Short day naps

[Confused246]

Hi all, my 7 mth dd only sleeps 30 mins at a time and will only sleep for 1.5 to 2 hrs in the day, which i think is leading to her being overtired at night. Any tips to help lenghten her daytime naps? Thanks x

Does she sleep in her cot in a dark room?

DD1 did this until she started dropping her nap at 18 months. She could self settle, we used white noise, blackouts and movement, tried waking her just before, changing nap times etc. It was just how she was wired. The overtiredness stopped being an issue at around 12 months though, which helped.

They’re not all hopeless cases though; a friend of mine had a similar napper but found that her DD started naturally extending her naps when she got down to one nap a day.

Sorry to be no help, but I’d have appreciated knowing at the time that I wasn’t doing anything ‘wrong’ to get short naps!

@shouldistop yes, we have black out blinds and I put her down when sleepy (but not asleep) in her cot. We have a bedtime routine, bath, change into bedtime clothes, wind down time and a book. In the day, when i see her sleepy cues, i read a book and take her up to her cot. I use a white noise machine at night time.
@timeturnerplease she is normally pretty good at self soothing and has always only really slept for short periods in the day, but was having more sleeps previously.

Does she wake up from the naps hungry, grumpy, or ready to play? Have you tried calmly going in and getting her back to sleep by shushing/cuddling/rocking? Could you try leaving her for a bit of she wakes up but isn't crying to see if she will go back to sleep?

Will she nap for longer in the car/pram/carrier?

@purplepizzacake she generally wakes up from nap and night sleep happy and playful, although recently, she has been rubbing her eyes aboyt an hour after her naps. TBH i haven't tried to sooth her back to sleep when she wakes after her nap, so we definitely try that. Any naps in her pram and carrier is about the same, sometimes car naps might be longer if it's a longer journey.

Thanks all for the advice and supportive comments xx

Have you tried stretching out her wake window to see if this lengthens the nap? My baby only had cat naps until he dropped to 2 naps a day with longer wake windows

Definitely try and resettle OP, that’s how I lengthened my now 10 month old DD’s naps. To start with I set myself a 10 minute limit on how long I would try and resettle her - if she was still awake after 10 minutes, then I would get her up. We did shush pat in the cot. After a week or so of sticking to the resettling attempts, she started doing longer stretches. She sometimes still needs a resettle, but now does 3 hours across 2 naps. Good luck!

As @Tiredmama12 says. I can't put my lo down before 3.15 to 3.5 hours after morning nap or all she sleep for is 45mins. If I stretch wake time I get 1.5 hours sometimes 2hrs.

Also as everyone said. Dark room. In cot. Do you dress your lo same way for bed. I do a sleeping bag in day too same as night. Except a lot lower tog.