Top Tips to Lengthen Your Baby’s Short Naps

Are you wondering how to lengthen your baby’s short naps?

Do you know when it’s normal for naps to be 30 minutes and when to lengthen them? It can be so confusing and frustrating to know how and when to rescue or lengthen a short nap! Short naps can be common especially during developmental stages and yet exhausting at times!

As a postpartum doula and sleep consultant, I understand the challenges of navigating short naps with little ones.

I have struggled with this with my own babies in the past!

What is a short nap?

Short naps are usually around 30-50 minutes which is less than one sleep cycle, a normal sleep cycle is 50 minutes. If your baby is taking short naps then they are still struggling to link sleep cycles together. Until they learn to link sleep cycles together they will continue to struggle with short naps.

Short naps can result from overtiredness, schedules that need to be changed, not enough sleep pressure, awake windows are too short for their age, not enough calories were consumed during the day, etc. Short naps leave you with a tired, cranky baby and can cause more night wake ups or early mornings! It can become a vicious cycle.

Newborns to 4 months old can have short naps and this is normal.

Before 4 months of age a 30 minute nap and 2 hour nap are common and normal. If your baby in this age range takes a short nap, you can try to extend their nap by going in and patting them for a few minutes or picking them up briefly to resettle them and laying them back down. If they don’t go back to sleep within 10 minutes then it’s time to get them up. For a newborn to about 3-4 months old it’s okay to rescue a nap and try to lengthen it.

The first nap of the day is the easiest to extend and becomes harder as the day goes on. It can be helpful to do a contact nap for the last nap of the day if your baby is struggling to sleep well. I suggest that at least 2 naps are in the bassinet or crib for your newborn to 4 month old to help them start to learn how to fall asleep independently.

Before 5 months of age teaching your little one to sleep well by setting a good sleep foundation takes lots of practice and consistency. There can be many days that naps go well and many days that naps aren’t very long. However giving your baby the chance to fall asleep independently without rocking or feeding to sleep is a great way to start teaching them healthy sleep skills. After 4-5 months of age your babies sleep cycles are changing and extending the nap isn’t a sustainable long term thing to continue to do.

What should you do if your baby is older than 5 months old and still taking short naps?

At 4-5 months of age if your baby is struggling with short naps then it’s time to start sleep training to help your little one get more restorative sleep for naps and night time. What can you do to help? Here are some tips!

1. Look at your babies sleeping environment. Is it dark? It is easier to fall asleep in a darker room with less distractions. Do you use a sound machine to drown out noises in the rest of the house? Is your baby too hot or too cold? An ideal temperature for your baby to sleep well is between 68-70 degrees.
2. Do you have a nap routine in place? A short nap routine (5-7 minutes) gives your baby a cue that sleep is coming. By doing the same routine for naps this will help your baby start to understand what is coming next. A suggested routine might be to change your babies diaper, read your baby a book or sing a song, turn on the sound machine, turn off the lights and lay your baby down awake.
3. Watch your babies awake windows. Combining tired cues and awake windows are great when they are between 0-4 months but after 4 months awake windows can help you avoid having an overtired or under tired baby. Awake windows are helpful so that your baby can build up enough sleep pressure to be able to fall asleep easier. Awake windows change often when they are little, make sure you are adjusting these awake window times according to their age. If your baby takes a short nap start your awake window over and make sure you try to keep them awake for the full awake window time to help them avoid another short nap.
4. Try the “wait and see” approach. If your baby wakes up from their nap and it’s only been 20 minutes, let them rest in their crib for another 10-15 minutes to see if they will put themselves back to sleep. This works well for babies who are over 3-4 months old. Newborns still need lots of contact naps and resettling (such as patting their tummy in their bassinet) to help them learn to fall back to sleep.

What should I do next?

If you have tried these tips and your baby is still struggling with short naps and linking sleep cycles? Then starting a gentle sleep training method is a great next step! Babies can learn how to sleep longer! I’m sure you would love to have a little down time during nap time! Sleep training helps your baby learn how to fall asleep independently WITHOUT having to rock, feed or bounce them to sleep.

Short naps can be a thing of the past! Getting restorative naps can also help your baby sleep better at night by having less night wake ups! Day time sleep helps with night sleep and visa versa!

If you are ready to move past short naps, I can help you achieve this! Schedule a call with me here and let’s get your little one napping well!