Naptime

My daughter was the same way but as she got older her naps got longer. So maybe you just have to wait it out.

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Hi S.~
I highly recommend the book Baby Wise. My son has been sleeping through the night and taking long naps since 3 months old. He is now 7 months old. I think the book is extremely helpful to get you on track.

I've heard that overly tired babies don't sleep as long. I read that if your baby is taking cap naps try putting her down earlier. 1 1/2 hours after they wake up in the morning is when they should go down for their first nap (according to some magazine I read) and then they should sleep longer. I think you're supposed to put them down again 1 1/2-2 hours after their nap as well--but I don't remember the second part as well as the first. Anyway, good luck!

My now 8 1/2 month old was just like that. Unfortunately some babies take longer to "organize" their daytime sleep so their body isn't ready to get them set on a good schedule. Like you, I had no trouble putting him down but his short naps drove me crazy. Finally around 6 mos he suddenly started sleeping for at least 1 1/2 hours for each nap. Just be patient and before you know it she will be sleeping well. Good luck.

A.

My 3 kids all took catnaps, too. Very frustrating. I now babysit for a 3 month old and am amazed at his 3 hour naps! Can you imagine? At first he only took little naps, but when his mom suggested putting socks on his hands his naps really changed. Must be comforting to him. Worth a try!

Sorry to say, but I remember that my children slowly grew out of their nap time.

Some children,that age, are growing out of their nap time. They will slowly, go from 30 minutes, to 20 minutes, then won't be able to nap any more till they are in they're Senior years. So, don't be discourage.

T.

Your baby sounds very normal. Some babies are cat nappers . . . all 4 of mine were. Do you own a baby sling? Sometimes babies will sleep much longer if they are held, and using a baby sling allows both of your hands to be free so you can still get things done around the house. The plus is, once she falls asleep in the sling, you might be able to lay her down and slip out of the sling (leaving her still tucked in) and she may sleep longer. I sell them locally (in Jerome) ###-###-####, and they are availabe straight from the company where I purchase them at babyholder.com. They are not available locally in stores. Good luck!
Amy

I had the same problem with my son who is now 2 1/2. I found that the only thing that worked for us was to let him cry once he woke up until he fell back asleep for awhile. It actually only took a few times and it seemed this was enough to break the "habit". I'm not sure if you agree w/ letting him cry it out, but it did work for us.
Good Luck!!!

I was blessed with a child that has slept great since birth, however I would say that you want to make sure your baby is not taking to many naps and make sure the baby is full when they fall asleep, just like adults they sleep better with a full tummy. I would sugest that your child only have 2-3 naps a day! Good luck!

My baby cat napped for quite a while. I think he grew out of it around 6 or 7 months. Then he finally slept for an hour at a time. By 9 months, one of his naps may even be 2 hrs long. It's nice, but means they have more awake time during the day. So I think that it is a phase your baby will grow out of. At least that's what happened to us.

hi--just be patient. My son took long naps as a newborn and around 3-4 months, he started taking two 40 minute naps per day. I was so frustrated because it took me longer to get him down than he actually slept and he would wake up exhausted and cranky. He was a very active and alert baby and it just seemed like he didn't want to miss anything. Since then (he's 13 months), his naps have varied from horrible to terrific. Now that I put him down only once a day, he takes a 2-3 hour nap. He has always been a great nighttime sleeper as I think he needs the darkness and quiet to fully relax. The napping issue almost drove me insane but in hindsight, I realize that I just should have accepted it. Who ever knew that a tired baby won't nap?! Good luck and hang in there!

My daughter had the same problem. We cut down on the amount of naps she had during the day and chose just one time to have it. We also tried putting music in with her that would help her relax. This seemed to work for us. Good luck.

S...
From long ago, we always got our babies to sleep at a timed schedule by taking them for a car ride! Every evening for about a week, we would take the baby in her car seat for a ride at the time we wanted her to get sleepy. After a week or so she would get on a schedule and automatically start falling asleep at home at that time. Funny! But it worked!
Blessings!
J.

My son also had this problem. He would never sleep longer than 45 min to an hour, several times a day including during the night. He was a preemie and his doctor said it had to do with his weight. The doctor was right, as soon as he put on a good amount of weight, he was sleeping through the night. The only problem is we had to be very patient. The sleeping through the night never happened until he was 9 months. He's now 20 months and has been sleeping all night ever since. I don't know if this applies to your daughter or not, but I wish you the best of luck and many restful nights in the future.

I have a catnapping 4 month old as well. My other two children went through this phase at this age, too. My kids grew out of it. These are the hints I would try to encourage them to nap well:
1. Make sure she is going to sleep by herself without any crutches that aren't there when she naturally wakes up for a minute during her naps - music, rocking, bottle or nursing, etc. - or she'll need them to go back to sleep.
2. Put her down at the first sign she is tired - rubbing eyes, yawning, fussiness - because an overtired baby doesn't sleep well. That being said, you want to make sure she is up for at least a 1-1/2 to 2 hours in between naps so she learns to organize her sleep.
3. If she wakes up after 30 minutes and she is fussing and not crying, let her fuss for a while. My son will sometimes wake up & fuss for a few minutes & put himself back to sleep. If he's fully crying, I'll go try to soothe him for a minute to see if he'll go back to sleep. If that doesn't work after about 5 minutes, I'll get him up & try again in a few hours.

Those are my hints. I followed these & kept in my mind that I was working toward a routine as much as possible. After a few months, both of my older kids fell into a much better napping routine.

Good luck!

Good luck!

My 10 week old son does the same thing! And has been doing this since he was 4 weeks old! It's so frustrating!! He is always tired-probably because he is so sleepy. Does your daughter have a hard time being soothed to sleep? My son screams. I try to start the soothing process before he cries from being tired (as suggested in the book "Healthy Sleep Habits: Happy Child (HSHHC)) but he ends up screaming any way. My son just really hates to sleep. I've tried everything to help him sleep, white noise, swaddeling, laying on his stomach, laying him up right, laying him on his side. What I have found to work part of the time (which I hate) is the second he wakes up from his 30 min nap I immediately put him in the swing and cover his face with a cloth. I don't talk to him, and try to keep the environment really quiet so he knows it's not time to play. I hate doing this because the book "HSHHC" says that motionless sleep is best...but the pediatrician who wrote the book also says that sleep is so important. His research has shown that children who do not sleep well are at a high risk for developing ADD (attention defecit disorder) and becoming very emotional and moody children. So based on this I have decided that it is okay for my son to sleep in the swing. oh... does your daughter cat nap at night too, or only during the day? My son cat naps during the day. One suggestion someone told me was to put my son in a sling and as I walk around and do my daily tasks-the motion may keep him asleep. My suggestion to you is to try the swing immediately when she wakes up and to keep the environment very quiet. If you find anything to work or any advice from others- could you please pass it along! Thanks!!

oh... seriously one last thing. My son was diagnosed with laryngomalacia (when he inhales, his airway slightly colapses inward). The first big sign of this disorder is a loud high pitched sound when he breaths. I discovered that some infants with this disorder have sleep apnea-which would account for the cat naps (fortunately my son doesn't have sleep apnea). I would take your daughter to see your pediatrician to see if she has a medical condition that may be keeping her from sleeping. And if you are concerened and think something is wrong-don't stop at your pediatrician, have him refer you to a specialist. My son had to see an Ear, nose, and throat specialist to get diagnosed with his medical condition.

Again, if you find any useful info on the cat napping would you pass it along? Thanks!!

mine was a cat napper too! at four months old she'd take like 6 30 minute naps, when i tell most people this they think that's crazy. she eventually moved to 4 naps and then quickly to 3. but by 11 months old she was still taking 2 naps about an hour and a half long. when we moved down to one nap, it's only an hour long now! so, i don't have advice, babies just live on their own schedule and get the amount of sleep they need! when she was taking so many naps i felt like all day i was getting her up or putting her down for a nap and then rushing to get what i could done because i knew i only had thirty minutes. it also felt very unscheduled, but i'm sure she was more scheduled than i realized, when she went down to 4 naps, they were pretty scheduled and i learned to just get things done when i knew about how much time i had. good luck!

You don't say if this is all night long as well. My daughter is 3 months old and she cat naps through the day but sleeps longer at night, only waking up about three times for quick 5 minutes nurses during the ten hour stretch. There's nothing wrong with it biologically. Actually my son was only down to two naps by that age so her cat naps are kind of nice!

If she's only cat napping at night, too, there's a great bok called Sweet Dreams by Dr Paul Fleiss who discusses sleep rhythms and how to help your infants, children and even teenagers have the kind of sleep they need, including day light in the morning, dietary changes, a certain bed room environment - his book is very detailed, based on actual research and very compassionate towards infants and children. It helped us get our son more settled after the new baby kind of disrupted his routine.

Hi S.,

I found the best book ever on sleep issues. It is called Healthy sleep habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. It helps with all different sleep issues for every age. The book is by section depending on their age, so it is quick and easy to read what you need to. I love it. I also had a 20 min cat-napper and this book helped me train him to be the best sleeper ever. Good luck.

Beth

SAHM of 2 1/1 yr. and 2 mo. old

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S.:
I also second the idea that it's just the age. Both of my kids were cat nappers until they were about 6 or 7 months or so, then they started sleeping for longer periods. I also want to second someone else's advice and say be sure to teach her to sleep on her own now. My dd (now almost 4) and my ds (now 16 months) have both been rocked to sleep (I know, you'd think I'd have learned the first time), and both have had some sleep issues. You'll save yourself many sleep deprived days if you teach her to sleep on her own.

S.

I loved the book Babywise with my first child (now 5 1/2). It made me feel more sain and structured. However, she was still a catnapper. She took 30 min naps just like yours. She didn't extend her naps until we started dropping naps. That is when she extended to 45 min, then and hour, then up to (but not always) a 2 hour single nap when she was older and more physically active during her day. My second child on the other hand napped better. I truly believe that it just depends on the kid. However, Babywise does help to make you feel as though you are doing what you can to maximize your child's opportunity for naptime (your downtime). Good luck!

S.,

Have you tried feeding her every 3-4 hours? My 4 1/2 month old son does best with his naps if he eats most of his meals (I nurse him) 3-4 hours apart. He will sleep 1-3 hours if I am consistent with this feeding plan and he eats so much more per feeding. Also, since he turned 4 months, I have been encouraging him to eat better in the morning by giving him his pacifier at night if he wakes up. I will put him to bed around 7:30 - 8pm then nurse him sleeping at 10:30pm for his last feeding. He wakes to eat between 6:30am and 7:30am and eats well. If I do feed him at night when he wakes (which he still does half the time around 3:30am) he only snacks for his morning feeding and his whole napping and eating schedule is off (he only sleep 1/2 hour to 1hour increments and is much less happy). You may need to slowly stretch out the feeding increments if your daughter is used to eating every 2-3 hours. I have read that babies who sleep for longer increments show increased levels of contentedness and overall wellbeing.

I'd highly recommend Elizabeth Pantley's The No-Cry Sleep Solution. It is a great book, with lots of ideas for sleep issues. It helped me so very much when my son was 1, and now he is a great 4 yr old sleeper!

I have nine-month old twins, and they were the exact same way at that age. As they get older, babies are more able to nap longer. It's really a developmental thing. Unfortunately, it may just take some time until your daughter is ready to sleep longer. Until then, though, definitely make sure you are consistent with nap times, putting her down at the same times as much as you can so that she becomes more used to going for a nap. This may help in the short term to get her used to napping. She WILL nap longer, be patient. Good luck.

My girls are 11 months old and they take two naps during the day. They sleep for at least an hour at a time. When they start acting tired, I keep them up and play with them for about an hour after that. So, when I give them a bottle of milk they are just out. It works out really well because they take their naps at the same time every day and it helps tremendously when family offers to watch them because they are on such a good schedule.

How many naps does she take during the day? Have you tried cutting out a nap or two to see if she will sleep longer when she does nap? It might take a few days, but if you are consistent, you will most likely see a difference.
I noticed that with my son (now 8)...when I cut out a nap, and tried to keep him on as much of a schedule as possible (naps at around the same time every day, bedtime around the same time every night, etc) he adjusted well and ended up taking longer naps and sleeping longer through the night.
I hope that helps.
Take care!

I highly recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits for a Happy Baby" by Marc Weissbluth
Gives a lot of great sleep info and research. Your daughter is right at the age where it is very helpful to know about sleep patterns, etc. because it is at this age that sleep patterns start emerging and it's good to know what to look for and how to support them. He talks about how to increase the morning nap, how to increase the afternoon nap and gives all kinds of great advice based on years on sleep research. His methods are more in support of "Cry it out" method, of which I am not, So, I ignored his techniques and just used his sleep info. (Ie: getting them to bed earlier at night will often help them nap better). He also teaches about sleep cycles, which are different than adults. For my babe, I have to nap with him for the first hour, to get him through the 45 min sleep cycle and then I can slip away and he will sleep for another full hour. If I just put him down he will only sleep as long as one sleep cycle (45 min). Check it out. I was so grateful someone lent me this book when my son was 4 months old! Congrats on your baby!
C.

i would say make sure there is nothing that is waking her and she is sleeping in a place that is most comfortable for her i do daycare for several babies and they always sleep much longer here than at home. my nap room is dark quiet warm and cozy. so make sure the room is set up well. but...you may just have a very wakeful baby. some babies never take super long naps and yours may be one of them. as long as she doesn't act like she is not getting enough sleep you may have to find ways to cope. try a baby sling or carrier her so you can get some things done while she is awake.

She is so young that I wonder if she isn't getting enough to eat and is waking up becuase she is hungry. Check with a breast feeding specialist.

why, S.? does she seem tired, disturbed, sick?
If she is doing well, then pleaser, trust the nature,
and let Your girl grow!!!

It is definitely good for us moms when our dear kids give us some relief and take a longer nap,
but if she is doing well with a shorter nap then this is exactly what her system needs...
Have a good One!!!