and do

9am-9:45am
12:15-1.15pm
3:30-4pm

Then bed at 6.30pm.

The aim would be to get lengthen the lunch nap and get rid of the 3.30 nap, pushing everything forwards the longer he can go between naps.

Thanks, it would certainly help me only having to settle him for naps 3 times a day. Today is a disaster already. 6am wake up, had one 35 minute nap and is looking tired already! I'm guessing it's because he really needed a longer nap.

The other thing I consider is whether to get go him asap when he wakes up to try and settle him back to sleep but then the downside is he's not getting a chance to soothe himself.

Download the huckleberry app. It predicts the best times to put baby down for a nap, i found it a wonderful tool in the beginning!

@Shatandfattered yeah I have that app and do find it v useful for when to target next nap time. I flit between the 3 and 4 nap options but haven't found how to crack making naps longer than 40 mins. A quick Google would suggest a 6m old shouldn't be on 4 nap days anymore but maybe I just need to adjust my expectations...

The last two days I've been trying to stick to a 3 nap routine which has been possible mainly since he has woken up at 7ish rather than 6!

All naps have been 40 minutes ish but I've gone in to re settle him (mixture of patting and rocking) for the lunchtime naps. It took 25 minutes yesterday and 15 today but he did go back to sleep for one more cycle. Hoping this is the right thing to do and not setting up bad habits

@Sew3stitch how’s it going four months down the line? I’m where you were with my six month old! Any pearls of wisdom or just ride it out?