How do I stop 45 minute naps?

Get out 45 Minute Intruder!

Short naps are the WORST. Let's just put it out there. They even happen to our babies. It's so frustrating! Just when it feels like you have a second to yourself, baby starts stirring and wakes themselves up! This is a normal, biological process. Your baby’s sleep cycles are just 45 minutes long and, at the end of each one, they are in very light sleep. It takes time and practice for them to learn to connect two sleep cycles together.

I wish I had a magic wand to wave to stop short naps completely but, until Amazon gets that back in stock, my tips are patience and consistency. Plus the four things listed above. We have to teach our babies how to extend their naps. It's a learned skill and it takes time for them to get it down! Short naps are very common but taking the time to teach your little one how to extend their naps when they are 4, 5, and 6 months old will really help make sure they don't last forever! Here are 4 ways to stop short naps!

Manage Wake Windows

Wake windows are the periods of time that your little one is awake between their sleep. This time INCLUDES their feeds. So, if you have a newborn, their wake window is only 30-45 minutes and that means most of that time they will be eating! Keeping these wake windows appropriate for your baby’s age will help them sleep better because you are helping them avoid being overtired. Overtiredness in babies is one of the most common causes of bad sleep. So, keep their wake windows in the appropriate range for their age and you’ll open up the option for baby to be able to take long naps. For babies over 6 months old, wake windows that are too short can cause short naps also. Not having adequate sleep pressure is another reason babies often take a short nap, especially in the 2nd half of their first year. You don’t want them to be exhausted but you do want them to be tired enough.

Teach Self Soothing

A baby who can’t put themself to sleep is not going to be able to connect sleep cycles. Think of it like this: anything your baby has to fall asleep, they are going to need to stay asleep too. If your pillow were to fall on the floor in the middle of the night, you would reach over and put it back on the bed to fall back asleep. If your baby’s “pillow” is feeding to sleep, they can’t replicate that on their own and will struggle to consistently connect sleep cycles. So, if you want longer naps, teach your baby to fall asleep independently.

Give them time to go back to sleep

Often, after a 45 minute nap, we intervene right away or give up our hopes of baby falling back asleep after just a few minutes. Did you know it can take 20-30 minutes for a baby to fall back asleep after a short nap? It can! When we give up on a nap after just 5 minutes, we often are not letting baby have the space they need in order to get back to sleep. Does this mean we just let them cry for 30 minutes? Absolutely not. Intervene in a constructive way and soothe your baby in the crib while they work on getting back to sleep. Even if they fall back asleep for 5 minutes, it’s a victory in learning how to connect their sleep cycles. Keep going!

Assist Your Baby in Falling Back Asleep When Necessary

If your baby wakes up, especially when they are still learning how to self soothe, they may need help getting settled again. This is completely normal and fine! We encourage parents to support their babies as they are learning to sleep and intervene in appropriate ways. One of our biggest tips is to soothe your baby in their crib. We want babies to learn to get comfortable flat in their own sleeping space, not just in someone’s arms. Of course there are times where you soothe your baby in your arms but, when you are working on building sleep skills, the work should be done where you want your baby to sleep - in their crib! So, give them some space, and soothe when you need to, but support your baby in learning to settle themselves back to sleep in their own space!

If you have an older baby taking short naps is all hope lost? Not at all! It's never too late to start working on great sleep. Make a plan and stick to it! Consistently lengthening naps is going to take some time for most babies. Don't get discouraged when they don't have it down after 3 days.

Need help getting off the short nap roller coaster? We'd love to be there for you! Send us an email to get connected with one of our incredible baby sleep consultants and learn more! We have local sleep consultants in Charlotte, NC; Atlanta, GA; Jacksonville, FL; and Denver, CO and do virtual sleep consulting worldwide! We’d love to support you as you teach your little one to sleep all night long!