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How can I get my 6 month old to nap for longer than 20 minutes?

4,324 views · Published 29 April 2016 · 2:58 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: IntermountainParents · 2016 · Education

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If you have a baby that's taking really short naps, like 20 minutes at a time, you might be wondering if you can make those longer, because nap time is like sanity time for parents. And around 6 months of age, a normal amount of sleep for a baby is like 12 to 14 hours out of each 24 hour period. And this will be broken into night time sleep as well as naps, usually 2 to 3 at this point. So there's a couple of things that you can do to try to increase the length of your baby's naps, if you want.

First off, examine your baby's sleeping environment. Are there extra lights, or noises, or distractions that are waking your baby up? And if so, make adjustments. Some parents actually find it helpful to use a noise maker - something that plays white noise, or beach waves, or whatever the sound may be - it's just ambient noise and it makes it so that they don't wake up at the sound of every other little noise outside of their room. You might also try combining 3 naps into 2 if your baby is taking lots of short little naps throughout the day, and that might make the 2 naps a little bit longer, And as they get older, if the 2 naps start to get shorter, then you may start to combine it into 1, and find better luck with that.

If these tips aren't helping, then you can try sleep training. And basically, this is where when your baby cries, instead of responding to your baby's cries, you just let them "cry it out". And after 20 minutes, the baby may just be fussing since you put them down and never really get a good nap, and so that's also something to consider. If your baby cries and you come and get them, they learn that that's what works, so they're going to continue crying. So you need to train them to go to sleep without help from you, and teach them that when they cry, they don't get what they want, which is you. So put him down for a nap after being fed, and changed, and loved, and if they cry, that's okay. You can let him cry for as long as you're comfortable with it, as long as you're sure that their cries are just telling you that they want you. If you feel like you have immediate needs then, of course, address those.

If this seems a little bit harsh to you though, then you can try a more graduated approach where you put your baby down and then wait 5 or 10 minutes before you go check on them. And when you go in, resist any and all urges to pick them up, turn on the lights, or talk to them. Just gently reassure them that you're there by touching their tummy or their head, and turn around and walk right back out of the room. And that's probably going to make them angry, but slowly and incrementally increase the amount of time you wait before checking on them again. And what that does is reassure them that you're there, but it also sends them the clear message that you're not going to pick them up, so they stop crying. After being consistent and persistent about this for about a week or so, a lot of babies start sleeping better. I hope these tips and suggestions are helpful to you, and that your baby is taking better naps. And if you have more questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IntermountainMoms, and recommend us to your friends and family too.

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