5 Key Reasons Why Your Baby is Taking Short Naps - Part 2
Overview
In today’s article we will be pulling back the curtain on why your baby is taking short naps.
This is Part 2 of the 5 Key Reasons Why Your Baby Is Taking Short Naps.
You will learn the final 2 most common reasons why your baby is a chronic cat-napper - and 2 bonus reasons - and what to do to maximize nap length and fix those short naps once and for all.
If you missed 5 Key Reasons Why Your Baby Is Taking Short Naps - Part 1 << you can read about it here.
Why Is My Baby Taking Short Naps: Common Doesn’t Mean Required
Short naps – naps lasting 20-30 minutes or even less – can be common, especially in those first weeks and months. But, as we discussed in the previous article –
Common doesn’t mean required.
Just because something is common, it doesn’t mean it has to be that way.
Forgetting your laundry in the wash and having to rewash it is common. But you can set reminders on your phone and leave notes around the house to help you remember.
Hitting the snooze button is common, but you can go to bed earlier and/or place the alarm on the other side of the bedroom in order to make it easier to wake in the morning.
It’s common for toddlers and young children to have total disregard for their safety, but that doesn’t mean we can’t childproof the house and help them safely learn about consequences.
Just because something is common, doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do about it.
Last week we discussed the first 3 most common reasons why your baby is taking short naps and what to do about it.
Today we have the final 2 most common reasons for you - and 2 bonus reasons.
Let’s jump right in.
Reasons Why My Baby Is Taking Short Naps: Overtiredness
How long is your baby staying awake before you put them down for a nap?
Most new and seasoned parents are well acquainted with wake windows – how long your child can stay awake before becoming overtired.
This is vital for nap length because of what overtiredness does to your child’s body.
When your child’s body – or anyone’s body, for that matter – becomes overtired, it means that they have stayed awake long enough that the cortisol in their body has risen to a point where it hit a threshold, and adrenaline was released.
As we just mentioned, this is a very common occurrence for babies and children – because their cortisol levels hit a threshold long before ours do as adults.
But, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do about it.
We can get them down for a nap before that threshold is reached.
The longer we’re awake, the higher our sleep pressure builds – which is biological readiness in our body for sleep.
And the longer we’re awake, the more the cortisol builds.
A wake window is that sweet spot where sleep pressure is high enough, but cortisol level hasn’t peaked yet.
And the reason it can be so frustrating is because it’s so sensitive – sometimes missing the optimal wake window by as little as 15 minutes can cause that cortisol to peak.
And not only that, but wake windows change as your baby grows. The older he is, the longer his wake windows will become, until they reach the length they will be for (essentially) the rest of his life.
Case Study - Short Naps
I recently worked with a family of a 4-month-old who was struggling with short naps.
We first helped her learn to fall bask asleep independently so she could connect sleep cycles – as we mentioned in last week’s article is critical for lengthening naps in the long-run – adjusted her overall sleep schedule, and played around with her wake windows to figure out how long she could stay awake before becoming overtired.
And, sure enough, it worked! When all of our adjustments were in place, we discovered that her sweet spot was 2 hours. She began to take longer naps. Not for every nap right away, but when we kept to the schedule and Sleep Plan, we had greater success. And like clockwork, if we kept her awake longer than 2 hours, our original sleep struggles would rear back up.
Common Mistake Causing Short Naps
One mistake that many new and seasoned parents make is to rely solely on sleep cues to determine when to put their baby down for a nap.
But the problem is – after the newborn phase, this cueing system becomes extremely unreliable because many babies and young children stop showing sleep cues until they’re already overtired.
And the reason overtiredness is so detrimental to sleep – including naps – is because:
The adrenaline that is released makes it significantly harder for your baby to fall asleep and stay asleep – hence, short naps.
The adrenaline makes her stay awake longer, becoming even more overtired, and then once she does finally fall asleep, the adrenaline wakes her back up a short while later.
And at that point, her sleep pressure has dropped to a point where she’ll struggle more to fall back asleep.
Does this mean that our kids will never fall asleep or sleep really deeply when they’re overtired? No. But chances are it won’t be consistent, reliable, quality sleep.
Reasons Why My Baby Is Taking Short Naps: Sleep Environment
And now let’s discuss the fifth common reason why your baby is taking short naps.
You know how your mom (or aunt or best friend) insists on letting your baby learn to fall asleep in all kinds of different environments so they’ll “learn how to sleep anywhere”?
In the newborn phases, this can work for some babies because of their immature circadian rhythms and their high need for sleep.
However – you knew there was going to be a however –
This doesn’t work for all newborns. And after that newborn phase, it works even less and less.
This is due to the way our bodies are built.
Our bodies are built to stay awake when it’s light out.
Our bodies are built to wake up when we hear loud or inconsistent noises.
Our bodies are built to sleep better in cooler environments.
New Skill Development
Let’s compare this to helping our baby learn to roll.
Some babies learn to roll on their own. No problem.
But what if we were actively trying to help our baby learn to roll and said – we want our baby to learn how to roll in any environment.
Even when she’s on a slippery surface.
Even when she’s wearing bulky clothing.
Even when there are distractions around.
Does this make sense? Is it fair to expect her to learn to roll in an environment that doesn’t support her?
No, of course not.
We want to make this learning process as easy on her as possible. We want to support her biological needs, not fight against them.
Most Supportive Sleep Environment for Naps
When it comes to sleep environment, the most supportive sleep environment usually looks like this:
Pitch-black dark
Low-frequency, plain white noise
68-70* F
In a swaddle if she’s not rolling or a sleep sack if she is
And – for safety – in her crib with nothing else in it and on her back.
Every time.
Does that mean she will never take a nap in the car or her stroller or on a park bench?
Of course not. Especially once her circadian rhythm is better established, she’ll be able to be more flexible when the need arises.
But let’s make sleep easier on her instead of challenging her sleep needs unnecessarily.
Reasons Why My Baby Is Taking Short Naps - Bonus Reason #1: Ready to Drop a Nap
Alright, bonus time.
I have 2 bonus common reasons why your baby is taking short naps.
Here’s the first one.
Sometimes our kiddos suddenly start taking shorter naps when they’re ready to drop a nap. At this point, their sleep needs are shifting and they don’t need as much sleep overall or maybe they need a similar amount of sleep, but at a different time.
For example, oftentimes in the 6-7 month range, many full term babies are gearing up to drop from 3 naps to 2 naps.
And in the 12-18 month range, most full term babies are ready to drop from 2 naps to 1.
Now, short naps are only one sign that baby is ready to drop a nap. And if your baby is ready to drop a nap, those signs stick around for longer than two weeks.
But if he’s in the right age-range and showing these signs consistently, it might be time to transition.
Reasons Why My Baby Is Taking Short Naps - Bonus Reason #1: Not Physically Tired Enough
And the second and final bonus reason why your baby is taking short naps is that your baby could be not tired enough physically.
Do you ever lie in bed, and you’re mentally exhausted, but you had to sit around all day for one reason or another, and your body is still raring to go?
This can be another reason why your baby is getting short naps. And it can be especially common in the colder months, when it’s hard to get outside to play.
As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, the solution is simple – get your child to run around (or whatever physical activity is appropriate for his age and development level – crawling or even active tummy time) and play hard during their awake time before they take a nap.
This helps to prime their body and help it be more ready for a good quality, full rest when naptime does come.
Why Is My Baby Taking Short Naps - Part 2: Summary
And that’s all of them!
The final 2 – and 2 bonus – most common reasons why your baby is taking short naps. And what to do to solve each short-nap cause once and for all.
Overtiredness
Sleep environment
Bonus: Ready to drop a nap
Bonus 2: Not physically tired enough
And if you missed 5 Key Reasons Why Your Baby Is Taking Short Naps - Part 1, go check it out now!