How to extend naps?

[loopyloo82]

Hi

My dd (4 months) has no good naps during the day- in fact, I can't remember the last time she had a nap of more than about 40 mins. She will fall asleep in my arms, on the breast or in her pushchair at least three times a day, but usually wakes within 20 minutes. This is the same whether I put her down or continue holding her. Once awake, I find it impossible to get her back to sleep.

She doesn't seem too tired most of the time but does sometimes have screaming fits which I think are a result of tiredness. She also cries for about 5 mins before falling asleep.

Help! I feel like I am failing her by not giving her the sleep she needs but I don't know how to get her to sleep longer. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I have the same problem with my DS (3-and-a-half months). I was going to start doing the No Cry thing today, but he's got a cold so I've postponed putting him down in his cot (he sleeps in a sling on me, but as you say wakes up after 20 mins or so).

I've managed to extend the snoozes to multiples of 20(!) by being alert to him becoming restless and either rocking, shhhing or putting my finger down his nose so his eyes close again (both me and DP use this to get him to sleep as sometimes he just won't close them on his own!). Today he managed 2 x 40mins and 1 x 80 mins, which given that he had a bad night last night is awful, but in comparison with "normal" is actually quite good.

Good luck, and I'll be lurking to see if you get any other handy hints!

Same here!
Been trying to extend naps by taking him out in the buggy with no luck.
Wondering if this is just his natural pattern, and will also be watching out for any tips you get!

Who are you to be the giver of sleep?

She'll sleep when she needs it same as she'll eat when she needs it. Sleep, like feeding is a biological function.

Thanks for the replies.

2Children, most days I think like that and just go with the flow, but then when she gets really ratty (I'm sure due to tiredness) I feel like I have let her down and panic that she isn't sleeping enough. I was reading the No-Cry Sleep Solution and that said that anything less than an hour was basically pointless. Could she be getting enough sleep as she is? It's a lot less than all the books seem to recommend. And if not, will she eventually fall into a pattern herself?

Earlier she had a screaming fit before falling asleep (in the sling) then still woke 35 minutes later. She now seems happy, despite a couple of yawns.

I can't make my mind up, that's the problem! As you can probably tell from my rambling!

Hi, I am sorry..I am exactly the same too. I really feel like I am letting her down/not giving her the right amount of time to grow her little brain! Plus I hate seeing her get so cranky when she's tired.

The one thing I tried to today which seemed to work was I kept her up from 7am until 11am. (Usually I would start the nap techniques within two hours of waking up). Then I laid down with her, BF'd her, didn't move one inch. At the 20 min mark she stirred, I quickly put her back on my breast and pulled the covers over our head so we were in a dark cocoon like tent. Stayed like this for another 20mins and then slowly removed myself. I figured if she got 40mins she would be close to rested and if she went longer, it would be extra treat. She has now been asleep for 1h 45mins!!!!!!

this is probably a one-off but I am taking it.. though from today's experience I think our problem might be room not dark enough and I need to keep her up longer.

good luck!

loopy That was a gracious response to my post.

With no.2 I could never ever tell anybody how much sleep she did or didn't get, or how long the naps were, or even how often. The same with feeding. My life was bliss as a result and I thoroughly recommend it.

I never did nap techniques. I never looked at the clock. I just did my day and she somehow managed to find a way to sleep. Sometimes I'd assist with a bit of boob if she looked cranky or stick her in her car seat and rock her with my foot, but I wouldn't ever look at the clock first to try to calculate how long it had been since her last nap or to know in the future how long this one was going to be.

Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks people for your ideas.

Now, she has just screamed for about 45 minutes in tiredness, finally fell asleep... woke 10 minutes later and is now as happy as larry, as if she'd had a two-hour nap. She is playing, cooing and smiling!!!?? I'm just letting her get on with it and not trying to force her back to sleep.. but isn't she just going to be exhausted later?? She's mad!

I'm with 2children. Your baby hasn't read the sleep books.

your dd sounds like mine at that age!! I also tried like mad to get her to nap/extend naps, including working hard for 40 mins to get her to sleep for 30 mins!! I can laugh about it now. She's 9 mths, so it only took about 5 months to get a sense of humour about it, at the time I was weeping.

Honestly the NCSS was useful at the time, just so I felt like I was 'doing' something, but none of it worked for us, tbh.

What did make it bearable was just relaxing and going with the flow, sometimes she napped, sometimes she didn't, sometimes she cried with tiredness, sometimes she didn't (you get the picture!) and in time she just started taking longer naps on her own. Still now, her naps are anything between 2 hrs and 30 mins. I have given up god she's just woken up, gotta go!

Thanks again for replies- I think I just needed reassurance and that I got!

Thank you

back! that was a 25 min nap, short even for her! anyway, just remembered one thing that helped, to get her to sleep, even if it doesn't keep her asleep - short wind down for nap when at home - we do 1) in gro bag 2) close curtains 3)song whilst holding her 4)in cot

like what llareggub said - your baby hasn't read the books, some babies need less sleep

but check she's not ill/teething, my dd's naps go haywire then hth