How long does/did your 3-4 month old nap for?

[~Adorkable~]

i started tracking my 4 month old (3month adjusted) babies naps the past few days, they all seem to be right around 30 minutes long thru out the day, both of them.   i thought i remember them sleeping longer a month ago, but for the last two days i have been bothering to time it this is what it has been. seems like the same all week

cant help be curious how normal this is?

they sleep basically from 9pm ish to 9-10am ish waking to eat a few times but going back to sleep fast

they then do a rhythm of up for 1-2 hours (closer to 1hours in the first part of the day, stretching to 2 hours in the early evening part) nap for 30-40min, (this time is very consistent)

so yesterday was roughly like:

sleep 9pm-10:30am (with feedings)

nap 12-12:40

nap 1:30-2:00

nap 4:00-4:30

nap 6:30-7:00

sleep for the night 9:30

im not worried or anything, im just new at this and curious how other babies are

UPDATE TO SHARE A DISCOVERY:

i started swaddling my twins again for their naps, i have always done it for the overnights, low and behold their naps went from 30-40 min to 1-2 hours!! we are now down to 3 naps a day and things have fallen into a really nice rhythm.

Edited by ~Adorkable~ - 7/27/11 at 12:42pm

[P.J.]

Sounds normal to me.

Max is 11 months old and he JUST started taking hour long naps. Until 10 months he only ever napped for 30 minutes at a time. It was really annoying, TBH. He did nap 4-5x/day though, so he was getting enough sleep.

Apparently 30 minutes is one sleep cycle, and many many babies are not able to fall back into a deeper sleep when the cycle ends and they become more wakeful. I guess the reason they are then able to sleep longer when they're older (like mine is doing now) is because they sort of "learn" how to bridge themselves over into a second sleep cycle through that brief time when they go into light sleep.

From reading this forum for nearly a year now I can affirm that this 30 minute nap syndrome is very common.

p.s. Your babies are adorable!!

[carmen358]

Yep, my DD did the 30 minute nap thing for months (she still wakes after 30 minutes sometimes!). Unless I was napping with her (which I usually did) and nursed her right back to sleep she would wake up at the 30 minute mark on the dot. DD will now nap on her own past that point but at the time I didn't think she would ever sleep longer than 30 minutes!

[PatioGardener]

nak

my gut reaction to your question was "not long enough"

my ds napped 20-40 min. if i caught him at 20 min and nursed him before he truly woke i could get 20-40 more min sometimes.

i have heard rumors of a 2-3 hour napper, but never met this rare beast

[YayJennie]

Both my kids have been 30-45 min nappers unless I held them (not napped with them or wore them, but held them in arms).  If I hold my 5 month old for a nap she will sleep 2-4 hours easily.  If I put her down, she's never slept over an hour.

Edit: just a thought, but do your twins sleep together?  Maybe that would help them nap longer since they have each other to cuddle.

[nia82]

DD is super irregular. I mean I can tell she needs to nap if she has been awake for 2 or more hours. THen comes a catnap. But around noon she takes a longer one (60 mins or so). Sometimes she sleeps lots, then days with less sleep. But she regularly gets tired around 630-7pm and then sleeps until 630am, with 2 breaks to nurse in between. I didn't expect such a regularity, actually. I think DS was about 6-8 months before he took 2 "scheduled" naps, a shorter morning nap and a long afternoon nap (1h in the morning, 2-3h afternoon).

[Strong Mama]

My babies sleep so danged much!! I get scared sometimes.lol

They will be 3 months old tomorrow.

They sleep from 8pm-7 am solid. do not wake to eat at all ever.

then they go back to sleep from 8am-10am, eat again, and go back to sleep at like 11 to about 12 . every hour they sleep. crazy!

[anjsmama]

Originally Posted by Strong Mama 

My babies sleep so danged much!! I get scared sometimes.lol

They will be 3 months old tomorrow.

They sleep from 8pm-7 am solid. do not wake to eat at all ever.

then they go back to sleep from 8am-10am, eat again, and go back to sleep at like 11 to about 12 . every hour they sleep. crazy!

  Guess my kiddos are sleepers too. My DS started sleeping 7pm - 7 am at 4 months. He was still breastfed at the time, though he did switch to formula shortly thereafter (long story). He also took 2  2-hour naps (like 9a-11a & 2p-4p) during the day as a baby. So it was about 16 hours of sleep for him and a lot of awake time (like, a lot of awake time at a time). My DD, now 3.5 months, follows more like the 30 min schedule, but she takes a 2 hour nap everyday. She is EBF and co-sleeping bedside, but she sleeps from 9pm - 6:30am solid. Then she naps like 8-8:30, 9:30-10, 11:30-1:30, 4-4:30, 5:30-6, 8-8:30 and then down for the night. This is a very rough estimate, I only started observing the clock recently. But she does take this one long nap everyday - which she is doing right now, hence my presence on MDC.  She doesn't even wake to feed anymore? She is a big baby though (born 6 lb 8 oz, currently about 14lb 6 oz) ... and a very efficient, all-business type nurser so that may possibly have something to do with it? I think my DD would probably do the fewer, longer naps like DS did if she could, but DS wears her out pretty quick . 

[~Adorkable~]

UPDATE TO SHARE A DISCOVERY:

i started swaddling my twins again for their naps, i have always done it for the overnights, low and behold their naps went from 30-40 min to 1-2 hours!! we are now down to 3 naps a day and things have fallen into a really nice rhythm.