First nap is always 45 minutes

[Lucysmom]

Hello All - My dd is 6 months old and these days her first nap of the day is always 45 minutes.  I typically have her up for about 1 hr 45 min before I put her down for her first nap.  Other awake times for the day are about 2 hrs sometimes 2 hrs 15 minutes.  She goes down for her morning nap with minimal fuss and falls asleep independently.  When she wakes, she is happy so I get her up.  Within a few minutes it is apparent she is still tired so I try to put her back down.  This never works.  She sleeps 12 hours at night so I was thinking maybe a short nap was OK in the morning but I know it is not from observing her. 

As I see it, I have the following options:
1.  Increase awake time
2.  Decrease awake time (maybe she is overtired by the time I put her down?)
3.  Leave her in her crib for the entire nap time and pray she falls back to sleep.  I feel guilty doing this because I feel that if she is awake she should be interacting with me, thus learning and developing....

Any recommendations would be welcomed!  Thanks so very much!

[Tammy: Ethan & Kaden's Mom]

My ds ALWAYS woke up after 45 minutes at your dd's age.  Nothing I did changed it.  I increased awake time, didn't work.  Decreased awake time, didn't work either.  I would pat/shhh, didn't work.  Pu/pd made him FURIOUS!  Ethan was just like Lucy - he'd wake up happy after 45 minutes.  So, finally, one day, I just let him babble in his crib.  And after about 30 minutes, he fell back asleep for another 45 minutes.  Then I got him up for lunch.  So, that became our routine for the next few months!  He never really cried or fussed, he just rolled and crawled around his crib and talked to himself. 

So, as long as she's not out and out screaming for you, I'd try to let her babble to herself, and see if she goes back to sleep!

That's just what worked for us.  Good luck!