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It's hard to say. I always try to put them back down before giving up. If they seem sleepy as soon as I pick them up and start rocking them, then I put them back. But if they haven't gone back to sleep after 10 min, then I just give up and try again in 30-45 min. It takes a few tries before knowing if they're up for good or not. ... even at 10 months old, I still can't always tell.

At that age I just rocked her back to sleep if she would let me. But I was totally cool with holding for naps then. Of course that evolved in my having to rock her to sleep and hold her 100% of the time for all naps.... I was honestly pretty okay with it but it seemed to really bother my husband and my family. Now at 8 mo if she wakes up after 30 min I just let her. I may run up and pop a paci in and rub her head a bit but if that doesn't work (and it doesn't usually) I just get her up because I don't want to backslide into rocking for all naps again.

I have never been able to extend my LO's naps, ever. No amount of rocking, holding etc would do. I did hold him for every.single.nap from 2.5-4 months roughly. But other than that time period, if he wakes up after 30-40 minutes, he's done. If I could rock him back to sleep, I would, but that's never worked..... even though my LO is now pretty decent at naps (usually), I still hate naps (and all baby sleep for that matter)......

If I bounced him on the yoga ball after he woke up from his first sleep cycle, he would fall back asleep. But I wasn't able to put him down or he'd wake up right away.

Up until recently I tried to extend the nap at all costs. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but I seemed to have chronically overtired babies so I wanted them to get as much rest as possible.

At that age I never got more than 30
Mins. Ever ever ever. Now if he wakes up crying I know he needs more sleep. BUT he won't fall back asleep unless it's on me.

My rule of thumb was usually to wait at least 10-15 min. I found that waiting that long usually helped them settle back on their own and helped them transition into the next sleep cycle.

@Mae: Same here! We went through a phase where I became a pro at nap extensions. I watched the video monitor and would sneak in, scoop her up and rock her back to sleep in the nick of time. If I left her to CIO she would never fall back asleep. This meant that for a few months, I basically held her for the second half of almost all her naps, but that time is so fleeting, I'm glad I did.