How Do I Get My 3 Month Old Baby to Nap Longer?

How Do I Get my 3 Month Old Baby to Nap Longer?

Does your 3 month old wake up fussy or crying from her naps? Your baby wakes up after 20-30 minutes, and you wish your baby would take longer naps.

Here you'll find ALL the tips you need to get your 3 month old baby napping longer! Plus you'll get advice on night feeds, awake times, nap routines and more.

Weaning night feedings: https://www.babysleepmadesimple.com/weaning-night-feedings

4 month regression tips: https://www.babysleepmadesimple.com/4-month-sleep-regression-tips-video

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Transcription:

Jenna wrote in and said: “My 3 month old sleeps pretty well at night. But she only naps for 30-40 mins. How do I get her to lengthen naps?”
Night Feedings for a 3 Month Old
Check out my guide, 'Weaning Night Feedings’, on my website. It tells you how many times your baby can be expected to eat at night based on how old your baby is.

For 3 month olds, up to 3 feeds and night wakings is acceptable.
Naps for a 3 Month Old
Napping for 30-40 minutes is pretty normal and common at 3 months old.

Look at her behaviour and her moods. Is she fussy when she wakes up, or often during the day? Is she unsettled? Does she have a hard time falling asleep? If so, then you’re right – she might need a little bit more daytime sleep.

If she’s a happy baby and she’s napping often, then it may be OK. But I’ve still got some baby nap tips and some sleep guidelines to go over.
Tip No. 1: Keep to 1.5-2 hour awake times
The awake times for a 3 month old are 1.5-2 hours. Babies have a biological need to sleep often.

Tip No.2: Start a 10 minute pre-nap calming routine
10 minutes before her naps are due, go into her bedroom. Dim the lights, change her diaper, put on her pyjamas. Sing a lullaby and then rock her for a few minutes. Then put her in the bed to fall asleep on her own.

Tip No.3: Nap in bed as much as possible
At 3 months, it’s time for her to nap in the same space where she sleeps at night - when you're at home for naps.

Tip No. 4: Have your baby’s bedroom be completely blacked-out

Tip No.5: Play white noise all night.

The white noise, the blacked-out bedroom, the pre-nap routine send cues to her body that it’s time to relax and fall asleep. As you do them the same way every day, she’ll follow your cues and she’ll settle down for sleep easier.

Tip No.6: Napping on the go is OK
If you’re out and on the go, it's completely fine for her to nap in the baby carrier, the stroller or the car.

Tip No. 7: Put baby in the carrier/stroller and go for a long walk
Motion helps babies sleep. Pop her in the stroller and go for a long walk - she’ll probably sleep longer than 40 mins. You can do this until she's 6 months.

Tip No. 8: Have baby fall asleep on her own
The real trick for getting babies, toddlers and children sleeping better and for longer stretches is having them fall asleep on their own.

The way your baby initially falls asleep, is how they’re going to resettle themselves and fall back to sleep when they wake.

It’s a bit early at 3 months to be really stressing your baby falling asleep on her own.
A Gentle Method: Teach your young baby to fall asleep on her own:
Start with bedtime. If you typically rock your baby to sleep and then for 10 more minutes, here's what you'd do:

Tonight, rock her until she’s asleep, and then for just 3-4 minutes after she falls asleep. Put her in her bed to continue falling asleep on her own.

After a few nights of that, I would wait until she was starting to fall asleep. Then, put her in the crib and then rock her little body for a while in the crib, to help her fall asleep on her own there. Keep the motion going until she falls asleep.

A few nights after that, I would get her into a nice, drowsy state. Then I would put her into bed and assist her falling asleep. She will become more accepting of going into her crib before she’s in a deep sleep.

That’s a really gradual way of doing it. It’s probably the only method I would recommend at this age.

4 Month Sleep Regression
The 4 month sleep regression is right around the corner. Hopefully you’ve heard about it and you’ve got a bit of notice. It doesn’t happen to every baby, but it’s pretty common.
I’ve got an article and video on my website called ‘4 Month Sleep Regression Tips’. It gives you the background of what the 4 month sleep regression is, what causes it, and what you can do about it.

See which tips I recommend that you could start doing early, that will really help your little one ride out this regression and not be so affected by it.

Видео How Do I Get My 3 Month Old Baby to Nap Longer? канала BabySleepMadeSimple