11 week old 30 minute naps

[hrp2020]

11 week old only having 30 minute naps and is crying most of the day with pure overtiredness. She gets herself to sleep in the Moses basket and I give her time to settle back when she wakes but she can't do it and gets so upset. I try and resettle but that also doesn't work. The same happens in the sling or pram. If she sleeps on us in the dark sometimes we get her back with rocking when she wakes. This isn't sustainable as I have an almost two year old as well. She has white noise and black out. We have tried going in just before the End of the sleep cycle but it doesn't work. Any tips? I wouldn't mind if she was content but she is crying most of the day. She is awake max 90 mins between sleeps.

She is unlikely to be able to join sleep cycles at this age. Try putting her down a bit earlier in between naps to prevent overtired ness?

Hi @Workin8til6 and thank you. We have tried shorter wake windows too but doesn't seem to help and end up with 6 naps a day which seems crazy. It's the crying straight after the nap I find hard as she is then just miserable for any awake time she has.

Is she going longer at night at all ?

@Neurodiversitydoctor at night she is much better. Down by 7pm. Wakes twice for milk usually. Often struggles to go back in the early hours but think that's quite normal.

I think it's usually around 6 months that they start to join up sleep cycles.

I remember the same with my DS and you could almost set a watch by him to wake c40mins after a nap.

Although not ideal in winter, I found pram naps meant he slept a lot longer and it definitely shifted around 6 months where he suddenly was able to sleep for a lot longer.

Sorry, no advice other than it's normal!

If the night time sleep is ok, I'd say they will sort it out. It can be worth trying to do a sort of "mini nighttime" between 12-2 with all the same cues. Difficult if you also have a 2yo.