Comments on: 3 Signs Your Baby or Toddler Nap Expectations Are Unreasonable

By: Danielle

Danielle — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 20:14:14 +0000

In reply to Bianca. Hi Bianca, Thank you for using The Baby Sleep Site as a resource! I'm sorry to hear your daughter's having so much trouble dropping the paci. Some kids do just take a couple of weeks to find new, more positive sleep associations, and then they are able to extend their naps again. If you keep having trouble with short naps, you may want to look at whether there could be a scheduling issue (is she not tired enough, or overtired?), or a different sleep association causing trouble. I hope this helps - good luck!

By: Bianca

Bianca — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 19:44:45 +0000

My daughter turned 2 a few weeks ago. A week before her 2nd Birthday we said farewell to her paci. She has always been a happy waker and takin anywhere from 30-2hr naps. Ever since we took the paci away she has only taken one 30 min nap a day and wakes up crying. She goes to sleep at night fine and wakes up fine- 10,11 hrs every night. It’s just the wake up from her short naps that’s a struggle. It’s been about 3 weeks of the 30 min/grumpy wake, and naps.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 08 May 2018 18:05:51 +0000

In reply to Marie.

Hi Marie,
Thank you for reading The Baby Sleep Site! I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble lengthening your son’s naps at home. It might be worth talking to your son’s daycare providers to see what kind of routine and schedule they’re using – it might be something in the environment or schedule that’s helping him sleep longer. You might also like our article on the wake to sleep method, which works for some families: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/wake-to-sleep-help-baby-short-naps/
Good luck!

By: Janelle Reid

Janelle Reid — Sat, 05 May 2018 00:12:45 +0000

In reply to Anne.

Hi @Anne, thank you for visiting the Baby Sleep Site. I am sorry you are struggling with your daughter’s short naps! I struggled with naps with each of my sons until they were closer to 9 months old, so I feel your pain, but also want to let you know that it is possible for things to improve from the constant nap battle! Here is a link to a sample 5 month schedule so you can see if the timing of the naps is happening at an age appropriate time (you of course can adjust the times based on your daughter’s wake up): https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/5-month-old-baby-schedule/
If things don’t improve soon, let us know! Our sleep consultants would love to help you through this and can even provide tips for how to work through this with daycare as well. Here is a link to our services if you are interested: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
I hope this helps and you see her naps lengthen out for you soon!

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 04 May 2018 19:41:59 +0000

My 6 month old has always taken short naps when he is with us on the weekends. You can almost set a clock against him to wake up at about 30 minutes. He is fully awake and won’t go back to sleep. At night he will get anywhere from 10.5 to 12 hours of sleep. At day care he apparently naps twice a day anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours long each. Sometimes he will take a third ‘nap’ while he’s nursing. Any suggestions on how to extend his naps to an hour long on the weekends? Thanks

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 03 May 2018 14:39:07 +0000

Hi, I have been reading your site since my baby was born; she is now 5.5 months. She has always struggled with naps. She hates going down for naps and usually fight it for 10-30 minutes (or longer), but will eventually put herself to sleep. Her naps are often 30-45 minutes, though she has napped for longer than that and I know she’s able to consolidate and move between sleep cycles.

She is still waking up for a night feeding/s but lately has been sleeping for 10-12 hours at night. So, I’m trying to reconcile points 1 and 2 of your blog post. If she’s getting 12 hours at night and then a couple 30 minute naps, she’s getting enough total sleep per point 1–but she’s not getting the proper number or length of naps per point 2. I know that naps of at least 1 hour are the good, restorative kind, and she rarely gets those.

Is her sleeping okay, or do we really need to keep working on getting her to take longer, better naps? It’s a struggle, especially with daycare.

By: Janelle Reid

Janelle Reid — Sat, 21 Apr 2018 00:43:02 +0000

In reply to Vicky.

Hi @Vicky, thanks for writing. I am glad to hear you have an amazing sleeper but am sorry you’ve been struggling recently with her last nap. Some 6 month old’s are able to drop the 4th nap (or only take it some days) while others need to hold onto it so it is tough to say without knowing your full situation. We have a free guide on naps that may help provide more in sight. You can sign up to receive it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/free-baby-nap-guide
If you find you need more help we have an ebook all about naps & schedules that you can read about here if you are interested: https://www.babysleepsite.com/mastering-naps/
I hope this helps!

By: Vicky

Vicky — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 18:15:51 +0000

My 5.5 month old has slept beautifully from birth, waking only once for a feed. (Unlike her brother!) she will sleep for 12-13 hours at night.
She has 4 naps during the day for about 40min (average) each.
She has started to refuse her last nap and I’m wondering if she is trying to tell me she wants to drop a nap?
I didn’t think she could last more than 1.5 hours of awake time as she seems to get grumpy so I feel like I’m constantly putting her down for naps. Should she be able to last 2-3hours of awake time? If so how do I transition her? Than you

By: Emily DeJeu

Emily DeJeu — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 12:43:00 +0000

In reply to Ashley. @ Ashley - great question! To start, 2 naps is definitely on the "fewer" end for an almost-6-month-old. Many 6 month olds are still on 3 naps (and some are still taking 4, w/ that 4th one being a shorter catnap). Now, that said, if the 2-nap schedule works for your little one, then don't feel pressured to change it! But since she's only taking 2, it makes sense that they're on the long side. You figure that if she's likely getting the same amount of nap sleep (3-4 hours) in 2 naps that many kids get in 3-4 naps, so it's likely that she's not prone to getting overtired very quickly, and that she's figured out fairly early how to nap "efficiently" and consolidate her nap sleep ;) If she's waking a bit earlier than you'd like (which is what it sounds like is happening), what you could try to do is to simply shift your child's schedule a bit, so that the naps and bedtime are happening slightly later. If you're interested, we offer a free e-book in our Member's Area that deals with this very topic - it's called Shift Your Child's Schedule. You can read more about the Members Area here. Hope this helps, Ashley! Best of luck to you and to your family :)

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 11:34:58 +0000

If my 5.5 month old takes 1.5-2 hour naps twice a day, is that too much day time sleep? With consolidated naps like that she generally only takes two naps and maybe a little catnap. She goes to bed at 7, but normally won’t sleep all the way until 7. She will want to eat around 5 or 6. But she’ll go back to sleep until I get her up.

So should I shorten each day time nap to help her sleep 7 to 7? Or will that not really change that? Should we start our day at 6 in the morning? If so, I feel like she’ll need an additional nap to make it through the day, but that perpetuates the problem of too much day time sleep….