Nap advice

[Stargazer467]

I need some advice. Can anyone share any wisdom or 12mo routines.

DD 12mo has never been a great napper, I thought it would come with time, or as they became less frequent. 🙄 Or the nursery nap fairy would help.

She will self settle for “most” naps in the cot, pram etc, with no motion or presence. But the naps last 30-45minutes Nearly EVERYTIME? I thought the idea was if she could self settle, then she would be able to settle between cycles? By now Atleast.

Wakes anytime between 5.30-8.00 depending on nighttime sleep. But this is more often than not around 6.30-7am.

Nap anytime between 9.30/10.30 30minutes

Then afternoon nap she will refuse. But when she does go to sleep again it’s 30minutes.

Always wakes up tired from naps, and gets grumpier throughout the day, before she crashes around 6.30pm and goes to bed. Tried moving bedtime forward, but we only get home at 6.

I’ve Tried leaving her for 30minutes to see if she will resettle no luck, tried pushing the morning nap forward and back.

Nights vary a lot between 1-3 wake ups, which can sometimes be short, or last up to 2 hours. Which I feel is mainly caused by hunger (due to being too tired to eat) and overtiredness. I would just like some sleep, and consistency. Plus a happy baby! 😢

Has anybody been in a similar situation?

Yes some days we have crap naps and brilliant sleep. Other days we have brilliant naps and crap sleep. On a really bad day it’s crap naps and crap sleep. Mine does suffer from recurrent ear infections though and teething has a lot to answer for.

DD1 did 28 minute naps until she started dropping the nap at 18 months. The she started sleeping 12 hours straight and was much happier.

A friend of hers used to have 2 x 2 hour naps a day for ages but was awake half the night.

Another friend had a three hour nap every afternoon until she was 2.5 and still slept 13 hours straight a night.

I’m a huge believer in routine and preventing overtiredness but I honestly nearly killed myself trying to sort out DD1s naps. Nursery told me that she’s just very active and curious and might be better with one long block of sleep at night rather than day plus night. I resisted but they were right.

It’s bloody awful, I hated the overtiredness and daily nap battles but now she’s almost 3 it’s honestly a distant memory. DD2 is (touch wood) a champion night sleeper so far but a 31 minute napper and this time I’m just going to go with it.

It’s really tough when they won’t nap. Sometimes there is no “fix”, so ignore if these things won’t work for you guys but just a few things as food for thought:

• are they tired enough? Mine naps better when they’ve had loads of stimulation in the morning, like a toddler group or nursery
• maybe your little one is gearing up to drop to one nap (seems a little early for that though)

My main advice is do anything that will get them to have a sleep. I often purposefully went somewhere in the car at the time my youngest needed a morning nap when he started resisting it. He would usually fall asleep in the car and when we got to the park, library or whatever even if it had only been 20 mins sleep it helped him not be ratty. Also for a while I would do whatever will keep your little one asleep for longer in the afternoon. Eg walk the pram around if they start to stir so they can get back off to sleep. I know some would think that’s creating bad habits or whatever but I did this with mine when he used to wake up before he was ready to and now he sleeps really well with no extra involvement from me. Sometimes I think it’s about getting them into a routine however you can and getting them to not be over tired. It’s a very tough stage though and it will end. Naps are not forever!!

My first would only ever do 30 mins.
At 12 months she was 1 times 30 mins and that was it until she dropped that nap. Never managed to extend it. Occasionally we got the odd 40-45 minutes and that was the best she did

She slept 6pm-7am overnight though unless ill.

At the time she always looked tired in the afternoon but it did her no harm and Its a memory now.
One day she was fine to get through the day without it and things got so much better

Have a 5 month old and she also does 30 mins 🤣😂. I don't believe it will get better this time . I held out with dd1 thinking it would extend 😂
Dd self settled for all naps to but still couldn't extend them

Some just can't manage it in the day
Less pressure to sleep and to go back to sleep when they stir on there bodies than at night time is all it is.

It's shit though when you can see they are tired

Hello again @jupitermars1345 - allies in the Short Nappers Club

Thank you

@Itsbeen84yearss aww teething does have a lot to answer for. We’ve just had 2 more cut, but do wonder if there’s more.

@Timeturnerplease you can set your watch by them! DD is also very active and nosey, think they think they are missing out. I hope one day it’s a distant memory, just hard when your in the thick of it. I wouldn’t be too phased if it wasn’t hugely impacting night sleep and eating. Hope your DD2 continues to be a good night sleeper.

@Bigoldmachine thank you. We go out everyday for walks, plays, and try stimulate her as much as possible. The problem is she is childcare 4 of the days. But we all try get the naps in, we often manage two, but these are short (most of the time) no matter the means of getting to that stage. Will keep trying to persevere. I’ve tried one nap, but this just again is 30minutes.

@jupitermars1345 yea it’s horrible when you can see they are overtired. We have lots of feeding problems, and under specialist care. Which I think contributes, but is making it very difficult especially as she’s too tired to feed. It’s having a huge impact on nighttime too.

Thanks everyone. Sorry for the late response. Yesterday we had a better day, 30 minutes in the morning, 50mins late afternoon. But a solid block of night time sleep.
Today though, 2 30 minute naps, and she’s been up 5 times already since bedtime. Over-tiredness strikes again.

DD is under specialist care for feeding, as she has an aversion to food. Whilst this is probably contributing to the disruption, the more she sleeps, the happier she is to eat. The more she eats, the more she sleeps. So it’s a cycle I really need to try and fix. Although I’m exhausted and at breaking point, clueless on how to help the situation.