Catnaps. Mini-naps. Micro-naps.
Whatever name you give them, short naps can feel like the bane of your existence as a mom or dad. It may seem like you spend an eternity trying to help your baby fall asleep at nap time, only to have her wake 20 minutes after you lay her down. Not exactly restful for anyone!
So why do some babies tend to take short naps? Is there an underlying reason? And (most importantly) – is this a problem you can fix? Those are the questions we are tackling in today’s blog article.
Short Baby Naps: What Is Normal, and What Is Not
First, let’s define our terms. A short nap is a nap that’s less than an hour long. It can be as short as a few minutes! A long nap is one that’s 60 minutes or more. Most parents can expect 1 – 1.5 hours for a long nap, although some babies and toddlers will take longer naps (especially toddlers who have transitioned to just one afternoon nap – those naps can be as long as 2-3 hours!)
Second, let’s be clear about something: short naps are not unusual, or abnormal, for newborns. Remember, during the newborn stage, babies need to eat every 2-3 hours, so it is understandable that newborns take lots of mini-naps throughout the day.
As your baby grows, and as his brain and body develop, his short naps should begin to consolidate into several longer naps. And those naps should gradually organize themselves into a semi-predictable daytime schedule. Over time, your baby will continue to drop naps, and the naps themselves will gradually become longer. By the time your baby is a toddler, she will be taking one long nap in the middle of the day.
Third, remember that older babies may take a catnap each day when they’re approaching (or in the midst of) a nap transition. For instance, many 7 month olds take a third catnap late in the afternoon, as they transition to a two-nap-a-day schedule. This catnap is not a problem, provided the other 2 naps are an hour or more.
Not All Babies Naturally Consolidate Their Naps
Note the ‘shoulds’ in that last section. Not all babies consolidate their naps easily (or at all, for that matter!) Some of this nap consolidation is dependent on your baby’s unique growth and development patterns; the simple fact is that some babies are biologically ready (and willing) take longer naps much sooner than other babies. Some babies will begin this process of nap consolidation quite early – as early as 4-6 weeks. Other babies will do this much later – more like 5 or 6 months. So if your baby is past the newborn stage, but continues to take mini-naps, understand that some of this may be due to biology.
Of course, you don’t want to spend the next 3 years blaming biology for your little one’s short naps! 😉 So, what’s the cut-off point at which you can consider your baby’s short naps a problem to be solved, and not simply an indication that she’s just not ready for longer naps? Generally, if your baby is less than 6 months old, consider her catnaps normal, and a sign that she’s still figuring out how to nap. After the 6 month mark, though, if your baby is still taking constant catnaps, you can work on improving naps.
Why Does Your Baby Take Short Naps?
So, why do babies who are older than 6 months continue taking short naps? There are several possibilities, including…
- …schedule problems. Ensure that your baby’s daily nap schedule is one that jives well with her sleep needs, and with her bedtime and morning wake-up time. Need help creating a schedule that’s optimized for sleep? Check out our suggested sleep and feeding schedules by age.
- …inconsistency. Unpredictability in the daily routine tends to mess with naps, especially for babies who are sensitive to change. If your baby is napping at different times each day, or in different places, it will be even harder to help her take long restorative naps. If this is a problem in your home, work to establish predictable daily routines, and strive to make sure that naps happen at home, and not naps on-the-go.
- …too much wake time between naps. It may seem like stretching your baby’s wake time will help him take longer naps (since, theoretically, he would be nice and sleepy when nap time rolled around). But the opposite is actually true; keeping your baby awake too long will make him overtired, which will, in turn, make naps even worse. You’ll know your baby is overtired by his cues; if he’s rubbing his eyes, yawning, looking glassy-eyed, and fussing (or possibly wailing), then he is likely overtired.
- …sleep associations. This is probably the biggest reason why babies who are over 6 months take short naps. If your baby still relies on being fed or rocked to sleep, or if your baby needs you to replace the pacifier every time it falls out in order to fall back to sleep, then take this as a sign that your baby doesn’t know how to fall asleep on her own. And if she can’t fall asleep on her own, then when she wakes in between sleep cycles during her nap, she will cry. If sleep associations are a problem for your baby, then it may be time to consider changing those associations through sleep coaching.
Nicole’s Note:
“One of the most misunderstood facts about baby sleep, in my experience, is that waking is not normal. We ALL wake briefly between sleep cycles and a baby’s sleep cycles at nap time will be about 30-45 minutes. The key is not to wake ‘too much’ for something to be replaced such as a bottle, pacifier, breastfeeding, bounce on a yoga ball, etc.”
How To Lengthen Your Baby’s Naps
Short or non-existent baby naps can be so frustrating – but you don’t have to suffer through them! We have a ton of nap resources – and one of those nap resources is our free guide, 7 Common Napping Mistakes. Are you making any of these common nap mistakes? If so, they may be the cause of your baby’s non-napping. So download your free guide today, and start putting the tips to use as early as your baby’s next nap!
Whatever the reason, rest assured that if your baby is past the newborn stage, then short naps are an issue that can be solved.
For even more nap and schedule help, check out these members-only resources, found in our VIP Members Area:
- Mastering Naps and Schedules e-Book (unlimited VIP member access at no extra cost!)
- Custom Schedule-Maker (unlimited access – make as many schedules as you’d like! Includes meal times)
- Nap Transitions tele-seminar with Nicole Johnson
- Short Naps tele-seminar with Nicole Johnson
- How To Put Your Child on a Schedule tele-seminar with Nicole Johnson
- 5 Tips To Manage Nap Transitions [EXPANDED VIP MEMBER-ONLY VERSION]
- 5 Tips For Handling Tough Daycare Nap Schedules [EXPANDED VIP MEMBER-ONLY VERSION]
- Day-by-Day Nap Training Plan
- Downloadable Sleep/Nap Coaching Plan Workbook (learn how to create your own nap coaching plan!)
- Printable Sample Schedule Shifts Forward (great for daylight saving’s time change)
Not a VIP member? Not a problem! Join today, and you’ll receive instant access to our vast online library of sleep coaching resources.
Is your baby taking short naps? How are you working to solve the problem?
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Jessica says
I posted above about many 30 minute naps throughout the day (and still waking once at night) for my 9 month old. And here’s my update!
She made it through the night 4 times without eating (two nights waking up but putting herself back to sleep!) and 5 mornings of a long morning nap (but still 30-45 minute afternoon naps). However, now we are out of town and it’s daylight savings and that’s messing everything up. I am hopefully, however, that she will be able to get back on track again though since it’s happened before! I have no idea what triggered it but am glad something did!
Emily DeJeu says
@ Jessica — awesome! So glad to hear that she’s shown some progress (even though DST is setting things back a bit, which is completely normal). I hope, for your sake, that this progress continues!
Thanks for updating us, Jessica. 🙂
Emily DeJeu says
@ Susan Yayra Amevor — Have you checked out our free napping guide yet? You can access it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/free-baby-nap-guide/. That will likely help you figure out why your daughter isn’t napping well, and will help you work towards a more predictable daytime schedule.
As for her nighttime waking and early rising — it could be that she’s overly tired from her lack of naps during the day. You may want to consider downloading a copy of our free ‘sleep through the night’ guide: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/
By 8 or 9 months, most babies read ready to stop feeding at night (although some may still need one nighttime feeding). If you want more info on what your daughter’s daytime and nighttime schedule could look like, take a look at our sample schedules here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/
Hope these resources help, Susan! Thanks for commenting, and best of luck to you! 🙂
Emily DeJeu says
@ Meagan — Your desire to create a bit of consistency (as opposed to a rigid, clock-based schedule) is certainly understandable — and doable, I think! One easy way to build in a bit more predictability is to make sure that bedtime and the morning wake-up time happen at a fairly fixed time each day. Bedtime is obviously a bit easier to control, but as much as you can, try to make sure morning wake-up happens at about the same time each day. You may be able to hit on a morning wake-up time that works by keeping a sleep log (see article on that topic here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/baby-sleep-log-how-to/). See if there’s a window of time that’s most common for morning waking, and then try to make sure your son gets up within that window. This will help the rest of the day go more smoothly, since you’ll have more control over when to time naps and meals.
Hope this technique helps, Meagan! If you need more schedule tips, or tips for weaning away from nighttime feeds, you can check out our free guide (if you haven’t already): https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/. You may also be interested in our sample schedules by age: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/. And we have two articles on night weaning that you might find useful: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/baby-night-wean-3-signs/ and https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/how-weaning-from-breastfeeding-affect-baby-sleep/
Best of luck to you, Meagan! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
@ Lauren — based on what you’re saying here, it sounds like you’re absolutely on the right track! You’ve cut out dairy (which will eliminate any digestive discomfort that may have been disrupting her sleep), you’re working to wean her off her sleep association of nursing to sleep, and you’re trying to make sure she gets enough of naptime sleep by adjusting her naps when she wakes crying. These are all awesome steps, and are proof that you’re a good mama!
As for what else you can be doing: really, there’s nothing to add to this list. If you’re getting frustrated that your efforts to wean her off her sleep associations aren’t working, you could try a different sleep coaching method (our free guide outlines several techniques: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/). But honestly, 4 months just isn’t an easy age; there’s a sleep regression happening (https://www.babysleepsite.com/how-we-sleep/4-month-old-sleep-regression/), and since your baby is still fairly young, she might still be working on consolidating naps and isn’t ready for a super predictable schedule.
Hang in there, Lauren! Really, it does sound like you’re doing all you can to work towards some predictability. And that’s commendable, on your part. 🙂 Keep up your good work!
Susan Yayra Amevor says
I have challenges of my 8-9 Months old baby having a good nap. She wakes up in few minutes time. The west is that she often wake up deep in the night and very early in the morning. All efforts to held the situation yielded nothing. She is tiny not growing big so I feel she is not having enough rest.
What should I do to help the situation please.
Lauren says
My 4 month old was a great sleeper and napper till she hit 2 months… then it all went down hill rather quickly. She went from napping 1-2 hours 3-4 times a day and sleeping from 7pm-4am, feed, then go back down till 7am. She is now all over the place, wakes every few hours at night, and naps only 45 minutes at a time during the day. We recently found out she has a milk intolerance after 2 months of various diagnoses and medications that didn’t help at all. I am currently 6 days dairy free (she is exclusively breastfed) and just got her first two teeth on Friday and Saturday. I was just wondering if I could do anything to start trying to get her to sleep better and longer, or if I should wait till she is feeling better. I just feel like we keep waiting and it never seems like the right time! A very sleep deprived mommy needs some advice! She use to go down drowsy but awake and not have a problem but with everything going on we found we had to rock her till she was dead asleep and pray she would stay asleep when we put her down. I am weaning her off of nursing to sleep (for the past two months that was the only way we could get her back down at night) and have begun trying to put her back down for a nap when she wakes from her 45 minute nap crying (which is almost every time except her first one). What else can I be doing?
Megan says
I would really like to get my 6-month old son on a more consistent schedule, but I’m not sure how to get there. He gets up at a different time every morning and naps for varying lengths of time, so I’m not sure how to figure out the best times for a nap. (For example, if I planned to put him down at 9, 12, and 3, yesterday he woke for the day at 7:45 and then napped from 9:15 to 11:15, so he wouldn’t have been ready for a nap at 12. But then today he was up at 6, ate, and slept till 8:45, so I wouldn’t have been able to put him down at 9. I also don’t know what to do for days when he takes short naps and would be up a really long time until the next “scheduled” naptime.) I’d like our days to have more consistency so that I know when to schedule appointments and outings.
I put him to bed at 7:30 every night (give or take 15 minutes), and he still gets up 2-3 times at night to eat (usually once around 10 and then the second and third times are variable). I don’t nurse him to sleep, and when he gets up he takes a full feeding, so I think he is truly hungry and that it is not a sleep association problem. He eats about every 3 hours during the day (breastfed and just beginning solids), which did seem to help him at least stretch out his night feedings, but I’d love to get down to just one.
I understand that I might not be able to get him on a rigid schedule, and that’s okay, but any ideas for how to get him a little more consistent so that things are a bit more predictable?
Emily DeJeu says
@ Alison — I think your attitude about and approach to this is great 🙂 No need to consider something a ‘problem’ unless it’s actually a problem! Sounds like your girls are getting plenty of sleep at night, and that even with inconsistent naps, they’re thriving.
Thanks for sharing your point of view, Alison – very helpful to other parents who may be in the same boat. 🙂
Alison says
Gracie, I totally feel your pain. My older daughter took short naps until she was 1.5 no matter what we did. Then they got longer and interfered with her night sleep. Now at almost 3 we rarely let her nap and it’s helped at night (though she’s still not consistent no matter how consistent we are; that’s just who she is). All the advice is great, but I’ve found that very little of it seems to apply to my girls. With my younger daughter we just don’t worry about anything except night sleep. She also takes short naps but I don’t worry about it so everyone’s happier. If getting her falling asleep on her own helps (our next goal), great, but if not, that’s just who she is and as long as night sleep is good, I don’t care.
Emily DeJeu says
@ Helen — awesome insight! Thanks so much for sharing these tips. We wrote an article on massage just a few weeks ago (find it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-comfort/massage-helps-baby-sleep/), and as I did my research, I was really impressed to see just how much massage can influence and improve sleep. Sounds like you’ve seen that first-hand!
Again – thanks for sharing what has worked for you, Helen. So helpful to other parents who are struggling with short naps! 🙂
@ Amanda — sorry to hear you’re struggling with short naps, too! You make a great point, though, and it’s one that’s worth remembering: temperament no doubt plays a huge part here. In our work with clients, we’ve found that naps tend to be challenging for some little ones because they have a hard time settling down, in the midst of all the fun and excitement of the day. That really does seem to be tougher for some kids than it is for others, and sensitivity is definitely part of that.
Thanks for this reminder, Amanda! Best of luck to you, as you try to figure out your little girl’s naps. 🙂
@ Reinette — sorry you’re struggling with naps! But, as you’ve seen, you’re definitely not alone in that. 😉 Here’s some info that may help: by 10 months, most babies are taking 2 naps per day. So the fact that your son is taking 3 naps could explain why the naps themselves are kind of short. Going to a 2-nap-a-day schedule might help. You can see a sample 10 month schedule here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/10-month-old-schedule/
However, if your son is happy and energetic during the day (as you mention he is), and if you feel confident that his overall sleep amounts for the day are good, then I wouldn’t worry. Short naps can be really annoying, and if a baby or toddler’s overall sleep amounts are low, then they are cause for concern. But if overall sleep amounts are good, then there’s probably no reason to worry.
Hope this helps, Reinette! Thanks so much for commenting. 🙂
Emily DeJeu says
@ Nicole T — to be honest, this is pretty normal for a 4.5 month old. And I will say that the nighttime sleep you describe (12 hours with 1 dreamfeed squeezed in there) is fantastic! So there’s nothing to worry about, sleep-wise; sounds like your little guy is a pretty good sleeper. 🙂 Remember, some babies don’t sort out their naps until they’re closer to 6 months, so it could be that your little man just needs a bit more time to regulate his naps himself.
Of course, it’s understandable (and commendable!) that you want to wean him away from napping in the swing. In terms of how to do that — reducing the swing speed is a good start. Have you tried turning off the swing once he’s asleep, and seeing if he stays asleep? Or what about letting him swing for awhile until he’s drowsy, and then transferring him to the crib? You could also start trying to put him down in his crib for one nap per day, just to start, and then slowly build up to more and more crib naps.
Hope these tips help, Nicole! Good for you for wanting to build good sleep habits in your little guy; sounds like you’re on the right track! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
@ Gracie — I’m so sorry! The post definitely wasn’t intended to bum you out. 😉 As for your daughter’s 30 minute naps — how many is she taking? Is she doing multiple 30 minute naps throughout the day? Or is it more like one or two half hour naps? What about her night sleep? Does she sleep fine at night, or is that a problem, too? You mention that you’ve tried everything, so I’m assuming you’ve tried white noise and blackout blinds to make her room as sleepy as possible at nap time. You’ve probably also looked at our sample toddler schedule. (If not, you can find it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/toddler-schedule/). Have you tried our nap guide yet? If not, you can download a copy here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/free-baby-nap-guide/
Again — I’m so sorry this has been such a persistent problem for your daughter, Gracie! And sorry that this post was discouraging instead of helpful. Sounds like you’ve tried everything you can on your own, to no avail. Have you thought about a consultation? You can find info about our one-on-one consultation packages here, if you’re interested: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
Hope these resources help, Gracie. If you have specific follow-up questions, do feel free to ask them here, via the article comments, or by e-mailing them to contact (at) babysleepsite (dot) com. Thanks for commenting, Gracie! Best of luck to you 🙂
@ Emma — good question! Typically, when we refer to ‘early wake-up’ for toddlers, we mean a wake-up time that happens earlier than normal. I will say that the scenario you describe sounds fairly normal. If you put your little guy down early for bed, and he sleeps until his normal wake-up time, then he’s gotten more nighttime sleep than usual. So it’s understandable that his naps that day may be shorter. Remember, a baby or toddler’s total sleep amounts will remain pretty consistent, but our little ones will shift sleep between nights and naps. So more sleep at night may very well mean less sleep during naptime.
As for putting him down early, having him wake early, and then having him still struggle with shorter naps– that’s a tougher one to figure out. As you mention, you had a few things throw off your nice schedule; could be that it’s taking some time to undo the damage those things did to your little guy’s schedule.
I’m betting that if you try to stay consistent with his two-naps-a-day schedule, things will improve over time. I know that doesn’t fix your immediate problem, though — so hang in there! 😉
Thanks for commenting, Emma. 🙂