https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 02 May 2026 12:13:06 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2298333 Tue, 22 Sep 2015 13:20:42 +0000 Herrade 2298333@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My 4-month old tends toward 30 minute naps. FWIW, she hated the carrier so much I didn't try it for a month. Just last week I took it out and she settled pretty quickly, but only for a 30 minute nap. She will also nap occasionally in the car or stroller, but again only for 30 minutes. The only way I can get her to nap longer is to hold her for the nap, and bounce her back to sleep. Sometimes getting her back to sleep takes longer than getting her to sleep initially, but it's worth it because if she gets through that first 30 she'll usually stay out for 90 minutes to 2 hours. </p> <p>She does not sleep in the crib at all. The second her head touches the mattress she wakes up.</p> <p>ETA: I found a nap routine to be a big help. Significantly cut down on the time it took to get her to sleep -- from about 30 min to 5 min or less. Getting her before she's overtired makes a bug difference too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2298289 Tue, 22 Sep 2015 12:47:08 +0000 MrsSRS 2298289@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ldh112: Awesome. We do plan to swing wean into the crib eventually. Just not right now - we're potty training DS this week! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297958 Tue, 22 Sep 2015 09:01:13 +0000 ldh112 2297958@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsSRS: Putting her in the swing just now for a nap cut out a good 15 minutes of wind down time. I've been trying to put her in her crib, which typically works, but just takes SO much time to be successful. Thanks for the tip. :)</p> <p>Thanks for all the commiserating and advice, everyone. I feel less crazy knowing its normal and we are still in a bit of survival mode. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297737 Tue, 22 Sep 2015 02:53:48 +0000 lamariniere 2297737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Unfortunately, it's very normal. Both of my LOs were exactly like this around 3 months. DS got better around 5/6 months. DD didn't really get better until closer to 1. So I have no advice, just commiserating! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297609 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 20:39:26 +0000 shopaholic 2297609@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sorry you're dealing with this. Brings me back to a very rough first year and a half (I just looked up and I have 2 pages of posts on nap frustrations). At that age, I'm in the "do whatever works" camp and don't worry about the bad habits. But you can try to be consistent and create good habits/routine. We've had the most success with just sticking to consistent routines. Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297581 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 20:14:03 +0000 MrsSRS 2297581@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD is 3 months and will put herself to sleep after some fussing but only with a swaddle, swing, and white noise. The swing made a huge difference. Now she will do several 45 minute naps a day and one longer one around 2 hours or so. We will probably swing wean in a month or two.</p> <p>ETA: for DD the swing really decreased the amount of wind down time and eliminated the immediate wake up. But with DS it was all a crap shoot until we sleep trained around 5 months. So worst case scenario: this too shall pass. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297568 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 20:05:17 +0000 winniebee 2297568@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Very normal. I would be able to rock or bounce back to sleep for one nap a day until maybe 5 months, then from 5-7 they were all awful (30 mins) except in the car. Nothing helped. We finally got down to 2 naps at 8 months. Even then he would have days where he would take a really short nap for one of them. At 9 months they are mostly better but days like today he woke after 30 mins and I had to let him fuss for another 30 mins until he went back to sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297535 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 19:13:22 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2297535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ldh112: you can change their habits, they are constantly changing. for us naps were always different than nights too, more difficult. Don't worry too much! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297454 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 16:23:45 +0000 mrswin 2297454@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ldh112: Totally normal! I'm pretty sure I posted something similar when my DD was around 3 months. We only started getting better naps out of her around 4.5 months when her wake time lengthened to 1.5 hours. </p> <p>The best advice I got was to make sure she was getting plenty of over night sleep and to start a nap routine. I also held her for all her naps for a few days to make sure she wasn't in an overtired spiral </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297444 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 16:10:36 +0000 FaithFertility 2297444@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, DD naps at that age were awful! Sorry! I just did whatever worked, laps around the house in my arms, walks etc......she worked it out around 6 months<br /> Hang in there </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297440 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 16:01:52 +0000 Kbee 2297440@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Definitely don't worry about creating bad habits right now. Do what you have to do! We also had to rock/bounce my DS at that age, and for naps it took 20-25 minutes to soothe him enough and get him to sleep. If he woke up when we put him down, even if he looked wide awake ( he was overtired), we'd just start over. If you can get her to take a few good naps however possible (rocking, in the swing, anything!), then you might be able to break her cycle of overtiredness, which will make future naps easier! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297435 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:51:56 +0000 Eko 2297435@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS is 3.5 months and the only place he naps is either me holding him or in his swing. His naps are only about 45 minutes. A couple times he fell asleep in his crib, but I can count on one hand how often that's happened. He seems to "like" his crib better than many other things (carriers, bouncers, etc.), so I've been trying to promote it with the hope one day he will sleep there all the time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297426 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:47:15 +0000 catomd00 2297426@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I believe 45+ minutes is considered a long nap at that age, so yep normal! I extended naps at that age by wearing or holding her the whole time! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297425 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:44:36 +0000 snowjewelz 2297425@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD was like that too. Her naps didn't lengthen to 1 hr + till 8 months (consistently anyway). We were def in 40 min nap hell for a long time. And she still needs to be held to sleep! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297417 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:35:23 +0000 ldh112 2297417@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@2littlepumpkins: Okay that is good to know. I just have been worried I'm creating bad habits but if the timing isn't quite right I can deal with things :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297416 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:33:43 +0000 ldh112 2297416@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Truth Bombs: She hates being carried. I just sold my Boba 4g (selling my wrap too) and bought the Ergo 360 so she can face out which she seems to prefer but is still a bit small for the positioning. </p> <p>I SO wish babywearing worked for us! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297410 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:29:35 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2297410@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ldh112: at that age my lo still napped in the swing. Between 4-5m she started taking crib naps, going down on her own. (Not every time but I wouldn't have even imagined she could at 3m) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297406 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:28:18 +0000 Truth Bombs 2297406@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Unfortunately, very normal. We did a lot of naps in the Moby at that age so at least my hands were free. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/3-month-olds-naps-are-sht#post-2297403 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:25:29 +0000 ldh112 2297403@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've had hopes this would get better but so far, her naps are terrible and I don't know if it's just her or if I can be doing something more to help her out at this age. She is still swaddled and requires rocking to fall asleep, usually with a pacifier. This can go on for up to 20 minutes + sometimes. When she is asleep we lay her down and this occasionally works but typically she springs to life immediately or within minutes of being laid down. I don't know if we should just let her be because she just gets herself super awake again as she kicks and wiggles around before we attempt the whole process again. </p> <p>Laying her down drowsy is a joke so far- I attempted today and even let her get herself to the point of hysterics briefly before I went in and just gave up on her nap all together. </p> <p>Her naps are short (30 minutes usually) which also is frustrating but I'd honestly be okay with it if laying her down wasn't such an ordeal.</p> <p>If it's normal, someone help me off the ledge :) If we can break or begin habits, I am all ears for advice on what to do next.</p> <p>ETA we sort of follow the eat, play, sleep routine, with going for about 75-90 minutes of awake time </p>