How do you extend a short nap?

A nap of exactly thirty minutes, every single time. You put your baby down, you've just sat down, and there it is again. There's a way to stretch such a nap, and there's a moment when you should stop trying.

Why it's always around those thirty minutes

That's the length of one sleep cycle. At the end of it your baby briefly comes almost to the surface, and then the transition to the next cycle has to be made. That skill isn't there yet, so waking up follows. Restless naps, where your baby lies tossing toward the end, also come from that transition. Why it works this way is in why your baby only sleeps 30 minutes.

You can help through that transition. Not every time, but often enough to make a difference.

Be there before the waking

That's the whole trick. If it goes wrong structurally after 25 or 30 minutes, go into the room just before that moment, quietly.

If you see the restlessness coming, help your baby through it right away:

• Pat gently on the bottom or the back.
• Stroke calmly.
• Turn briefly onto the side, and put your baby back on their back as soon as sleep is back.
• Or rock briefly, in your arms or in the rocking chair.

If you wait until your baby is really awake and angry, the chance is much smaller. Hence the timing.

Stop after five to ten minutes

If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. The nap is over, and the wake window that follows is shorter than normal. That's the whole consequence.

Carrying on until it works produces a frustrated baby and a parent who feels like a failure, and that trade isn't worth it.

Make sure the room cooperates

Daytime naps have the same requirements as the night: dark, cool and quiet. Many short naps are really just naps in a room that's too light or too noisy. See setting up the nursery.

Then work with the shorter wake window

This is the part schedules always leave out. A short nap means a shorter wake window after it. The numbers below belong to the first months; from around four months they're higher, and those are in wake windows by age.

• Slept less than 45 minutes: count on 45 to 60 minutes of wake time.
• Slept longer than 45 minutes: then it can go toward an hour and a half.

And the first nap of the day usually comes fastest: often sleep is needed again after about an hour of being awake.

When you simply let this go

In the first months, naps are unpredictable, and that's how it should be. One is long, the next short. What counts is total daytime sleep, not its shape, and it doesn't matter how: in your arms, in the carrier, in the stroller.

You're not creating bad habits this way. See whether that's even possible.

If you notice your baby is an easy sleeper and the naps get longer on their own from around eight weeks, feel free to move a little faster with the first gentle techniques. But no pressure, and don't force anything.