Short naps can be a huge source of frustration for many parents. You’re exhausted and desperately need a break, but it’s just not happening. Let’s figure out why!
In the early weeks, it’s common—and developmentally appropriate—for naps to be an unpredictable mix of short and long duration. By 12-16 weeks, night sleep lengthens and day sleep should also be consolidating to longer and more predictable blocks of time. At this point, you’ll be aiming for a nap of at least 60 minutes. Anything less than that is a short nap, less than a full sleep cycle, that won’t help your baby feel rested.
Environment
Make certain that your baby is sleeping in the same place for both naps and night sleep. If that’s not possible due to daycare or napping at grandma’s house, take the comforts and familiarity of home with you for your baby’s naps. Try to mimic your home sleeping environment as closely as you can.
Your baby’s room should be cool, dark and boring:
- A cool room is one that is 68-72 degrees.
- A dark room is one that is super dark: Sunlight can wreak havoc on naps. Blackout shades are best but if you don’t have them, use painter’s tape to secure dark garbage bags or aluminum foil to your windows.
- Boring is just boring. Nursery decorations are great, but if they’re too stimulating, they interfere with sleep. A cute mobile hanging over the crib could easily be the reason your baby wants to stay awake during naptime. Move that mobile to your changing table so your baby can engage with it while you’re changing diapers.
Schedule
Naps should occur at the same time each day. Timing is everything! If they’re too early, your child’s sleep drive won’t be strong enough to fall asleep or stay asleep. If they’re too late, you’ll end up with an overtired child who has more difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Pay attention to the window of awake time and cues that your child is getting tired. If your child is showing sleepy cues, don’t wait for a meltdown. Get to bed now! Although there’s some variation in recommendations, Kim West, The Sleep Lady, provides these general guidelines for how much awake time kids can tolerate at different ages.
| Age | Awake Time |
| 3 months | 1 – 2 hours |
| 6 months | 1.5 – 3 hours |
| 9 months | 2 – 4 hours |
| 12 months | 3 – 4 hours |
| 18 months | 4 – 6 hours |
| 2 years | 5 – 6.5 hours |
| 3 years | 6 – 8 hours |
| 4 years | 6 – 12 hours |
Night Sleep
Consolidated night sleep is essential for quality daytime sleep. If your baby’s night sleep is interrupted, it is likely that naps will also be frustrating. Most likely, they won’t occur at regular times, and they could be short. As soon as you get night sleep under control, you should start seeing and improvement in daytime sleep.
Number of naps
If you’ve got too many naps in your day, or you’ve weaned to fewer naps too early, it will impact the quality and duration of day sleep. Pay attention to the cues that your baby is approaching a nap transition, and keep in mind these general recommendations for the number of naps per day needed for different age ranges.
| Age | Number of naps |
| 0 – 3 months | Variable |
| 4 – 6 months | 3 – 4 |
| 6 – 12 months | 2 – 3 |
| 12 – 24 months | 1 – 2 |
| 2 – 3 years | 1 |
| 3 – 5 years | 0 – 1 |
Sleep Associations
This is the most common reason kids have short naps. We all cycle in and out of light sleep and deep sleep. If your baby is used to falling asleep while rocking, bouncing, swinging or feeding, it’s likely that he or she won’t complete a full sleep cycle and will go from a partial waking to full waking when the activity stops. In order to fall back to sleep to extend that nap, he or she will need you to repeat that rocking, bouncing, swinging or feeding once again. Instead, give your baby the opportunity to practice self-soothing from eight to 12 weeks and beyond. Self-soothing is the key to transitioning from one sleep cycle to the next without any intervention from you.
If you’re stuck on daytime sleep, we can help facilitate great naps so that you can have a little quiet during the day. You need and deserve a break!