8 Month Old Not Napping

Does she cry to be picked up when she wakes up? Is there any chance she will stay in her crib quietly once she is awake? If so, perhaps she will play / talk to herself awhile and then go back to sleep. My son does this sometimes. Does she go the 9-10 hours at night without waking up? If so, that's great! I still struggle with my 11 month old with that. I think you should try just the afternoon nap and see how it goes. My son is starting to go to just one nap, although I'd like to hang on to two a little longer. Really, it sounds like you're doing all the right things. Trust your instincts.

My experience from the past would be to drop one of the naps and have her take one long one. It may be trial and error to figure out what time to put her down. She is still very young and needs a nap or "downtime". Since she is also sleeping 9 - 10 hours a night (Your so lucky!) I would try having playtime outside before her afternoon nap and tire her out. Good Luck!

G., my last child was the Queen of the Power Nap. So, I understand where you're coming from.

Have you tried laying down with her until she gets into REM sleep? May help her. I would definitely pray as she goes to sleep that it is enough and restful for her.

D. S

I have 2 conflicting ideas on this issue. My daughter is almost 10 mos, and sometimes has the same problem. Lately I have taken the "easy" route and given her a bottle. That way, I know she isn't waking up hungry, and it soothes her to sleep. I have not always done this, and I don't plan to make it a long-term fix.

That said, a MUCH better long term fix would be the solutions found in the book Baby Wise and/or The Baby Whisperer. Both books use the EXACT same technique, but they say it differently. Baby Wise is better geared for fathers (IMO) in that it is all about what the parents want from a child, while Baby Whisperer is more geared toward empathetic mothers who want their child's needs met. Either way, both books have great advice!

Hi G.!

I have a 10 month old girl and she has had similar issues. It drove me crazy to have her take short naps. When she was just a few months old she would take 3-4 30 minute naps a day and I felt like I could get nothing accomplished. It was almost as if I could set a timer for 30 minutes and she would automatically wake up. She would wake up crying and be grouchy and tired until her next power nap. I found that 'time' was my friend. It was something that she outgrew. She still only takes a short 30-40 minute nap in the morning but she always sleeps 1.5 hours, sometimes 2 hours in the afternoon. This has been wonderful.

I am not a huge fan of cry it out but I did find that prior to her taking a good afternoon nap, she would sleep for 30 minutes, fuss for 20 minutes and go back to sleep. Eventually her afternoon nap lengthened.

You could always try going to 1 nap a day and see how she does. My older daughter didn't go to one nap a day until she was about 18 months old.

Good Luck!