Naps

[Krampers]

Is it possible for baby to take longer naps despite needing nursing for all sleep. Currently does 30-40 min 1 sleep cycle naps but really want them to nap longer. Will this just happen naturally when she moves to two naps - she is 6.5 months and currently still on 3 naps a day. We were also considering some gentle sleep teaining and my impression is that naps improve after sleep training but others say it’s just developmental.

Hi OP,

So it's definitely developmental that baby only has short sleep cycles of about 30-45mins currently. That is normal and does sometimes start to change from around 6months - although for other babies it can take longer. So baby may start sleeping a bit longer on their own soon because their sleep cycles will be longer.

However, it is also possible to help baby sleep for more than one sleep cycle at a time. This is what they are (hopefully!) doing overnight. The most likely reason they are finding this difficult at the moment is the feeding to sleep. You've created an association for baby (probably inadvertently) that nursing = how to get to sleep. They fall asleep nice and cosy in your arms, but when they start to wake up at the end of their sleep cycle they are somewhere different - and to add insult to injury there is no milk! So instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, they wake fully and are potentially upset.

If you're not happy with the current sleep situation, gentle sleep training would be the way to go. Gradually encouraging baby to fall asleep on their own in the cot will help them sleep for longer and be able to self-soothe more reliably, both at naps and overnight (great, if you want to start weaning off night feeds too?). There are some great books that could guide you through this, but you'll probably have to be ready for at least some upset (I'm not talking leaving them for hours of crying of course!).

If you are happy with how they're sleeping or don't like the idea of any sort of sleep training, there is no need to change unless you feel they are not getting enough sleep overall. They could happily be on 3 shorter naps a day for a while yet.

Good luck!

@ZippyKoala
Thanks for your reply - will have a look at gentle sleep training.