How did you extend the duration of naps?

Just wondering if anyone has any tips for extending the duration of naps. My boys sleep for 45 minutes at time. Because their naps are so short, we end up having 4-5 a day. I'd love to do 3 good-quality naps instead, say 90 minutes each. Is that just a dream?

 

At that age mine would nap three times a day.......morning, afternoon, and evening. When they get older you can drop the third nap to make the other two longer.

 

At that age mine napped like that, too. (I am sorry to say) Just whenever they were tired, I would let them sleep. At about 6 months, they went to 3 naps, with two 1.5 hours+...Now, they are close to two long naps and one little catnap.
Hang in there - you will have some time soon. Hopefully, someone can give you better advice than this!?

jen

 

When mine were 3 months old, and slept 12-13 hours at night, was when we worked for longer, more consistant naps. Basically, before then, then never napped in cribs, just wherever they were. So, when we went to regular naps, we started in the cribs. Basically, I would put them down, and not go back until naptime was over--unless they were really crying. Then I would start the mobile, or whatever was needed for soothing, and then leave again. If they woke and fussed, I would leave them be and they would go right back to sleep. Within a few days, they would sleep for 2 hours at a time. We only ever did 2 naps a day.

 

Same here, at that age they took a longish (hour or more) nap in the morning and then the rest of the day was up for grabs. They just slowly evolve to being able to stay awake longer between naps and thus the naptimes get longer. I also made a point to cut out the 5:00 "catnap" that they would take, immediately they started to go to bed by 7 and that was both an earlier bedtime and one nap out the window!!!

Mine are almost 6 months and take 3 naps a day, but sometimes that third one gets screwed up since I usually take them out in the afternoon and they catnap in the car.

 

Well, here's a typical day for us - tell me if you think I can do anything to improve/extend naps. They're napping in their own cribs in their own room (except one stroller nap a day for my sanity - I have to get out of the house!) (they used to nap longer in their swings, but I just wanted to get them out of the swing sleep habit).

A typical day might look like this:

7:30 Up, play
8:00 Eat
9:00 Nap (45 minutes)
9:45 Play
10:30 Eat
11:15 Nap (45 minutes)
12:00 Play
1:30 Eat
2:00 Nap (45 minutes, or longer if we go out in the stoller)
2:45 Play
4:30 Eat
5:00 Nap (45 minutes - I know this is late for a nap but if I try to keep them up until after their next bottle they're miserable)
7:30 Eat, Bath, Bed

And then generally 2 feedings during the night.

 

QUOTE(CHJH @ Jun 6 2007, 04:22 PM) [snapback]281626[/snapback]
Well, here's a typical day for us - tell me if you think I can do anything to improve/extend naps. They're napping in their own cribs in their own room (except one stroller nap a day for my sanity - I have to get out of the house!) (they used to nap longer in their swings, but I just wanted to get them out of the swing sleep habit).

A typical day might look like this:

7:30 Up, play
8:00 Eat
9:00 Nap (45 minutes)
9:45 Play
10:30 Eat
11:15 Nap (45 minutes)
12:00 Play
1:30 Eat
2:00 Nap (45 minutes, or longer if we go out in the stoller)
2:45 Play
4:30 Eat
5:00 Nap (45 minutes - I know this is late for a nap but if I try to keep them up until after their next bottle they're miserable)
7:30 Eat, Bath, Bed

And then generally 2 feedings during the night.


my boys are also "short" nappers, and generally only sleep for 45 minutes at a time, so i don't have much in the way of suggestions for extending naps... the only thing that has worked for me in the past is separating them for naps (having them nap in separate rooms), which generally will get them to increase their sleep time to 1-1.5 hours.
my one suggestion for bringing the number of naps down to 3 per day is to maybe start bedtime at 6 or 6:30, instead of 7:30, and see how that works for you. it may help!

 

Mine didn't nap longer until about 6 months. At about 4 months I tried to implement a schedule, which took about 2 months to stick. They were doing 4-5 30-45 min. naps a day up until them. I think it's just consistency and persistence, it pays off eventually.

 

When mine were 3 months old, and slept 12-13 hours at night, was when we worked for longer, more consistant naps. Basically, before then, then never napped in cribs, just wherever they were. So, when we went to regular naps, we started in the cribs. Basically, I would put them down, and not go back until naptime was over--unless they were really crying. Then I would start the mobile, or whatever was needed for soothing, and then leave again. If they woke and fussed, I would leave them be and they would go right back to sleep. Within a few days, they would sleep for 2 hours at a time. We only ever did 2 naps a day.


That's been kind of my thinking...about leaving them in the crib for the duration of "nap" time and just going to soothe them when they're upset. Unfortuntately not working too well now...boy my DS can make a whole afternoon of taking a nap! Finally goes to sleep about the time I figured he'd wake up...if he ever went to sleep int he first place-ugh. Glad to know it worked for you...I'm just starting...

 

Mine did not really lengthen their naps until 6-7 months. The daycare teachers would go nuts because sometimes they would only do one 45-minute nap the entire day! They were crankier at night on those days, but still slept 11 hours at night, and it didn't seem to hurt them overall. Everyone kept telling me to just be grateful they were sleeping well at night, so that's what I did.

When they did lengthen their naps, the only thing I "did" to make it happen was to start letting them fuss for up to 15 minutes when they woke. 45 minutes is sort of a natural time for them to wake and fuss a little, and if they are ready to start extending their naps, they will often go back to sleep and do another 30-45 minutes. If you try this for a week or two and it doesn't start happening, though, it probably means they just aren't ready.

 

My boys are short nappers as well, however, at grandma's they sleep for 1 - 1 1/2 hours at a time. Her secret I have found is to have a fan going, a little white noise and they seem to sleep better. I am going to try this at home and see if they do better for us because I know they have it in them to be good nappers.

 

i didn't start putting the kids in their cribs for naps until 5 months. i think they are still very young and need to sleep whenever they want to. mine used to just sleep wherever they were, swing, bouncy chair, etc. also, how much do they sleep at night? i think they need approx. 15 hrs. of total sleep a day or more. there is a chart somewhere on this site i think.

 

Honest answer ... I had them CIO, and after a few days I saw results. Since 4 months they have been on a 2 nap schedule. The first one at 9 am is getting shorter (now a little over an hour; used to be more like 1 1/2 - 2 hours), a 1 1/2 - 2 hour one at 1 pm and then an early bed time at 6 pm. All 3 kids take the afternoon nap at the same time. My oldest dropped the 3rd nap at 6 months, combined with an early bed time.