Nap Wakeup After 30 Minutes!

Hi J.,

I know how you feel, my daughter also 4.5 months does the exact same thing, 30 minutes exactly, it's like she has a built in alarm clock. She has been doing it for a few months, and also doesn't sleep through the night. I think it's completely normal, frustrating as it is (never get anything done).
Good luck, if you have any success let me know:)
congrats on the long awaited baby boy

Jessica

My son is little over 5 month, and he just started having short naps during the day. However, I am very pleased that he sleeps through the night. I figure, you have to give a little to have a peaceful nights rest.

My daughter did the same at that age - 30 min nap in the morning, 30 mins, in the afternoon and she would nap anywhere from 45 mins - 2 hours (yay!) at lunchtime. We tried everything and what works for us is see is she will get herself back to sleep during the long nap (rare). Otherwise we go in, give her her paci, and giggle her butt so that her head jiggles, and this gets her back to sleep. Weird, but it's following the stuff that worked for her as a newborn. If your child wakes up crying chances are he probably does need to sleep longer....but also be aware that it's typical to do 1-2 short naps and 1 longer nap. Good luck!

it might be his normal sleep cycle. my daughter did the same thing for months. i could only get 2 30 minute naps out of her at that age. i tried all the tricks, read all the books etc. she started napping longer when she began to walk. good luck.

Hi J.,
My 6 month old son has had the same sleep issues. Do you swaddle him? At first my son didn't like it, and it took about a week to get him used to it. If he is awake 3 hours between naps, then he will sleep about 45 minutes to an hour or longer. Maybe your son needs to have more awake time between naps?? Does he do the same thing at night?
Congratulations on the long awaited birth of your son and your decision to stay home with him :)
G.

J.,
My baby is a little over 5 months and she does the same thing. Sometimes she will wake up crying which I think means that she is still tired, but she doesn't usually go back to sleep for about 3 more hours. My friend has a 10 month old baby who did the same thing and she said he grew out of it. She said once he was able to stay awake for longer periods of time he would take longer naps. I'm hoping that starts soon for my little one too.

Good luck!

*R.

This is natural; it means he is outgrowing the need for naps.

My daughter is 10.5 months and does the same thing. She always has. I'm really hoping it's something she outgrows because I can tell she's always tired during the day. She sleeps GREAT at night, but her naps are horrible! She just started going to sleep on her own for them (something she has been doing at night for a while), so I'm hoping that will help with the being able to go back to sleep. I let her cry when she wakes up from her nap for a few minutes to see if she'll go back down, but it hasn't worked thus far.

Without knowing details of his "routine", it is hard to give sound advice/insight. However, there are a few points to consider:
1. his "wake" window may be longer than you are anticipating - try pushing his naps out by 15 minute increments every few days. (BTW, at 4.5 months, babies have no longer than a 2-2.5 hour wake window, and for some babies it is less) They have a very narrow window of opportunity for a good nap so too early or too late is a problem,
2. he may be overtired from chronic lack of sleep and overall night sleep may have to be examined
3. he may not know how to put himself back to sleep when waking from a sleep cycle. You may want to try sleep training of some sort,
4. his system may simply be slow to mature. Sometimes it isn't until 6 months that babies start to lengthen naps, and
5. at this age, motion sleep equates to lighter sleep so you may want to keep him in his crib for naps.

I have a 5 month old and a 2yo, and these are the lessens I have learned along the way.
I strongly suggest reading the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" by Marc Weissbluth MD. It's a wise investment that will last you through your son's adolescence.

GL

Your sleep cycle is driven by your serotonin and the central nervous system.

80-90 % of your serotonin is in your gut. He could have a bacterial overload, parasites or worms, or fungal overgrowth, or a virus. I do know that there are at least two parasites that will affect serotonin. Blastocystosis and Archiacanthocephala. Im not saying any of these are the issues, but i am saying you can look online deeper into the issue. If he were an adult it would be said he has insomnia.

Im also wondering if Possibly a food intolerance can affect it?

Hi J.,
I am living this same situation right now. My 3 1/2 mo. old is doing the same thing -- but there is no sleeping through the night or added bonus. I know he is "overtired" too and I've consulted a ton of resources. I don't know if you have the option or energy to do this, but I've found that non stop walks in the stroller for an hour and a 1/2 sometimes work. But for him it is NON stop movement...no decafe latte breaks, stopping at the store, etc... which is hard/impossible to do every day. Thanks for asking the question. Looking forward to all the advice!

Hi J.,
Yep--both my kids did that at that age, and it's very common. In a nutshell, they will get past it with time, as long as the nighttime sleeping is going well (i.e. sleeping through the night), and the sleep props (feeding to sleep, rocking to sleep, soothing to sleep in any way, pacifiers, etc.) are weaned away.

Thank goodness I found www.sleepsense.net to solve my babies' sleeping issues. Best advice out there, in my opinion, and trust me--I did soooo much research. I was so exhausted and desperate for solutions. Please check it out. Dana Obleman is a child/infant sleep specialist, and you can even get free, personal questions answered through her website. I ordered the e-book and it was the best $47 ever spent! Highly recommend it.

Good luck!
A.

My daughter did this for at least the first 6 months of her life. As she got a little older her naps slowly got longer and longer. Around the age of 1 she was taking a solid 3 hour nap every day. My little boy would usually do 2 short naps and then 1 longer nap (1.5 hours) around that age. Be patient with him and don't worry about it too much. My pediatrician said that this is very normal and all children are different. Some nap hours at a time from the start and others just take little cat naps all day.

My son did this too as well as several of my friends children. His cycle was that he was awake for 2-3 hours, eat, then nap for 30 minutes. The entire day was like this! I read somewhere that this is a unfortunately a very normal cycle for children this age. Good luck and know they do eventually grow out of it!

I had the same issue with my first daughter once she turned 5 months old. "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" by Weissbluth was recommended to me, and two kids later it is still beside my glider as I refer to it anytime one of my kids has any kind of sleep issue. I am happy to report that I have three great sleepers (and nappers) ages 2, 4 & 5 and I believe it's mostly due to what I learned from that book!
Good Luck!!

This is absolutely about sleep cylces. Everyone, including adults, have cycles of lighter sleep followed by deeper sleep. Often when we transition from one to the other we wake up for awhile. In adults this is marked by tossing and turning until we fall back to sleep. Babies will fuss during this transition. Totally normal. The problem comes when the transition is interuppted before he's given a chance to get to deeper sleep. We all need deep sleep to function properly when awake. Right now you are helping him work through the transition with the pacifier, and if that works for you it's really ok. It would be good for him down the line if he learned to self-soothe. Have you tried to just leave him for 10mins or so to see if he quiets back down? I know it's hard to hear our babies fuss! Since you've been helping with the paci it may take him several days to learn to get through this himself, but again it will be a real benefit for him down the road.

I wanted to agree with the other person who said that motion sleep (swing, stroller, etc.) is light sleep, so I'd definitely put him in a crib (or playpen, etc. when maybe at a friend's house) for naps so he gets a good deep sleep. I also wanted to say that the idea that a 4 month old doesn't need naps is incorrect. Although kids will grow out of the need for naps at different times, that range will be somewhere between the ages of 3yrs and 5 yrs.

Enjoy your little man!