Are short naps normal? How to lengthen the dreaded 30-minute nap.
So you’re deep in the trenches of short baby naps. Like, the infamous 30-minute nap club. What do you do?
Maybe your baby is napping just long enough for you to make a quick snack, only to be interrupted mid-bite. It’s super common, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. So let’s break it down.
First things first: Is a short nap normal?
The answer depends on your baby’s age.
Under 5 months old? Totally normal.
If your baby is younger than 5 months, short naps (even 20 minutes!) are completely developmentally appropriate. Their sleep cycles are immature and it can take time for their naps to consolidate.
Yes, we can still try to optimize naps through things like environment and timing, but some of it is just your baby’s brain catching up.
Over 5 months old? Now we can start asking some questions…
If your baby is older than 5 months and still taking consistent 30–45 minute naps, it's time to troubleshoot. At this point, they’re capable of linking sleep cycles and getting restorative daytime rest. So if that’s not happening, we want to look at why.
Why are naps so challenging?
Unfortunately, daytime sleep is just harder. Unlike bedtime, when melatonin is being produced, the sun is setting, and sleep pressure is at its greatest, daytime doesn’t have those same sleep-inducing benefits.
Your baby’s drive to sleep (also called sleep pressure) is lighter during the day and sleep hormones are not present. So getting to sleep and staying asleep takes more effort and learning.
Are 30-minute naps a problem?
Not always, albeit, usually always annoying.
While short naps are not necessarily bad for babies, babies do need quality sleep frequently throughout the day to support their growth and development
Some babies wake up after a short nap, totally refreshed and ready to go. Others wake up cranky, rubbing their eyes, and still tired. These clues tell us something about the quality of the nap.
Short naps can be totally fine if your baby is:
Getting enough sleep in a 24 hour cycle
Waking up generally happy and alert
Meeting developmental milestones
Comfortably tolerating awake time between sleep
But if your baby is consistently fussy after naps, struggling with nighttime sleep, or clearly still tired when they wake up, then those short naps are a problem.
How much sleep should my baby be getting?
Here’s a general guide by age that includes naps and night sleep. But keep in mind that every baby is different!
4–5 Months: 15–16 hours
6–8 Months: 14–15 hours
9–12 Months: 13.5–14 hours
13–24 Months: 13–14 hours
2 Years: 12–13 hours
3–5 Years: 10–13 hours
Low sleep needs | Does my baby have low sleep needs?
Now on to what you really want to know: how can you lengthen short naps?
Let’s get down to the solutions. These are the most common and effective ways to stretch those 30-minute catnaps into longer stretches of daytime rest.
1. Create a sleep-conducive environment
Think dark, cool, and quiet. Babies sleep best when their space is calm and consistent:
Room Temperature: 68–72°F
White Noise: Mimics the sound in the womb, helps block household noise and becomes a helpful cue for sleep
Darkness: Use blackout curtains. Light is stimulating to the brain whereas darkness helps little brains slow down and find sleep.
Sleepwear: Make sure your baby is in appropriate sleepwear for comfort and temperature. Sleep sacks for older babies and swaddles for newborns up to 10 weeks.
2. Time feedings around naps
If your baby is approaching a nap and hasn’t eaten in a couple of hours, consider offering a feeding. Feeding before a nap is not the same as feeding to sleep.
Try feeding 10–15 minutes before nap time, allowing time for burping and a short wind-down routine. A full belly might be the secret to a longer nap!
3. Check the timing
This one’s big and can be tricky at times. If your baby isn’t tired enough, they won’t be ready for sleep or be happy with 30 minute snoozes. You may notice that your baby is tired enough to fall asleep, but their sleep drive isn’t high enough to transition through a sleep cycle! If they’re too tired, they’ll get a cortisol spike, which makes falling and staying asleep way harder.
If you're seeing regular 30–45 minute naps, look at your baby’s cues and try shifting their wake window in small increments before that nap.
4. Watch for nap transitions
Is your baby ready to drop a nap and consolidate sleep? If naps are getting shorter or bedtime is shifting later, this could be why.
4–6 months: Drop from 4 naps to 3
7–9 months: Drop from 3 naps to 2
13–18 months: Drop from 2 naps to 1
Short naps can sometimes signal your baby’s sleep needs are changing!
5. Use a clock-based schedule
Once your baby hits 5 months, move away from a wake window-based schedule to a clock-based one.
Waking at the same time each morning, having naps around the same time each day, and keeping bedtime consistent helps regulate your baby’s internal clock and sleep patterns become more rhythmic.
Clock-based sleep schedule | Overcoming the mental load of baby sleep: a guide for tired moms
6. Add a nap routine
I love nap routines personally and for all of my clients. Babies thrive on predictability, especially during transitions. A consistent nap routine helps signal that sleep is coming.
Sample nap routine:
Dim the lights
Head to nursery
Close the blinds
Turn on white noise
Diaper change
Swaddle or sleep sack
Cuddles and crib
Lights out
It doesn’t need to be elaborate, just consistent.
7. The power of a pause
If your baby wakes up early from a nap, pause.
A sleep cycle is typically 30–50 minutes, and some babies wake up mid-cycle but can return to sleep with a little time.
If they’re just rustling around or mildly fussing, give them a chance to resettle. They may surprise you by drifting back off.
8. Consider dropping the pacifier
If your baby falls asleep with a pacifier but can’t replace it on their own, parents are stuck replacing the pacifier every time baby stirs.
That’s okay if they’re younger! But if they’re older than 6 months, it’s time to help them learn to find their pacifiers independently. If you’re sleep training between 5-6 months, you’ll do so without the pacifier.
Dropping the paci | How and when to say goodbye to the pacifier
9. Assess sleep associations
This is huge– how your baby falls asleep is often how they expect to fall back asleep.
If you’re rocking, bouncing, or feeding them to sleep, they might need the same support to link sleep cycles. Teaching independent sleep skills is often the key to extending naps.
Sleep Associations | Overcoming the mental load of baby sleep: a guide for tired moms
10. Try nap extension coaching
At 5 months and beyond, babies are developmentally ready to learn how to lengthen their naps.
If your baby falls asleep independently, but consistently wakes after 30–45 minutes, try nap extension coaching: give them 10–15 minutes to try falling back asleep on their own. This can take practice, but it helps your baby learn the skill of resettling mid-nap.
Still waiting for that longer mom break?
If you’re in the thick of nap training or working on independent sleep, short naps are a totally normal, often expected, part of the process.
Many babies get the hang of falling asleep at the start of a nap before they master the skill of falling back asleep midway through, especially around that tricky 30–45 minute mark when one sleep cycle ends. It’s actually harder to fall back asleep at that point because daytime sleep pressure is lower and there’s less biological drive to return to sleep.
That’s why consistency, nap extension coaching, and giving your baby the space to practice is so important. Settling back to sleep mid-nap is its own skill, and with time and repetition, your baby can absolutely learn it. Hang in there. Longer naps are coming!
But remember, if your baby is younger than 4 months, don’t hesitate to support naps however you need– rocking, pacifier, contact naps. Supported naps are great for helping younger babies stretch to bedtime without overtiredness.
Nap struggles are exhausting (literally), but they are also figure-out-able.
For more free resources and sample sleep schedules by age, you can browse my free sleep solutions studio.
To better sleep,
Ella