Hello! I have a 4 month old son who recently started sleeping longer at night. He goes down for bed at 7:30 pm. He normally wakes between 4 am and 5 am, which after after a feed he will sleep until 7 am. He has slept in his crib since he was born.
Since he started sleeping longer, he refuses to nap in his crib. He's a boy who loves his sleep, which we are very thankful for. He has a two hour nap in the morning, and was having a two hour nap in the afternoon plus a cat nap around dinner time. He now takes 30 min naps, unless he's in the swing or with me in my bed, nursing. If I put him in his crib, he wakes up at 30-40 min, crying. I understand his naps may be shorter now that he is sleeping longer, but when he wakes up crying after 30-40 min, he's still tired and will sleep in my arms.
How do I get him back to napping in his crib for a restful nap??
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Unfortunately, at this age, catnaps are pretty common. Both my kids had these crappy short naps until they were down to two consistent naps (I want to say around 8-9 months).
When your LO wakes up from his nap, how quickly do you go get him? I'd give him at least 5 minutes (if he's not screaming) before I went to him, just in case he's able to settle back down and go to sleep. Otherwise, I guess he's up! And plan to put him back down for a nap earlier than you used to.
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Thanks for the reply! I do let him fuss for a good 5min before getting him, just to see if he will go back to sleep. Glad to hear it's normal! I'll keep working at it.
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@RositaB: Yes, definitely normal! Mine did 30 minute naps until they were down to two naps a day. And often early bedtimes because of their crappy naps! 4 months is also the time of a sleep regression, so maybe that's manifesting in his naps too.
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@RositaB: How is he falling asleep at nap time? Do you rock him or something? At this age they become more aware of things. It sounds like he is waking between sleep cycles and doesn't know how to go back to sleep. I would make sure that he is falling asleep independently and see if that helps. Also you may want to consider dropping the catnap in the evening.
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@mrswin: we were rocking him to sleep, so that may be it! I've been working on putting him down awake and letting him fall asleep. I let him fuss and if he's screaming I go in and pick him up until he stops and put him back.
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I would say that the two are unrelated -- mine started cat napping around 3-4 months and it lasted til 6 months with one and 8 with the other! Unless we were in the car, we got cat naps. It sucks but nothing I did changed it....just had to ride it out. Enjoy the better night sleep though!
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@RositaB: yeah my DD has never been a great napper but things improved once we started letting her learn to fall asleep on her own, we used the Ferber method (timed checks) which worked really well. It's tough when they don't nap. I also really like the healthy sleep habits happy child book which talks a lot about transitions. This website is an invaluable resource when it comes to sleep.
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@mrswin: thanks, I'll check out the book and website. DS was a great napped but the day he started sleeping longer at night, naps were out! I guess it makes sense and I love the extra sleep at night but he still seems to need his long naps. He just wants them to be with me!
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@RositaB: Sleeping longer/better at night can be a sign they are ready to drop a nap
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