8 month old - needing to be resettled after 30 mins naps

[Coldwater777]

My baby has just turned 8 months and her naps are nearly always 30 minutes and then I have to resettle her. It's driving me crazy trying to work out what I need to do to make her nap better!

She can sleep past the 30 mins, she's done it a handful of times and even gone on to have a 3 hour nap one day! But most days she will get to 30 minutes and the only way to resettle her is feeding her back to sleep. She's fed to sleep initially, so that's probably part of the reason. I just don't understand why she can do it sometime and not other days! Generally once she's back to sleep she'll sleep for a good hour.

I've been following either a 2 or 3 nap routine depending on what time she woke. With wake time being 2.5-3 hours between. She tends to get really grizzly when she's really tired, but doesn't show too much sign of tiredness otherwise, so I've been following wake times rather than her signs. She's a very active baby and has been crawling since 5 months and is now crusing!

I'd love to hear your babies routines/wake times for 8 months old. Do you think my DD could be overtired or do you think she could even need a longer wake time? It's so confusing!!! And making my head hurt! I sometimes wonder if she just needs a longer wake time as there's been times when she's really tired that she'll sleep really well, but everything says wake times should be max of 3 hours.

I'm rambling, sorry! Just hoping some of you can share your experiences!

I also have a DS who did similar with naps...so I'm getting it wrong somewhere I'm sure of it!

Are all your naps the same length? I think you just have a baby and not a robot. Chill.

Babies tend to sleep in cycles between 30-40 mins - after that they come into very light sleep or wake up a bit. If they are able to settle themselves to sleep they will just roll over and nod back off, if they rely on cues or props to get to sleep, like rocking, feeding, patting, they will need that to help them drop back off to sleep.

Try having naps in pram for a walk ( make sure your walking at the crucial 30 min bit!) for a few days to help it become a norm to have a longer nap? I don’t think a baby that age could sleep too much so I’d say they are more likely over tired. 30 mins is a nap not a proper restorative sleep which at this age they need. No they aren’t robots but babies thrive on routine and good sleep habits!! Keep trying even if it takes a wee feed during the sleep and hopefully they get there eventually! My 5month old was doing lots of short naps and nighttime was awful, now he’s had longer day sleep and sleeping through the night! Sleep begets sleep!

My 2.5 year old is the same. Will often stir after 30/40 mins. Normally be resettled himself these days but sometimes I need to do it. It's just life I think.

8 months is the start of a separation anxiety peak. She’ll be waking in line with 1 sleep cycle and wondering where you are.

It's so normal
My six month old can self settle for naps but won't go longer than 30 minutes 95 per cent of the time
My first was the same . Self settled but cat napped foreverrrrr until she dropped her naps .
I'm slowly learning to accept it this time but I do wonder why she can do it sometimes and not others

My ds has done this off and on since 4 months (now one and not doing it atm) I worked out by observation that 30 mins is where he goes into a rem phase of his sleep. It was at it's worst at about the age of your baby. He would just sit up instantly and then start crying as he didn't want to be awake. I read that rem sleep is when they consolidate skills so they're actually probably trying to do whatever motor skill they're working on in their sleep. It will sort itself out in time. Just keep resettling if you can.

It definitely wasn't separation anxiety as we were still contact napping at this stage.