Has anyone found a way to extend naptime?

[Spiffynoodles]

My 15 month old takes one nap a day, but only sleeps for 1 hour. It seems like other people's kids (especially younger ones like mine) will nap for at least two hours. Does anyone know how I can get her to nap a little longer?

 

[babydevil1989]

no idea! my son hasnt napped since he was 14 months!! x

 

[Cleo]

L's the same. Wish I knew bc she needs longer. She's exhausted by the end of the day, and on the rare occasion that she does have a 2 hour nap, she's in a much better mood!

 

[CertainTurton]

My DD has only just started going for one nap a day and it used to be 2 30min naps without fail!! she will now often do a 1.5hour nap and she just sort of transitioned herself. Today she woke after 40mins and I went in and picked her up and rocked her for a little, put her back down and off she went but thats is VERY rare - normally once she is awake (even if its only been 20mins) it is sooo hard to get her to go back again until later (if I am lucky). The only thing I can think of is trying to make sure that when she starts to rouse from her nap at 1hr you keep it 'sleepy' time and try to get her back again. But it could just be that is all she needs at the mo and that she will extend later - could you maybe offer a small nap later if she needs it?
I would love DD to have 2 hrs - also I would love to move it a bit later as at the mo it depends when she wakes up. for example this morn she woke at 5.30am so she was desperate for her nap at 9.30am - means she will be awful this afternoon as I expect she will wake from her nap soon. Its too long from 11.30am-6.30pm but she will refuse to nap this afternoon

 

[aimee-lou]

Try putting her down slightly earlier for a wind down before she sleeps. I put Eddy down, in the dark, approximately 3 hours after he wakes and he'll sometimes sleep for up to 3 hours, but he'll take about 30 minutes of winding down to get there. Earl was the same at your LOs age, so I started to put him down at a set time after he woke up (for Earl it was 3.5 hours) and he would mostly have 2 hours of sleep at that age although it would fluctuate if he was teething etc.

Does she sleep in the pushchair or anything like that? Eddy simply will not, and if I let him sleep after 2pm he wont go to bed even if he misses his nap due to being out and about. It would be a lot easier if he did lol.

 

[aimee-lou]

Oh the other thing I do is always make sure they had a snack - either a bottle of 4oz of cows milk, a yoghurt, a banana, a handful of cereal or grapes, some biscuits... something to fill his tummy. If I don't, Eddy will wake up after an hour wanting food! lol

 

[Spiffynoodles]

Babydevil, that's awful! I'm hoping my DD will continue to nap for a few more years, even if it's short. I need the break!

CertainTurton, my DD is the same way. If she naps earlier in the day, she will refuse to take a later nap, even if it means she has to go from 11am-7pm without any sleep.

Aimee-lou, you mentioned teething, which I hadn't thought about. DD has been working on some molars for a little while. Maybe that's part of the reason she's started taking shorter naps?

 

[seoj]

When my LO cut back to 1 nap (around 13mos) tbh, I never thought she's sleep longer than 45mins to an hour (max)-- but in time, she just got there on her own. I have noticed, even now, the time we put her down affects how long she sleeps- if she falls asleep early (say 10:30-11am) she might only sleep an hour- but if we keep her busy till noon and then put her to bed- she's *usually* out for 2hrs (sometimes more). But she just kinda got there on her own and with trial and error on our part.

We try to split her day up as even as possible... so she's up at 7am, nap at noon, up at 2pm then bedtime at 7:30-- I think it all comes into play. Not always easy to keep the routine totally consistent- sometimes she'll wake up earlier than usual, or nap longer or shorter- so we do go with the flow to some extent.

Sorry no great advise! Best of luck

 

[Spiffynoodles]

Seoj, we have almost that same exact schedule with our DD. She's usually up around 7am, naps around 12pm, and the goes to bed around 7pm. So hopefully my DD will do what yours did, and just lengthen her nap on her own.

 

[suzib76]

Why do you want to lengthen the nap? Sounds like she is sleeping really well at night

My youngest gave up napping at 16 months haha

 

[mj2004]

My lo seems to go in and out of nap length phases (if that makes sense)! For weeks or longer he won't take anything shorter than a 2.5 hour nap, but lately he has been taking right at 2 hour nap. I never know from day to day if I'm gonna be stuck at home for 3 hrs while he naps or only1.5 hr
Have there been any big changes st home? For us dd is out of school for the summer so his sleep is all thrown off! Gl hun I know how important that nap break is, and the longer the better!

 

[Spiffynoodles]

Why do you want to lengthen the nap? Sounds like she is sleeping really well at night

My youngest gave up napping at 16 months haha

Because when she only sleeps for an hour, she tends to wake up fussier, which makes me think that she needs a longer nap. If she does happen to nap for longer, she wakes up happy and babbling to herself.

 

[d_b]

We try to leave DS for at least 10 minutes if he wakes up early. He's also gotten much more active with running around.. for the past few months he usually naps 2.5 hours. TBH I just think they go through phases of napping longer but waiting a few minutes to go in might help them learn to go back to sleep on their own.

 

[Spiffynoodles]

We try to leave DS for at least 10 minutes if he wakes up early. He's also gotten much more active with running around.. for the past few months he usually naps 2.5 hours. TBH I just think they go through phases of napping longer but waiting a few minutes to go in might help them learn to go back to sleep on their own.

Yeah, I always wait a while if she wakes up early. Today she only napped for 45 minutes, and then woke up crying. So I waited for 15 minutes and she continued to cry the whole time. It's going to be a loooong afternoon.

 

[FirstatForty]

If you figure it out...let me know! DS needs his sleep & when he doesn't get it, afternoons are loooooonnnng.

 

[DaisyBee]

If she is sleeping well at night... Maybe she is getting all the sleep she can get in 24 hrs? If that's the case but nap isn't long enough then I would either do bedtime later or wake her in the morning earlier. See if one of those would extend her nap.

The other idea is if she is overtired maybe she is waking too early from nap. Jordan gets to a point of over tiredness and sleeps a shorter nap. She is 14 1/2 months and can't go 5 hrs before nap. Have you tried earlier nAp?

 

[Spiffynoodles]

If she is sleeping well at night... Maybe she is getting all the sleep she can get in 24 hrs? If that's the case but nap isn't long enough then I would either do bedtime later or wake her in the morning earlier. See if one of those would extend her nap.

The other idea is if she is overtired maybe she is waking too early from nap. Jordan gets to a point of over tiredness and sleeps a shorter nap. She is 14 1/2 months and can't go 5 hrs before nap. Have you tried earlier nAp?

I tried putting her down an hour earlier today and she ended up only sleeping for 45 minutes and then woke up crying and continued to cry for a good while after.

 

[Cleo]

If she is sleeping well at night... Maybe she is getting all the sleep she can get in 24 hrs? If that's the case but nap isn't long enough then I would either do bedtime later or wake her in the morning earlier. See if one of those would extend her nap.

The other idea is if she is overtired maybe she is waking too early from nap. Jordan gets to a point of over tiredness and sleeps a shorter nap. She is 14 1/2 months and can't go 5 hrs before nap. Have you tried earlier nAp?

I tried putting her down an hour earlier today and she ended up only sleeping for 45 minutes and then woke up crying and continued to cry for a good while after.

I've tried the earlier nap too... she just woke up after her usual hour and then was REALLY cranky bc it was just that much longer till bedtime!

She's bagged by her 7/7:30 bedtime so I don't think she could go any later, and she's up at 7, and I don't think I'd get her up earlier I think this may just be one of those things that you either get through somehow, or it will work itself out without you doing anything!

 

[Spiffynoodles]

I've tried the earlier nap too... she just woke up after her usual hour and then was REALLY cranky bc it was just that much longer till bedtime!

She's bagged by her 7/7:30 bedtime so I don't think she could go any later, and she's up at 7, and I don't think I'd get her up earlier I think this may just be one of those things that you either get through somehow, or it will work itself out without you doing anything!

This is our situation exactly! I guess the two of us will just have to cross our fingers and hope our LO's just decide to start taking longer naps on their own.

 

[DaisyBee]

Keeping the babies up til 7-7:30 may be too late if they are overtired and only napping an hour. And if she is waking crying like that it may be teething.

Ferbers book is where i read about if kids only can get 13 hrs ( or whatever your lo is sleeping) if they are sleeping too much at night they won't have enough day sleep. So if you can get them to change it even gradually by 10 minutes maybe you can get a longer daytime nap and then they won't be so cranky during the afternoon as their nap is more restorative.

If Jordan would only nap an hour in the day I would have her in bed by 6 that night. When thats happened she has still slept til 7 the next day.