Author Topic: Do some babies naturally catnap and there's nothing we can do to change it?  (Read 3388 times)

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Offline BonnieJade91

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I posted a few months back but this is a follow up,
6 month old has been catnapping since 3.5 months old. every now and then she'll take a nap over an hour, maybe once a week.
currently she takes three naps a day, they range from 30-40 minutes. She sleeps 11-12 hours straight every night. She has 5 breastfeeds a day, roughly 3-3.5 hrs apart with the last feed close together. She has two solid meals each day.

i cannot figure out how to lengthen her naps. the room is completely blacked out, white noise, temp is perfect, not currently teething, sleeps in a sleep sack, has an awake time of 2.hrs 15 to 2hrs 30min in the morning before her first nap then the rest of the day her awake time is 2.5-3 hrs. She falls asleep without any rocking, completely on her own, she sucks on a paci/dummy for a minute then spits it out and falls asleep. She wakes up from her naps happily chatting to herself, i will often leave her until she starts to cry,  usually takes between 10-20 mins before she starts crying. sometimes i go in and replace the paci but that doesn't help. she does lots of tummy time, we go outside, read books, play then have a little wind down before she takes a nap.

With my first daughter she catnapped until she finally went down to one nap a day, that one nap became 1.5-2 hrs long. Do you think my second daughter will be the same?

Every book you read will tell you catnaps are a problem that needs fixing, but how do you do it? It used to really make me so angry and frustrated and i would become completely obsessed with her naps, but that's not healthy.

Offline deb

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My second was a total catnapper until she went to 1 nap. Some kids just...are.

Have you tried lengthening the A time? Try more like 3-3.5 hours (unless she acts overtired, in which case go back!), see if it makes a difference.