45 minute naps driving you crazy?
Do you often feel that you can set your watch as to when your little one wakes up?
this means that any light or sudden noise will easily rouse your baby. It is also the time where a young baby will startle awake. Of course once they have taken the edge off it can be very difficult to resettle, even if they seem like they need more sleep.
So how do you achieve longer naps?
White noise – this stops bub waking at any loud or sudden noise.
Black room – this can help bub stay in a deep sleep as there is no light to bring them to full arousal.
For a baby that is not rolling, a swaddle to counteract the startle reflex.
Getting the wake time right for your baby, sometimes 45 minute naps can mean that bub needs slightly longer awake, especially if they wake happy.
Working on any sleep associations – If bub goes to sleep with something and wakes up at 40 minutes and it is gone, they will wake fully. This means that if your baby closes his eyes with the dummy in, and then you take it out, as far as he is concerned it is still in his mouth until the 45 minute mark. This is the same for rocking,feeding, bouncing, music, white noise turning off. The environment and conditions that your baby falls asleep with needs to be exactly the same at the 45 minute mark as it is when they close their eyes to help remove the 45 minute wake up.
Some babies do continue to “cat nap” despite all of the above suggestions, if however any of the factors above are not in place, you can’t assume you just have a “cat napper”. If bub is still cat napping between 6-8 months the “cat napping phase” has resolved by now and it is likely that there is a sleep association or routine issue preventing a longer nap from happening.
