How to stop baby from cat napping

How do I stop my baby from cat napping?

Cat naps!! You’ve finally got your baby snoozing away for their nap, you’ve tidied up a little, made yourself a coffee, taken that first hot sip, and then……..Wahhh! 

Baby is crying, letting you know they’re awake, even though it’s only been a short while since they fell asleep. (How do they know that moment you’ve just sat down to relax?)

Catnapping is exhausting. For you and your little one! 

If you have a little catnapper, this probably isn’t a one-off event. Your baby is most likely in a cycle of catnapping each day, which means your days are a cycle of putting baby down, rushing to get a couple of things done before they wake up. Then you spend the next half hour trying to get your overtired grumpy baby back to sleep. Does this sound familiar?

So let me give you the how to stop my baby from cat napping guide. 

First up why does it happen all the time?

Why does my baby keep taking cat naps?

Your little one hasn’t yet discovered how to resettle independently. Catnappers haven’t yet learnt how to make the transition from one sleep cycle to the next, so when they rouse, they wake up completely. 

Babies who consistently catnap are missing out on the deep, good quality, restorative sleep they get from completing the full cycles of sleep they require each day and night. They’re left feeling generally tired and have lots of short naps throughout the day to keep themselves going. They then become overtired, cranky and unsettled. It can impact their night-time sleeps too.

How long is a cat nap?

While it’s not uncommon for babies to be catnappers, there’s a common reason why they’re napping this way. 

Babies who wake 15, 20, 40 minutes into their naps aren’t waking up because they’ve had enough sleep. 

They’re waking up because they haven’t quite figured out how to join the dots and connect the sleep cycles. As they enter the light sleep phase at the end of a sleep cycle, it’s normal to rouse a little. 

A Catnap is what we call the sleep babies have when they have 20- to 40-minute naps throughout the day. They wake up after a short time and wont settle again.

How do I stop baby from catnapping?

If your baby’s foundations for sleep are already in place, your focus will be on extending baby’s naps by helping them to join the dots and connect one sleep cycle to the next. Part of this will also be teaching them to self-soothe so they develop the ability to make the transition between sleep cycles smoothly and independently.

 Lengthening naps can take some time but with consistency you and your baby can do this.

It’s important to remember that when babies rouse between sleep cycles, they can be really noisy and seem awake, when in fact they’re not. You might see them squirming, hear a bit of a grizzle & fuss or even a small cry. These are all signs they’re trying to re-settle.

When you do hear and see these signs, try not to rush to your baby. Listen out, give them some space and a little time to see if they can re-settle themselves back to sleep. By rushing in, we risk disturbing them and inadvertently wake them up – even if they weren’t ready. If your baby starts to cry and the crying is escalating, quietly go in and use one of the gentle settling techniques I cover in my sleep guides or sleep packages.

How do I know if my baby is self settling?

When your baby is going through the process of acquiring the ability to self-settle between sleep cycles, there is likely to be a number of nap sessions where they drift in and out of sleep. Your baby might fall off to sleep for 10 or 15 minutes – then wake up and have a bit of a cry for a period, then they might drop off to sleep again, then 10 mins later – wake up again. There may even have periods of lying there quietly awake with eyes fully open or half open. They might be grunting squirming a little while they lay there.

In the early days of breaking the catnapping cycle, your baby may need you to go in each time they wake up to help them with resettling. As they learn to self-soothe their reliance on you will reduce, they’ll start to connect and to consolidate nap cycles and their naps will lengthen so they can enjoy good solid blocks of uninterrupted sleep. 

Do babies naturally grow out of catnapping?

Babies have 3 biological sleep windows once they are 4 months old. If you manage to start a nap or their night time sleep within this window you will find it easier to settle and resettle bub. 

Baby sleep windows are 9-10am, 12-2pm, then 6-7pm.