Another nap question

So I have been having nap issues with one of my dd's. She can't seem to get by that 40-45 min nap. She WAS doing two 1 1/2 hr naps a day for a couple of weeks, but now she will do that every once in a while. I think it's when she is finally exhausted!! She is still tired and sometimes will need 3 naps when she only takes a short nap. She is sooo cranky and miserable, which of course also makes me cranky!! Any suggestions??

 

I am having the same problem with my LOs. I was hoping it would be better by 9 months!

Mine take 3 naps a day, ranging from 30 min. to 1.5 hrs. I have tried going in as soon as I hear DD on the monitor. I pat her back and turn on her crib soother. SOMETIMES, she will go back to sleep. I've also tried nursing her back to sleep, which rarely works. I used to do CIO when they wake up at 30 min., but they would continue to cry for 30 min. or more and I would just go get them up. I know they are tired, because they are rubbing their eyes and cranky way before the next nap time. I hope someone has some other ideas to try!

 

:hug: I wish there was some magic solution to get them to nap longer. I think all you can do is keep trying.

 

Grrr... we have the same issue. I feel like I have tried everything also. Running in as soon as I hear them to put a soother back in. Letting them CIO. I tried to have a nap routine- wipping them down and putting them in a sleep sack. All that did was add more to do in my day. I have heard that if your babies are good night sleepers that then tend not to nap as well, and my LO's are pretty good night sleepers. But they are cranky during the day and I keep telling them they would feel so much better if they just slept a little longer!
The Baby Whisperer says to go in a few minutes before they normally wake up, wake them slightly so that you re-start the sleep cycle and that they will go back to sleep. I have been to scared to try this because I think that the one time I wake them up would have been the one time they would have slept longer on their own.

 

I remember those days! I hated the 30 and 45 min naps! What worked for me, take it or leave it, was to put them down for their nap when I noticed they were ready. Then, if they woke up after just 30 or 45 min, as hard as it was for me to do, I left them in there and let them CIO. I gave them 1 hour to go back to sleep before I would go back to get them. More times then not they went back to sleep. One day it took 58 minutes but he still went back to sleep and then took a good nap. This only took about a week before I had GREAT nappers! Both of their naps usually last about 2 hours. Yesterday the afternoon nap lasted 2.5. I also found that it helped if the room was kept super dark. Mine are like me and dont sleep well if there is any light. If you are going to do this you have to be strong. You can't cave in and go get them at random times because they will never learn to understand what you are wanting them to do. Hope this helps

 

At that age, if mine woke after only 30-45 minutes, I would often leave them in the crib for another 20-30 minutes unless they really got started crying (if they really started crying, not just fussing a bit, I went & got them, figuring they were not going back to sleep). Most days they would lay their happily & look around and sometimes would fall back to sleep. If not, at least they got a bit of quiet time.

 

9 months was a tough time for us too. Mine dropped that 3rd nap at that age and had to go to bed much earlier. So maybe try to consistently drop the 3rd nap, try and earlier bedtime, and see if that helps elongate the 2 naps.

 

There is so much going on at 9 months that over stimulates them. Mine were getting teeth, starting Puffs, trying to learn to crawl and learning to STTN. Hang in there it does get better!

 

Sorry I have been MIA for the last couple of days, one of my dd's had a virus and an ear infection, that was fun!! Thanks for all of your great suggestions with the naps. It is more or less just one of my girls with the nap problem. She was taking 2 - 1 1/2 hr naps for a couple of weeks, which was AWESOME!!! I really don't know what happened, but now I'm lucky if she sleeps 45 min for her first nap. She has been STTN for a couple of months and they have only been taking 2 naps for about 3 months. They dropped their 3rd nap kind of early, which was totally fine with me. I feel like I've been working on the nap thing FOREVER!! It's so frustrating because I will plan my whole day around them getting their naps in. I limit how long I'm out, but nothing seems to matter. Could it be a phase? I had to let her CIO to finally sleep through the night and she did great with that, but she won't go back to sleep when I try to have her CIO for naps?! I don't really know what to do at this point. Do I keep doing what I'm doing and hope that she eventually starts napping? When are they supposed to only nap once a day?