Baby catnap hell

[feelingmywaythrough]

My 7mo daughter is a terrible catnapper, rarely sleeping for more than 30 minutes since she was 3.5mo. I have rolled with it but I am slowly getting very, very, very bored by it, not least as she now seems to have extended her wake windows to 3-3.5hrs, dropping from 4 to 3 naps.

For context:

• She sleeps well at night, going down at 7pm, then usually up again at 5 or 6am (I know I'm lucky in that respect).
• She puts herself to sleep for naps in about 10-15 minutes, so I know she can self-settle.
• Her wake windows are roughly 2hrs, 2.5hrs, 3hrs, 3.5hrs. It would be hard to stretch those, I think, as while she's a very happy baby – always chirruping when she wakes up – when she's ready for bed, she's ready for bed.
• Her naps are ~30 minutes whether in her cot, in the carseat or pram. She doesn't go in for contact naps unless very overtired or sick.

Any tips?

What exactly is the problem ?

Sorry @midgetastic that wasn’t very clear! I’d LOVE her to sleep for more than 30 minutes. I know it’s normal for her age but I just wonder if there’s anything I could do differently that might give her the best chance of napping longer.
Original post should say that resettling between sleep cycles doesn’t work…

But why does she need to sleep longer ?

She seems to be getting enough sleep ?

@midgetastic because it’s driving me a bit mad! (I do realise that’s not how it works with baby sleep 😂 )

Yeah sorry OP I'd say if she's happy then she's getting enough and you'll have to roll with it. Unless you take her for naps in the car or in the pram where it's constant movement which might encourage her to stay asleep but I don't think that helps you particularly.

My DD never really did more than 45 mins, she never even approached the 2-3 hours other babies do. Your baby can self settle, she sleeps at night, she's happy - i'm sorry OP but I would grab that and run!

My LO was like this, would only nap for 15 minutes. It continued until he was 8 months old and started nursery, he would then nap for an hour plus, I asked the nursery staff how they managed it and they just replied "nursery tricks "

What is it driving you mad?

Do you need more support/ Time away from baby? So a baby group of some sorts ?

Are you bored by having to entertain the child?

She's sleeping 10 to 11 hrs at night - that's amazing -

You can't naked her sleep more you need to work out how to make things work for you as they are

Of course as soon as you get things sorted she will change her mind and change sleep patterns but there you go - cross that bridge then

@Edenmum2 @midgetastic These were the answers I was truthfully expecting. I think just typing it all out was a bit cathartic 😂 Here’s to making it work 💪 and, @Surgarblossom hopefully some nursery magic soon.

And look after yourself