7 month old still taking 4 naps a day

CookieQueen1986 · 2025-01-02T10:58:58+00:00

My LO recently turned 7 months and is still taking 4 crap naps a day. They tend to last between 33 mins and 43 mins and because they are so short, it means we can’t drop a nap. Even holding her or putting her in the sling/buggy doesn’t lengthen them any more. I think most babies her age are transitioning to 2 naps - we feel like a million miles away from that. it doesn’t help that her wake ups are different every day, so we haven’t been able to establish any kind of consistent routine. her night time sleep is shit as well, 4-6 wake ups a night. I can’t help feeling this is linked to the crap day time napping. im feeling hopeless. Does any one have any advice?

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FlyingHighFlyingLow · 02/01/2025 12:01

A month is a long time in a 7mo life. At just turned 7 months I'm pretty sure my LO was going through a crap sleep leap and was doing really short naps. Even at 11 months old my LO would occasionally have 3 naps in a crap nap stage.

Give it a week, keep trying to extend those naps. Contact naps, feed to sleep, feed back to sleep. Whatever you need to do to break the overtired leap. Stretch the wake windows slowly, 15 mins a day. It may mean you start off 4 naps with a late bedtime. As naps lengthen that will become 3 naps with a late bedtime. Then maybe it will become 2.

It's a hard cycle you get stuck in coz they're tired from crap nap, but won't sleep because they haven't been awake long enough.

Original poster

CookieQueen1986 · 02/01/2025 14:33

FlyingHighFlyingLow · 02/01/2025 12:01

A month is a long time in a 7mo life. At just turned 7 months I'm pretty sure my LO was going through a crap sleep leap and was doing really short naps. Even at 11 months old my LO would occasionally have 3 naps in a crap nap stage.

Give it a week, keep trying to extend those naps. Contact naps, feed to sleep, feed back to sleep. Whatever you need to do to break the overtired leap. Stretch the wake windows slowly, 15 mins a day. It may mean you start off 4 naps with a late bedtime. As naps lengthen that will become 3 naps with a late bedtime. Then maybe it will become 2.

It's a hard cycle you get stuck in coz they're tired from crap nap, but won't sleep because they haven't been awake long enough.

Thank you so much for replying. It definitely does feel like we are stuck in a hard cycle and I’m struggling to see how to break it. But i will definitely try extending the wake windows from tomorrow to see if that makes a difference .

OP posts:

Original poster

CookieQueen1986 · 03/01/2025 22:45

FlyingHighFlyingLow · 02/01/2025 12:01

A month is a long time in a 7mo life. At just turned 7 months I'm pretty sure my LO was going through a crap sleep leap and was doing really short naps. Even at 11 months old my LO would occasionally have 3 naps in a crap nap stage.

Give it a week, keep trying to extend those naps. Contact naps, feed to sleep, feed back to sleep. Whatever you need to do to break the overtired leap. Stretch the wake windows slowly, 15 mins a day. It may mean you start off 4 naps with a late bedtime. As naps lengthen that will become 3 naps with a late bedtime. Then maybe it will become 2.

It's a hard cycle you get stuck in coz they're tired from crap nap, but won't sleep because they haven't been awake long enough.

I don’t know if it was just pure coincidence but I lengthened the wake window before lunch by 15 mins and she slept for 2 hours!!!

OP posts:

FlyingHighFlyingLow · 03/01/2025 22:48

CookieQueen1986 · 03/01/2025 22:45

I don’t know if it was just pure coincidence but I lengthened the wake window before lunch by 15 mins and she slept for 2 hours!!!

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Could be the stretch, a fluke, could be the wind was blowing a certain way, could be baby exiting developmental stage and would have happened anyway 🤣 as naps get longer she should be able to stay awake longer and between the two nap numbers should drop.