30 min naps

[sonicfrost]

My son takes 30 min naps 3 times a day. I am just starting to do the no cry sleep solution, which says 4 month olds should take 3 naps of duration 1 or 2 hours each. Pantley says that when baby is waking up from this short nap, to do whatever you can to get him back to sleep. However, I've done this before with him, and it just doesn't work. When he wakes up, he's ready to play. I know every baby is different, but are 3 30 min naps acceptable for a 4 (almost 5) month old? He gets about 11 hours of sleep at night (wakes up every few hours to eat), if that makes a difference.

[Llyra]

I think you have to look at the baby. If he's waking up happy and refreshed, and is not excessively fussy, and otherwise seems to be basically well and happy, then I don't think there's a problem. Some kids really just don't need as much sleep as the average.

On the other hand, if you're dealing with a lot of cranky fussiness during "waking" times, especially late in the day, or he's having an awful lot of trouble settling at bedtime, or you're exasperated with the frequency of night wakings, then it might be worth looking at how you can get more daytime sleep in. Overtiredness can manifest itself in a lot of ways-- late-day fussiness, restless fussiness at other times, disorganized nursing behavior late in the day (baby seems hungry but won't settle down to feed), trouble falling asleep at bedtime, really frequent night wakings, and a lot of others.

My DS was a cat napper, and by 5 pm he was a wreck, because he wasn't sleeping enough during the earlier part of the day. The best way I found to lengthen his naps was to have him nap either in motion (like in the stroller), in physical contact with me (like lying down with him), or both (like in a sling). We also had good luck with having him nap on my bed, and I'd slide in next to him as soon as he stirred, before he came all the way awake, and nurse him back to sleep. Swaddling (yes, even with older babies) can really help lengthen sleep times, too.

So I would probably start by deciding if this is really a problem or not-- if he's happy, there's no problem. If you do decide he needs more sleep, I would start looking at sleep routines and location and see if you can find a way that would help him sleep longer.

[Louisep]

How does your LO seem in the day? My DS was a catnapper too and I just had to make sure he got lots of naps in. I think at 5 months he was on 4 per day. I persisted with NCSS methods for extended naps, not sure if it worked or not but eventually, now at 16 months and once all his teeth came through he started taking one 2 hour nap a day without any help from me. I never thought I'd see the day - hang in there, the time passes FAST! In hindsight, I was way too paranoid about getting DS to nap.

[Jerlin]

It depends on how he is when he wakes from his naps. If he's a happy baby when he wakes up, then I don't see a problem. He's just a power-napper. But if he's cranky, I'd try to get him to go back to sleep. Your DS's night time sleep is great!

[Bobbys]

My DS is 4.5 months old and was doing the same thing. Just recently he worked himself out a nice routine of two 45 min naps and one longer stretch of 2 hours (although this week he changed it up). Babies at that age need 12-15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.
So figure 11 hours plus 1.5 naps hours and you're covered. If he isn't cranky, then he's getting enough rest.

[RachelJoy]

I was soooo frusterated when I had my first baby when it came to naps. He took short naps as well....when I had him OUT of the wrap. So since I didn;t have the time or energy to rock him back to sleep every time he woke up I just kept him in the wrap for naptime. He didn't take a nap outside of the wrap at all until he was about 6mo. Then we gradually worked into afternoon nap outside of the wrap and morning nap in the wrap then worked from there. He is now a happily adjusted 3yr old with NO sleep problems. He has a two hour nap every day and goes to bed every night at 7 on his own and is asleep by 7:30/8:00. I did the same with my daughter and she (now 15mo) takes two naps a day outside of the wrap with me rocking her to sleep.

I'm not saying what I did will work for every child every time but maybe give the idea a thought? Its soooo much less stressful to have a baby sleeping on you and you able to get work done and you knowing that your baby is getting the sleep he needs than to have to "waste" time going back and forth between sleep spot and what you were attempting to get done.

[Jayray]

Around the 4-5 mo time for my DS, he took 4-5 30-45 minute naps a day. I also read the stuff about longer naps, but for whatever reason, he wouldn't do it. And he was happy and fine on the shorter naps. When he got a bit older, I started keeping him up a little longer and he started taking longer naps.

Also now (at 12 mo) if he wakes after 30 minutes, I have a much easier time getting him to go back to sleep.

[Otterella]

My son would take one 3 hour nap, but never STTN. So when my daughter would take 3-4 half hour naps and STTN, it was disorienting. But I don't subscribe to any system that forces your child out of their natural sleep cycle. If you're comfortable that your child is getting enough total sleep in a 24 hour period, then I say be satisfied with however their body tells them to get it.