Why does my baby only take 30 minute naps?
Babies often wake up after just 15 to 35 minutes, cutting daytime sleep short. This leaves parents with less than an hour of downtime to eat, rest, or get housework done, making the day completely exhausting.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1trying to put baby to bed earlier or later
- 2trying a third nap
- 3adjusting wake windows and room lighting
- 4using a baby carrier to free hands
- 5accepting the phase and riding it out until they grow older
- 6Using a kong to keep the puppy busy while resting
- 7Not forcing daytime crate naps and letting the puppy crash wherever they drop
- 8Keeping the crate as a nighttime-only space
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Does anyone else's puppy not nap for 2 hours before 8pm or is it just me? He does have day time naps but only usually 30 mins max. I cannot get him to settle for a long time.”source ↗
“Plus the more enforced naps he has in crate, the more unsettled I find he is in the crate at night.”source ↗
“He howls when i'm not in the room too so will only sleep in crate during day if i'm out or if i'm in the room with him.”source ↗
“My LO is 8 1/2 months old and will only take 15-35min naps.”source ↗
“i'm a SAHM and getting some days less than 1 hour to myself to just chill for a minute, have a hot cup of coffee and get house work /food/ etc done is getting exhausting.”source ↗
“I do! It definitely allows me to get some stuff done but if he falls asleep in there I have to stay relatively still or he will wake up 😅 and transferring him to his bed from the carrier if he's asleep never works he just wakes up in a terrible mood”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to stay awake during late afternoon video meetings
- 3How to handle after school meltdowns from an overtired child who won't nap
- 3How to survive the long school stretches without breaks
- 13How to handle toddlers waking up at 4:30 AM
- 2Is my toddler getting enough sleep on a low sleep schedule?
- 4How to handle students falling asleep in class