Baby naps terrible sleeping too much at night

[fifiKma]

OK so I don't want to aggro anyone with a non night sleeping baby (after 4 months sleep deprivation and depression/anxiety you have my deepest understanding) . My son is sleeping through finally but like 12 hours at 4.5 months. His naps are a disaster. He screams at even the whiff of a nap and is down 45 mins max! By 7 pm he is so grumpy and screaming. Should I commit a cardinal sin and wake him earlier? Has anyone had a similar issue? Im an early riser so I don't mind getting him up at half 5 sixish but I'm not sure waking him is a good plan. It normally ends in extreme grumps. Tía x

Mine was the same!! My advice would be to not screw with the nights unless they go over 12-12.5 hour mark as nights are the more restorative sleep for them anyway and he probably needs it if he isn’t a great day napper. I’m sure you’re already doing this but the only thing that helped my sons naps were watching age appropriate wake windows really closely and being really consistent with a nap time ‘routine’. At about 5.5 months old he went from napping 30 min max at a time to napping 1.5 at a time... I did nothing different, he just finally got it! And still did his 12 hour nights. Hang on in there - hope you find something that works!

You are so lucky. I’ve had three non nappers who also didn’t sleep at night for over a year. Forget about forcing naps on such a tiny baby, Let him nap on you or in the buggy on a walk. Enjoy the nighttime sleep!

I haven't had this problem (ours just likes to go to bed late but has always been a good napper) but I really recommend the Huckleberry app. Takes the guessing out of nap times and durations etc. Definitely worth a go alongside advice from others who've been through it 🙂

45 minutes sounds about right at that age, he hasn’t learnt to link his sleep cycles during the day. My DD finally got it around 7 months (6 months corrected) and went from 30 minute naps to 1.5 hour naps.

Wake windows play a huge part too - I used the Huckleberry app to help me with that. It gives you a sweet spot when to put baby down based on how long they’ve been awake. It was a god send for me.

45 mins is really decent at that age. Don't shorten his night time sleep. He's getting what he needs.

I was OK with the 45 mins naps until he cut a nap and started doing 1 hr plus. Then Switched back to 45 mins but only 3 naps! I wouldn't bother at all I love him being awake and being with him but he is so unhappy/testy by bedtime :(

I had huckleberry but the Hv said it was making me more neurotic!

3 X 45minute naps? That's still fine...

There is a sleep regression at 4 months. For my baby it was bad. Lasted from 3.5 months to almost 5 months.

His naps sound ok, the regression can really fuck them up. Honestly though, if he's sleeping through for 12 hours at night CHANGE NOTHING.

CHANGE NOTHING haha fair point. I just feel sad that he's grumpy and screaming in the evening. He's normally quite a lively wee chap and sweet so it's not like him.

So put him down earlier at night? Honestly, your DS is not sleeping too much at night. I'd have killed for 12 hours sleep through- it's only really happened for us since THREE YEARS OLD and NO NAPS.....

I did try an earlier bedtime a few times before because he was so ratty but he just woke up after 45 mins screeching. He's actually been OK today and napped 1.5 hrs in the afternoon so hopefully he'll be in better spirits tomorrow.