Tackling Short Naps
Do you constantly find yourself putting your baby down for a nap and having what feels like 5 minutes to clean up or get yourself dressed only to hear your baby crying again?! This can be so frustrating, especially when you’re spending longer to get your baby to sleep than your baby is spending in his or her crib. Let’s talk about some ways to make nap time more restorative for your baby and more productive for you!
First, let’s have realistic expectations. It is developmentally normal for a baby to take short naps. Naps typically lengthen and consolidate somewhere between 4 and 6 months. Every baby is different so don’t compare your baby to your friend’s baby, or even to a sibling. Connecting sleep cycles during naptime is a skill that must be learned, and it will come with time with practice!
Second, make sure you are using appropriate wake windows. Wake windows change so frequently for the first 6 months of your baby’s life, so it’s important that you are extending them as they grow. Timing is everything!
Here are THREE steps to teaching your baby to nap longer.
Put your baby down awake for naps.
If you’re rocking or feeding to sleep, your baby will wake after one sleep cycle (30-45 minutes) and look for the same thing to get back to sleep. This is easier said than done, right? Your baby will likely cry if you put him or her down awake. Do this gently by putting baby down less and less drowsy every day until you can put him/her down awake! If your baby cries after setting him/her down, wait 5 minutes to see if they can settle themselves back to sleep before helping.
Help them lengthen the nap at first.
Until your baby masters going down awake for naps, he or she may cry/take longer to get to sleep for naptime. Because of this, I always suggest assisting with lengthening the nap so that we aren’t asking your baby to work on two skills at the same time. This means that if he/she wakes up after one sleep cycle (30-45 minutes) you can go in and assist them back to sleep in whatever way that helps them. This can be bedside soothing such as replacing the paci, a firm hand on the chest combined with shushing, or picking up and rocking/holding. Doing this helps create space for them to grow into as they get used to napping for longer than 30-45 minutes at a time. As always, wait about 5 minutes before going in to assist to see if your baby can soothe themselves back to sleep before you intervene.
Try “Crib Hour.”
When you baby can go down awake for naps, but is still waking at that 30-45 minute mark, it’s time to try something called “crib hour.” Crib hour is a practice used to give your baby the space to learn that he/she can go back to sleep again after waking early from a nap. It means that if you put your baby down at 9:30am and he or she wakes at 10:15am, you’d wait until 10:30am to get them from their crib.
Remember to have patience when you’re working on this skill! It takes longer to tackle naps than it does to tackle bedtime. Your baby’s sleep drive is lower during the day than at bedtime. Reach out to me if you need more help or have questions specific to your little one!
