Nap Troubleshooting: How Can I Get My Baby to Take Longer Naps?
You’ve just got your baby to sleep for her nap, made a fresh cup of coffee, and sat on the couch, when you hear that familiar cry. Why is she be awake already? How do you get her to sleep longer? Lets take a look at short naps, and how to fix it!
Continue reading for more about:
Why longer naps are important
When babies are developmentally capable of lengthening naps
Causes of short naps
Solutions for lengthening naps
Why Are Longer Naps Better than Short Naps?
Naps are the glue that hold our little ones together during the day. A nap that is only one sleep cycle (less than 45 minutes) is usually not restorative, and can cause your baby to feel tired and grumpy when you get them up. Most babies are much happier with naps of over one hour. Sometimes, it is fine for your baby to have a short nap, as long as the other naps that day are longer to make up for it. If your baby is on a 3 or 4 nap schedule, the last nap of the day can be a shorter catnap (30-45 minutes) and serves the purpose of relieving sleep pressure so that your baby can stay awake until bedtime.
When Will My Baby Start Taking Longer Naps?
For newborns (age 0-3 months), short naps are developmental normal and completely temporary. If you have a baby younger than 4 months old, you may want to help extend a couple of the naps each day. You can do this by re-settling them in their sleep space to get them to go into the next sleep cycle, or if that doesn’t work, you may choose to help them return to sleep with another hands-on soothing method. Of course, sometimes babies just won’t go back to sleep, so after 15-20 minutes of attempting to lengthen the nap, you might just choose to end the nap and begin the next wake window.
Sometime around 3-4 months of age, your baby will go through the “4 Month Sleep Regression”. This is a change in their sleep architecture, and your baby now has sleep cycles more similar to that of adults rather than the two-stage sleep cycle they had as newborns. Part of this developmental change is that your baby will now have more complete arousals between sleep cycles, and your baby has to learn how to put themselves back to sleep between each sleep cycle. This can take time and practice.
So, developmentally speaking, your baby should be capable of taking longer naps around 5 months of age. You will typically see the morning nap lengthen first, followed by the afternoon nap. By this age, the third nap of the day continues to be a catnap and can remain short.
What Are The Causes of Short Naps?
Besides being developmentally capable, babies need to have certain conditions for a longer nap to be possible. Some common causes of short naps are:
The environment is not conducive to connecting sleep cycles. Maybe the room is too bright, or there is outside noise waking baby up. Maybe baby is uncomfortable or too hot or cold.
Baby is hungry.
Baby does not know how to fall asleep independently at the beginning of the nap.
Baby is overstimulated due to too much activity during the previous wake window and immediately prior to the nap.
Baby is overtired and has had too long of a wake window and is now in a state of stress.
Baby is undertired and does not have enough sleep pressure to take a longer nap.
Baby is sneaking in a few winks of sleep in the car seat or stroller during the wake window.
There is not enough stimulation, exercise, or activity offered during the wake window to tire baby out.
Parents are intervening mid-nap and not giving baby a chance to practice falling back to sleep on her own.
How Can I Get My Baby to Take Longer Naps?
Now that we know about some of the causes of and reasons for short naps, we can think about solutions to try that may help your baby connect sleep cycles during the day:
Make the room as dark as possible. When your baby wakes after his first sleep cycle, he won’t be stimulated by the light and start looking around the room. Use a white noise machine to block out intrusive sounds and for soothing purposes. Dress your baby comfortably and put him in a swaddle or sleep sack.
Make sure your baby is getting full feeds throughout the day. If it will be time for a feeding mid-nap, offer a few ounces of breastmilk/formula as a snack feed 20-30 minutes before naptime. Also, once wake windows start getting longer on a two nap schedule, baby might benefit from a snack feed prior to nap, especially the afternoon nap.
Allow baby to practice falling asleep on her own at naptime. You can put your (over 4 month old) baby in her sleep space and allow her to try falling asleep independently. This is important because when she wakes from her first sleep cycle, she will need to put herself back to sleep and not rely on you to do it for her. Practicing “crib hour” can be a useful structure that helps parents give time for their babies to fall asleep independently at naptime, and back to sleep after the first sleep cycle.
Prevent overstimulation that leads to too much energy and alertness right before naptime by providing high-energy play and exercise early in the wake window. Slowly reduce the intensity of the activities as naptime gets closer. Provide a calming naptime routine (about 10 minutes) before each nap, consisting of stories and songs.
Follow age appropriate wake windows to prevent overtiredness at naptime. If baby has been awake too long before a nap, he may get really fussy, cry/scream, and become hyperactive. He will also scream and cry and resist during the naptime routine, take a long time to fall asleep, and then more screaming and crying when he wakes after the short nap because he is still tired. If you suspect overtiredness reduce the wake window by 15 minutes.
Make sure your baby has had a full wake window to prevent undertiredness so she is sufficiently tired to take a nice long nap. If your baby is undertired at naptime, she may resist, scream, and cry during the naptime routine. Yes, this looks very similar to when she is overtired! The difference is that when she goes into her crib, she may at first be content and just fussing for 15-20 minutes, then start crying; and when she wakes after a short nap due to undertiredness, she may be happy and ready to go instead of upset. If you suspect your baby is undertired, add 15 minutes to the wake window.
If venturing out in the car or stroller, try to do it early in the wake window so that baby doesn’t fall asleep. Even a few minutes of snoozing can relieve enough sleep pressure to cause difficulty falling asleep or a short nap later. In addition, you can give your baby toys to play with in the car seat or stroller, or talk to them to keep them awake in the stroller or car.
Make sure your baby gets enough exercise and mental and social stimulation during their wake window! Do tummy time, floor time, and practice new developmental skills. Go outside, allow your baby to play with engaging sensory materials, and be around people.
Lastly, after 4-5 months of age, avoid parental intervention mid-nap. Sometimes parents go into baby’s room to help their baby go back to sleep for another sleep cycle, but this is almost certain to backfire. Entering your baby’s sleep space will be very stimulating for him, causing him to be wide awake (and also very mad if you come in to offer soothing and then leave again).
In conclusion, it can be tough to crack the case of the short nap, but with this knowledge, and some experimentation, once your baby is 5 months of age or older, their naps will begin to lengthen and you will enjoy some restful nap time soon!
If you still need help with naps, or nighttime sleep, I suggest a customized sleep plan with two weeks of ongoing, adjustable support from Summit Slumber. My “Two Weeks to Sleep” Package provides all that, and more!
