8 month struggling with 30 min naps

11 replies

Devonfirsttimemum93 · 16/03/2022 15:30

I’ve made a thread before and lo and behold I am still struggling with my 8 month old nap schedule! He’s on 3 naps a day but will mainly do only 30 minutes at a time… randomly will do an 1hr10 or even weirder his third nap can sometimes be his longest (maybe an hour tops?) I’ve tried to reduce his wake windows to double the amount of nap time as I’ve seen recommended here but there’s no way he’ll even consider a nap an hour after waking up. He’ll nap longer in the car sometimes but not the pram and self-settles. I try and resettle but it doesn’t really work as he tends to self-settle anyway and prefers to be left to it lol. Got all the white noise, not hungry, changed nappy, blacked out room etc so if anyone has any tips?

Desperate mama over here…

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EdithGrantham · 16/03/2022 15:36

Why do you think he needs longer naps? My DD often only naps for 30 minute stretches but she's happy and meeting milestones so I've assumed she's getting the sleep she needs.

Original poster

Devonfirsttimemum93 · 16/03/2022 15:52

@EdithGrantham

Why do you think he needs longer naps? My DD often only naps for 30 minute stretches but she's happy and meeting milestones so I've assumed she's getting the sleep she needs.

Because he’s miserable and overtired it seems most of the day if he only has 30 mins! If he has one of his magic hour 10 ones then he’s like a different baby!

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EdithGrantham · 16/03/2022 16:16

Ahh ok, no advice then I'm afraid, only thing that gets my DD back to sleep is boob 🙄 I know what you mean about it being a long day, I sometimes get so envious of people who can put their baby down for a consistent 1.5-2 hour nap, I could have so much time to do stuff if DD would tolerate that!

Mrsmch123 · 16/03/2022 23:32

My baby is almost 9 months and about 2 weeks ago went from 3 25/30 min naps to a hour and a half and 30mins. We try follow the. 2/3/4 method for sleep which seems to be working well atm. There is nothing worse as you can't catch up on sleep/do much as you have barely settled them and they are back up. How's his overnight sleep?

jupitermars1345 · 17/03/2022 11:14

Mine is 9 months and still doing two times 30 mins a day
It's frustrating.. nothing seems to work here at all and I feel like I've tried it all
My first was the same 🙄 down to 1 times 30 at a year old 🤣😂.
It can feel like everyone has babies who have these great naps but I definitely feel like a load more are probably like us and have cat nappers
Sleep at night is good except for when ill
She lost 4 hours last night from coughing but still woke after 25 minutes for her nap today 🙄

AliceW89 · 17/03/2022 11:25

DS didn’t nap for more than 30 minutes until he was more mobile (ie more tired) and down to 2 naps, of which the morning nap had to be strictly cut off before 30 minutes. The afternoon nap would usually then be 1.25h-1.5h but sometimes he’d still wake early. I just don’t think all babies are capable of or necessarily need long naps to be honest. I’d drop the 3rd nap if I was you and see if extending her wake windows just gives that extra bit of tiredness.

DS (22 months) only consistently did over 1.5h when he dropped to 1 nap and was walking/running/talking/eating big meals. I now have to wake him up 🤦‍♀️ So hopefully it will get better for you as DD gets older.

Sweetpea12 · 17/03/2022 20:44

My son was having 3 naps until recently and they were similar 30 mins at a time or in the pram or car maybe slightly longer but not consistently. I noticed a change when he started waking earlier he would get up at 7.30 instead of 9 so by 10 he was ready for a good sleep. And other than that I tried to prevent him sleeping after 4 or 5pm so he was more tired for going to bed and getting that longer stretch at night so waking that bit earlier. I found feeding helped he was having breakfast, lunch and dinner and I noticed his naps changed to fit in round this. But he did it all I just go along with it

HJFTM · 17/03/2022 21:03

I have no magic answer I’m afraid! But I wanted to let you know my DD was a serial 30 min napper up until 8.5/9 months and one day she did 1hr 30 for one of her naps… I did nothing different! And the next day was the same followed by 2 x 30 min naps. After about a week she consistently started having 1hr 30 in the morning and 1hr 30 in the afternoon. Sometimes she does 2hrs and I let her cause I deserve this rest time after 9 months of no naps haha!!!

SnackSizeRaisin · 19/03/2022 18:27

Mine has started doing longer naps at 9 months. I did try doing the "cot hour" but really I think he was just ready to do it. So maybe yours will be similar

Nelliephant1 · 19/03/2022 18:33

Three naps a day seems like a lot. Mine had dropped all naps by 7 months. Maybe drop one and the other two will become longer 🤞 Good luck! 💐

Moggins9t9 · 19/01/2023 11:48

My 8 month old is currently sleeping one nap a day. She sleeps from about 6pm through until about 10 sometimes earlier and demands a bottle. She will go back to sleep at the end of that bottle and stay there until between 6.30 and 7am.
But she will only nap once a day. And sometimes that nap is only 20 mins long. She is very happy, chatty, doing great with solids but even a full tummy won't make her drowsy. And I'm struggling to get anything done as she's heavy and my arms can't hold her for too long. I'm also not great at multi tasking so cleaning and holding her isn't really an option.
My eldest is nearly 7 and dropped all her naps by 18 months.
All children are different. If my baby was grumpy all the time or if she cried a lot, which she rarely does, then I would be concerned but she is growing rapidly, eating very healthily and still absorbing everything around her. She's always happy if she has something to play with.
I hope it all settled down for you. I know you posted this a while ago.

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