Cat Naps
Babies, especially in the 1st year, need a lot of sleep. They need sleep to have a productive day of play and exploration, to regulate their appetite, mood and energy levels.
One myth I’ve encountered is: if the baby won’t sleep much during the day, they’ll sleep through the night. Not only is this false, it backfires, big time. A baby that doesn’t know how to sleep during the day, will struggle to sleep at night.
All babies go through some cat napping periods. For some it is worse than others. While it seems inevitable, there are some major contributors to this tiring phenomenon...
Picking up your baby when they wake up: If your baby gets used to being picked up and social when they wake up, even after a short sleep, they are less likely to consolidate sleep cycles and sleep for long.
Motion sleep: If your baby spent most of their sleeping time in a swaddle/carrier/arms in the first 4 months, they are more likely to catnap later on.
Bright sleep environment: When babies sleep in bright light (outside, living room, buggy, bright bedroom) it’s harder for them to consolidate sleep cycles, and they are more likely to wake up before entering deep sleep, which only begins 20min after falling asleep.
Sleep deprivation: If your baby is used to take short naps, they are accumulating sleep debt and are becoming overtired. Over-tiredness causes high levels of Cortisol (stress hormone) which interfere with entering deep sleep.
Sleep is a skill a baby learns. Learning to consolidate sleep cycles and self-settling are transferable skills babies practice during day naps, and then use at night.
A baby needs a restorative sleep in order to function well during the day. If your baby naps for 20 minutes and wakes up, they aren’t done sleeping. 20 minutes is only the end of the first part of a sleep cycle. It isn’t sufficient to restore your baby’s energy, consolidate memories, and balance the hormones in their brain. They will tire out very quickly and want to go to sleep, again. This can lead to them accumulating over-tiredness and sleep debt, and begin a vicious cycle of cat naps as they aren’t able to enter deep sleep.
Over-tiredness becomes a problem when your baby is too tired to eat, play, and practically do anything. It will also be near impossible for you to get anything done.
So, if after 20 minutes they are awaken, try and re-settle them. Only because they opened their eyes doesn’t necessarily mean they are done sleeping. Once learning to re-settle successfully, they will start consolidating sleep cycles and get the amount of sleep they require.
Cat naps often come hand-in-hand with early morning wake-ups. You can fix this habit with my “5 Reasons for Early Morning Wake-ups” guide here.
To help your baby stop cat napping and start consolidating sleep cycles, book a sleep consultation package or a discovery call today.