Resigned

I have heard of babies taking 2-hour naps in the morning and afternoon. Since Ava was born, I'd been anticipating her taking 2-hour naps so I could get a nice long break to do whatever I need without interruption. Well, I've noticed lately that Ava only takes 30-minute naps about 4 or 5 times a day (about 2.5 hours of daytime sleep total). I worked hard to protect her schedule and make sure she slept and her nap length never changed. It seems nothing I did influenced the length of her naps. I must admit that Ava has taken 2-hour naps at random times before but that's usually because she is crashing from accumulated fatigue over a few days, not because she has a propensity for long naps.

So, I got out my book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth and started to reread from the beginning. What I found was discouraging. Weissbluth discovered that babies are born short nappers and long nappers. He cites a study done on twins that argue for genetic component to the sleep pattern in babies. He also said 18% of babies sleep a total of 2.5 hours or less during day. Looks like Ava is in that category. Discouraging news: a baby's nap pattern stays stable until about 21 months. More discouraging news: you cannot turn a short napper into a long napper. Slightly encouraging news: it's possible that a short napper can turn into a long napper on their own after 21 months.

I've resigned myself.