Need help getting baby to take longer naps...

[Dcclerk]

My DD is much more easy going and go-with-the-flow than my DS. She is rarely cranky and seems to really take things all in stride. So maybe I shouldn't be worried about this since it really isn't affecting her temperment, but I still do.

The kid doesn't nap well at all. Yesterday she had a 3 "naps" that didn't last more than a half an hour each. I'll confess that I haven't read Weissbluth since DS was little, but I distinctly remember him stating that naps less than an hour don't count. How do I get her to sleep longer? (By the by, my MIL watches her during the week and so yesterday was "on her watch," but MIL is great and will follow any directions we give her; I just don't know what they should be.)

Do you have any suggestions? FYI: she absolutely will not tolerate being swaddled.

TIA!

[Tondi G]

I wish I had some advise for you.... I am in the same boat! Aidan usually takes 30 minute naps as well. He wakes from them happy and ready to play so I figure he is getting the rest he needs. There are rare occasions when he will nap longer but usually not longer than an hour or so. I kinda follow his lead... he usually can go 2 or 3 hours and then is ready for a nap.... so at this point he is taking 3 or 4 30 min naps and then sleeps from 9/10pm till 7:20 am! I figure I will deal with the 30 minute naps as long as he is sleeping all night!

HUGS and Good Luck... I'll be watching to see if you get some other good advise!!!!

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[erosenst]

Not sure how old DD is, but I could have written your post. It took me until about 10 months to pull Weissbluth out again, and have my blinding flash of the obvious. His theory is to keep them in the crib for an "appropriate" period of time. If you get them up too early, they just want to get up earlier and earlier to play, and don't "learn" to sleep enough. We had done this with night time sleep, but for unknown reasons hadn't done it during the day.

We've learned that Abby needs 90 minutes in her crib - whether sleeping or "quiet time" for a full nap. She'll now play happily until we come get her. Sometimes now (she's 20 months) she'll play the whole time - but still be refreshed. For some reason, this concept is VERY hard for DH to grasp - but he's realized that it does work.

[SewSarahSew]

Oh, we had this with Daniel! There was a period of time when he would never nap longer than 30 minutes. I finally charted his schedule one day - looking at the amount of time between waking and his first nap, and then wake time and the next nap, etc. I was putting him down too often. He didn't need 3 naps, he just needed a morning nap and an afternoon nap. Later of course, he switched to just an afternoon nap.

I would really suggest going more to a schedule of 2 naps/day, with the naps having pretty consistant start times every day. The first couple of days, your daughter will want to fall asleep before naptime. Try to hold her off until it's time, and then she'll sleep longer. This doesn't work in the extreme, if you wait too long she'll be too tired to fall asleep, KWIM?

Good luck!

[Rachels]

Some babies just don't nap for long. They haven't read the books and they don't know they're supposed to. I had one of those. If she's happy, healthy, and growing well, I wouldn't sweat it too much. I do think it's really important to pay attention to her cues and needs and to soothe her back down if she wakes before she means to. But if she seems done sleeping and is happy, I wouldn't worry.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02
New baby coming in October!
(Holy smokes, it's a boy!!!)


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_amethyst_36m.gif
Nursed for three years!

[amp]

My DS didn't nap for longer than that for what seemed forever! And he's a great sleeper now. I don't think that early napping (even up to 6 mths of age or more) is indicative (necessarily) of how they'll nap or sleep later.

[ellies mom]

When my DD was taking multiple naps she only napped for about 30 mins. When she first started taking just one nap a day, it was for about 30 min also, but as she started running around more her nap increased to between 1-2 hours. One thing you can try is something suggested in "No Cry Sleep Solution". She recommends catching your DD the ssecond she starts to wake and do whatever you need to get her back to sleep. I guess it is supposed to help increase her nap time overall. I know it is really hard to time it right but it seemed to work for us.

My DD is like your temperment-wise also. She really may not need to nap more than she does. As easy-going as my DD is, I can tell when she nneds a nap, so I would try and not worry about it.

[jd11365]

Good room darkening shades?

Just an idea to throw out there...

[Dcclerk]

Thanks so much for all of the encouragement. You would think with a second one, I would feel like I had it together a bit more! It does make me feel a lot better to hear that others can/could relate. She really is one of the happiest little things, so I guess I don't need to waste valuable hanging out time stressing about these things.

And the room darkening shade idea would actually probably help quite a bit...

[stcelia]

I'm having issues with this too. One problem is car trips. He gets a 20 min. nap, and won't nap at all afterword, although the 20 min. was inadequate.

What are some of the books you all are referencing? We cosleep at night, but we do have a crib. He really needs some better quality sleep (I could use some better sleep, too). FWIW, DS is 7 1/2 mos, and just started crawling. He's even been waking up at 4:30 am ready to go. We need help! Is it a phase, or do I need to make changes?

Thanks,Jenn