Naps are SO short

Our boys are 5 months (born at 34 weeks) and they are napping only 45 minutes to one hour at a time. Sometimes they wake up and I know they are still tired, but they don't go back to sleep. They used to nap longer, especially in the afternoon, but no longer. I'm trying to put them down after 1-2 hours of being awake.

Does this change as they get older? Will they nap longer? What can I do so they nap longer?

They have been waking around 6 or so and taking their first nap at 7 for one hour. This is changing it seems though - it is much harder to get them down for this first nap when they do wake early at 6am. When they wake later (Marco is doing this around 7am) we put him down at 9am for his first nap.

When does his first morning nap drop?

I'm also having a hard time feeding them in the morning - even after 12 hours of not eating! Anyone else experience this? Feeding is becoming a nightmare as well - I know they are hungry and need to eat, but they are so picky - will gobble it down one moment and scream another! And they'll eat only with mommy!!!

Ugh - it's been a hard day ...

 

I'm sorry you've had a bad day. Yes, short naps are common at that age!!! I think we were down to two naps when we started going over 1.5 hours at a time! I hope it gets better! I remember getting one to sleep (ds) and then getting my DD down, then DS getting up. It was rough. :hug99:

 

Are you sure you don't have my kids?? At 5 months things just seemed to kind of go haywire for a while. They weren't taking their full naps and didn't seem that hungy in the morning. You would think that after 12 hours of sleep you would be starving!!

For naps - have you tried just letting the early riser stay in his crib until you are ready to get him up? That way you can get them both up at 7, feed them, play a little and then go down for naps at 9? Even if they don't go to sleep, they need to know that it is quiet time. I have let mine CIO and they finally got the picture. After the AM nap, they stay up for about 3 hours and then go down for another nap that is supposed to be 2 hours, but it's a crapshoot sometimes. I would try to stick to set naptimes.

Some days my boys just aren't that hungry. I freaked out over it the first million times, but then they would always eat more later. Sometimes one boy just needs to have a meltdown and then will eat. BTW - they really only eat well when I feed them - my DH tries so hard to help, but in the end I have to feed them.
Obviously, I have no problem letting my kids cry for awhile whether for a nap or at mealtimes. Sometimes you just have to wait them out to see what they will do. I don't know if this helps at all, but hang in there. Just when you think you have it figured out, something changes!!!

 

I'm dubbing this the 5 month curse. If you look back through the posts, there are a bevy of us with 5 months old babies who seemed to have stopped napping. Must be an age/phase thing (at least that's what I keep telling myself!).

Sorry no advice, only empathy!
Suzi

 

Ah, so THAT'S what happened; the five month curse! Good to know,

I hate to say it, but at that age mine were consistently napping CONSECUTIVELY; thus ensuring that mama never got any down time. It has gotten better, although it's still a crapshoot: SOMEtimes they'll have a long nap in the morning, but just as often it's only 45 mins or an hour. I'm sure that's NOT what you wanted to hear.

I often read posts about putting them down at the same time every day no matter what, but i know with my two wake-up time varies, and if i try to put them down before they've been up long enough they just don't go to sleep. Sorry i can't be of more help, just empathetic!

 

QUOTE(Jordari @ Nov 11 2007, 06:26 AM) [snapback]490617[/snapback]
Ah, so THAT'S what happened; the five month curse! Good to know,

I hate to say it, but at that age mine were consistently napping CONSECUTIVELY; thus ensuring that mama never got any down time. It has gotten better, although it's still a crapshoot: SOMEtimes they'll have a long nap in the morning, but just as often it's only 45 mins or an hour. I'm sure that's NOT what you wanted to hear.

I often read posts about putting them down at the same time every day no matter what, but i know with my two wake-up time varies, and if i try to put them down before they've been up long enough they just don't go to sleep. Sorry i can't be of more help, just empathetic!


With your issue, I would control their wake up time. If they were up earlier, then I adjusted a little bit accordingly. After around 6 to 7 mos. I wouldn't go in and get them until closer to their wake up time. They would many times go back to sleep.....

Now, about the OP! Sorry, got diverted. My SIL has a short napper still. I would work at getting it lengthened now because it might not change as much as you think!! Find a sleep book you like and actually work at it!! :hug99:

 

We are members of the 5 month curse club! It actually started right after 4 months... naps slowly got shorter and shorter until they were only sleeping for 30 minutes at a time. I tried to force them back to sleep, or keep them up longer, or put them down earlier, or separate them, nothing worked. We just had to wait it out. I can happily say that they are finally napping again!!! They take 3 good naps a day...but I'm sure that could change tomorrow

Hang in there! It will get better!

 

I wish mine had just had the 5 month curse. Mine have been short nappers their whole lives. Even now, we're lucky if we get 45 minutes; usually 30 minutes is average. They do still need 3-4 naps per day and they sleep well at night. Reading the HSHHC that everyone on here seems to like, there is 1 paragraph about short nappers that says that about 20% of children are like this and they usually outgrow it between 9-12 months. He calls these periods "snaps"; we like to call our girls "snappers" because of this! Hopefully, your will outgrow it soon.

Suzanne

 

We were doing four naps a day at that age, and they never lasted longer than 45 minutes. Now we do two naps a day and our world record is 2 hours and 25 minutes!! You'll get there. Just be consistent. You can develop a little naptime routine (i.e diaper change, 5 min. under the mobile in a dim room, sleep sacs, paci, cuddle, bed) to let your babies know that sleep is coming and give them some wind-down time. Gradually, they'll catch on. Don't get me wrong - we still struggle with too-short naps many days, but overall things are improving with time and without having to do CIO.

 

Some babies are just short nappers. Mine still usually nap 45 min - 1 hr, though sometimes they'll nap longer than that. Nothing works to get them back to sleep, not soothing, not CIO, nothing, so I think maybe that's just their natural thing. We still take 3-4 naps/day, even though at this age 2 naps are more common.

I wish the naps were longer - but at least I get more frequent breaks this way!

 

QUOTE(sylvia_a @ Nov 10 2007, 08:33 PM) [snapback]490241[/snapback]
Does this change as they get older? Will they nap longer? What can I do so they nap longer?

Probably. Probably. Be consistent.

My girls were the same way for a while. I just kept putting them down at the same time everyday and they fell into a routine and started napping longer.