How to help baby nap longer and why it matters

Short naps, long naps, cat naps – everyone loves a nap, especially us parents. They make us feel refreshed (and slightly more human!).

The same goes for babies and toddlers. In fact, at this young age, it’s more than just nice to have – and a welcome break for you. Regular daytime shut-eye is essential, something that often isn’t stressed enough.

If they’re not getting good quality zzz's, for example, they’re only taking very short naps and not having them at the most beneficial times, your little one’s behaviour and development can be negatively affected. Read on to learn more!

When to start worrying at naps

For the first three weeks of life, your little one hasn’t yet distinguished between day and night, so will generally nap anywhere – happy days!

However, once the maternal melatonin wears off, babies become less drowsy and we see long periods of wakefulness before our little one starts making their own sleep hormones around the 3-4 month mark.

At this time, they fall into regular sleep cycles of 45 minutes during the day and 2-4 hours at night. While it may seem like a setback, and is known as 4-month sleep regression, it’s actually progression!

About half of how our babies sleep is genetic; we have no control over it. So, just enjoy the snuggles guilt-free during this fourth trimester.

The other half is nurture. This is where we have the opportunity to teach our little ones good sleep associations through good sleep hygiene, positive sleep cues, realistic routines and expectations, and consistent settling.

Twelve weeks is a great time to start respecting your little one’s need for sleep. Just as we respect their need to be fed and have their nappy changed.

This is where the importance of naps comes in!

Extending the 45-minute daytime sleep cycle

The way you settle your newborn to sleep will determine whether they’ll consolidate their sleep cycle (go back to sleep after the 45 wake) or not.

If they’re being rocked, fed or held to sleep, they’ll need these associations to resettle. However, if your little one has mastered the art of self-settling, they’ll wake for a brief period and then put themselves back to sleep, consolidating their cycle.  

It can often be hard to get your baby to sleep longer than 45-minute naps, but a lot of amazing stuff happens during restorative sleep (an hour or more). This is why I recommend working on resettling to achieve longer naps.

Benefits of longer restorative naps

Studies have shown that babies, toddlers, and children who regularly get adequate sleep have improved attention, behaviour, learning, memory, and overall physical and mental health.

In fact, after an hour or more of restorative sleep, there is a whole range of wonderful processes that happen, including:

• Short term memory transferred to long term

• Bones and tissues are repaired

• Appetite and emotions regulate

• Growth hormone is released

• Energy levels are restored

• Stress and cortisol levels reduce

• Vocabulary increases

• Immune system gets a boost

Ultimately, good sleep is as fundamental to healthy development as a healthy diet!

Working with biological sleep windows

Everyone benefits from routine, both kids and us parents!

Having a napping routine allows us to plan our day and schedule in some much needed ‘me’ time, life admin, or even just a hot cup of coffee.

Although daytime naps are harder to achieve than nighttime, as the pressure for sleep is greater at night, they’re still equally important and balance out the day, so your little one isn’t going to bed overtired.

It’s essential that your little one is getting good quality sleep at the most beneficial times. These are called biological sleep windows.

During these times, their body temperature and hormone levels fluctuate in preparation for sleep. They fall between:

• 9.00 am-10.00 am

• 12.00 noon-2.00 pm

• 6.00 pm-7.00 pm

The routines I encourage are 7.00 am-7.00 pm, with most sleep occurring between 7.00 pm and 7.00 am.

This routine aligns with biological sleep windows during the day and emphases a longer lunchtime nap. The lunchtime nap is the most restorative day nap and the one they keep until 2.5-3 years old.

The three key daytime naps

Morning nap

The morning nap is often the first nap to fall into place, reducing down over the months until it’s a short 30-minute nap by six months.

This brief period of shut-eye encourages your little one to learn to consolidate their lunchtime nap to achieve more restorative sleep.

As the morning nap is generally short, this can happen on the go, in the pram, front pack, or car! Another great benefit of having a predictable routine!

Longer morning naps teach the circadian rhythm that it will get a prolonged nap at this time. This means your bub will continue to wake earlier and earlier each morning to be tired enough to sleep at this time – eek!

Lunchtime nap

The lunchtime nap is typically the second nap of the day to fall into place. This nap won’t become the lunchtime nap until closer to four months, but it becomes easier to achieve, falling into place around 3-5 months.

As already mentioned, the lunchtime nap is the most restorative nap of the day and the one that your little one will keep up until the age of 2.5-3 years of age.

Natural dips in body temperature and sleep hormones help establish a long restorative nap. Depending on the age and stage of your baby, there may be short naps on either side of the lunchtime nap.

Afternoon nap

The afternoon nap is designed to get your little one through to bedtime without becoming overtired. It reduces down as they get older and is generally one sleep cycle.

An afternoon nap is often challenging to achieve as it doesn’t fall within a biological sleep window. Assisted naps are great here, but don’t panic! This won’t create any negative sleep associations.

In addition to the three main naps, you can also try bridging naps.

A bridging nap (or power nap!) is a short 10-15 minute nap that can ‘bridge’ the time from an early wake up to a scheduled nap. Although a band-aid solution, bridging naps are effective until around 6-7 months and can help establish longer naps without becoming overtired.

Common baby nap hiccups

Catnapping

Catnapping is an entirely normal developmental stage that occurs as your little one’s biological sleep cycles emerge, so don’t panic – your baby isn’t broken!

However,research shows that as babies get older, shorter naps are not as restorative as longer naps. This means it’s important to work on helping your child learn the skills to resettle and consolidate their catnaps.

If you can’t get bub to sleep longer through resettling, you’ll need to encourage them to have more frequent naps throughout the day, so they don’t become overtired. This being the case, they’ll have at least four naps throughout the day. You’ll need to work on consolidating the lunchtime nap around 3-5 months.

By 4-6 months, most babies are having three naps per day. The third nap is very short, or it should be, to not disrupt nighttime settling.

Most babies drop the third nap between 6 and 8 months.

Short naps

If your little one is having 3-4 short naps over the day, they’ll still be overtired by bedtime as the naps haven’t been restorative.

Likewise, if bub is not having naps throughout the day, sleep debt will skyrocket, and they’ll be extremely overtired by bedtime – and no one wants that!

No naps

Failed naps happen and this is completely normal!

It’s generally no cause for concern if your little one’s naps are late, on the go, or missed. In these cases, you might offer an earlier bedtime to compensate. However, missing naps day in and day out is usually not advisable and could result in your little one quickly becoming overtired and cranky.

Try and stick to the 80/20 rule where 80 per cent of naps are happening on time in their usual sleep environment. The other 20 per cent can be late, on the go, or missed.

Catnaps, short naps, or no naps can cause difficulty settling, delayed sleep onset, and frequent overnight and early morning waking. That’s why naps are not a luxury. They’re essential for health, behaviour, development (and sanity!).

How to help baby nap longer

So now you know the importance of longer restorative naps, what naps baby needs, and some of the common nap hiccups, here are my top tips on how to help baby nap longer:

• Incorporate naps into biological sleep windows for optimal settling and restorative sleep.

• Create an optimal environment for sleep, i.e. dark room, room temperature 18-22 degrees Celsius, white noise (if age appropriate) and a sleep bag.

• Use pre-sleep rituals, such as changing their nappy or reading a story, to tell your little one it’s time to wind down and start the sleep process.

• Use age-appropriate awake windows so that your little one isn’t going down for a nap either under or overtired.

• Consistency! I cannot stress this one enough. Ensure your approach is the same every time your little one naps, needs resettling, and at bedtime.

When do naps end?

There comes a time when we need to start dropping baby’s naps, which is bittersweet. While you lose some precious moments of ‘me’ time *weep*, your daily schedule becomes a little restrictive. Hello, days and lunches out!

The afternoon nap is the first to go between six and eight months. Next is the morning nap. Moving from two naps to one lunchtime nap normally happens between 15 and 18 months.

Toddlers are finally ready to drop their lunchtime nap from around 2.5-3 years, preferring rest or quiet time in the afternoon.

Struggling with naps isn’t uncommon. Most of us have dealt with these battles when it comes to nap time. If you’ve tried a variety of strategies and are still struggling to help baby nap longer, book your free 15-minute consultation today!