30 min nap help

[S-J30]

Jack is 4 months old and has just started having 30 minute naps only.  He wants 5-6 30 min naps a day and all I seem to do is try to get him to sleep as he is then overtired 

He goes to sleep no problems but when he wakes up after 30 mins is wide awake and lies there smiling at me!  He is happy when he wakes but gets grumpy an hour later due to not enough sleep! No amount of shh pat will get him back to sleep and he isnt crying so cant do PU/PD. 

Should I go into him or just leave him in his room?  He is just laying there looking at his mobile!  Ive just actually swaddled him when he woke.  Should I leave him there for another hour (ie he should have 1.5 hour nap time)?  Then keep him awake til his nap scheduled nap time (ie dont let him go to sleep on the bottle). 

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Mom to M&M]

If he's not fussing, I'd just let him be and see if he falls back asleep. Of course if he starts crying you'll have to try to get him back to sleep or get him up. If he doesn't fall back asleep, I'd keep him up until as close to the next normal nap time as possible, without letting him get too overtired - so the next nap may happen sooner than usual.

What is his current routine? Do you darken the room? Use white noise?

[S-J30]

Dont darken the room (except at night time).  He goes in his crib in his own room, and we play his tunes from his mobile and I shhh him while gently patting/stroking his chest and tummy.  He goes to sleep ok but its just so frustrating this waking after 30 mins!

Got him up in the end after last nap and kept him awake til next nap time and he has just gone to sleep.  Fingers crossed!

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

Hi there,

if you say that he's 'just' started to do it, does this mean that he was having good naps before? When this happens, it usually means that the lo has had a growth spurt (and your lo is the right age for this) and is capable of having longer A times. He's waking up after 30 mins b/c he wasn't tired enough, so that's all he needed to refresh him, but then he hasn't had the long nap, so gets tired again quickly, KWIM?

Try this link https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.0

HTH

[S-J30]

hmm that does sound like him.  Maybe Ill leave him 2 hour activity time and see how he goes!?  Thanks.

[newbiemummy]

Hi S-J30,

I have the exact same problem with little Tara. She is 4.5 months and has been having 30 min naps since she was about 3 months old. It started out as 20 min naps, then went on to 45 mins and now it seems to be constant at 30 mins! She too, wakes up quite happy or sometimes grumpy, but refuses to be re-settled in her cot. She then gets tired again after 1 hour from waking and clearly needs to sleep again, but absolutely refuses to be put back in her cot. I have tried re-settling for more than 1 hour, keeping her awake for more A time before putting her to bed, tried wake to sleep.... but nothing seems to work. Having said that, she has now been asleep for more than 1 hour! 

[S-J30]

Glad its not just me newbiemummy!  Maybe it will get better over time??  Heres hoping!

[MGardner]

This is wierd, I came onto the nap forum and read this post and it was the SAME exact post I was goign to write. My LO is 4 months old exactly this week. Was taking great 1.5-2 hour naps and now is doing a consistent 30 minute nap every time. We watch his cues and after this first waking in the morning we do activity time anywhere between 1.75 to 2 hours, but if he wakes up after 30 minutes and we can't get him to settle down we put him down after a shortened activity time. But maybe we should try to keep him up even in this circumstance?