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Extending Naps

Anyone got any advice or tips on how to extend nap times?

My LO is very good at going off to sleep but only stays asleep for 30-40 mins. Consequently by late afternoon she's knackered and grumpy which makes bath time and bed time an absolute nightmare.

Thanks!
B xx

Replies

  • Good luck with that Mrs B - toby on ever naps 30 minutes at a time - Mabel is beautiful by the way x
  • i dont think you can extend naps as LOs will wake when they want to, have you tried putting her down at regular times to shes having more little naps?
  • I'm not sure how old your lo is but the length of naps is very much an age thing. For the first 6 months most babies will nap 30-40 mins. Then all of a sudden as my lo neared 6 months the naps started to get longer and longer and now at 9 months he will have 2 x 1.5 - 2 hr naps a day and I have done nothing different!

    Have a look a the Baby Whisperer website and forum as it has a really good guide on understanding sleep cycles and rough awake times at different ages.
  • I remember swaddling, helped some ladies extend naps past the 40 min mark. But not sure how old their bubbas were. Hope you, Mr Busby and Mabel are all well. xx mithical and James 10 weeks 5 days.
  • Oh bugger!

    Well the swaddling was a disaster - she went completely mental, so we're going to go for more little naps today and see what happens.

    Baby Whisperer reckons she should be having two naps of about two hours each as she sleeps 12 hrs at night.

    She prefers three naps but she definitely doesn't get a total of four hours.

    Any other suggestions for making bed time less traumatic? She loves it in the bath, but as soon as she's out she starts screaming and doesn't stop until she's in her pyjamas and being cuddled. Then it takes her ages to relax and drop off to sleep. I'm sure it's because she's over tired.

    Not going to moan too much though as I do appreciate how lucky I am to have a baby who sleeps 12 hrs straight through the night at 11 weeks!

    B xx
  • I spent a frustrating couple of weeks trying to extend the girls' naps when they were about 7 months and failed miserably.

    I tried everything the Baby Whisperer suggested and none of it worked (or I didn't do it right). In the end, I just got them up when they woke and put them down again after they'd had a play and were tired. For a few weeks, they were having a morning nap at 9.30am, waking up at 10.15 and going back down at 11 for a 20 min catnap before lunch. Crazy but it worked for us. Similarly, they only dropped their late afternoon nap very recently as they'll only have 45 mins to an hour after their lunch.

    To cut a long story short, what worked for us was little and often. This has it's advantages as it means that if you are out over lunch and they don't nap properly, you have the chance to let them catch up in their cots when they get home.

    Sorry I can't offer any better advice but wanted to let you know that I've been there - with 2 babies!!!
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