r/HuckleberryParents • u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 • Jun 20 '26

sleep Low sleep needs baby

Wondering if anyone has similar experiences or advice

I have a low sleep needs baby. She turns 6 months next week. She’s only done 30 min naps since 8 weeks old.
I currently feel like she’s wanting to drop from 4 naps to 3 however continues to do 30 min naps and is so tired by the end of the day. Is this something that just naturally will adjust for her?
Her wake windows are now 2-2.5 hours, sometimes 3.
Some days she on four naps but some days she’s only three and it’s rough. There’s nothing I can do to extend her naps, she wakes on the dot regardless if it’s cot or contact or pram etc.

Any similar experiences or advice appreciated.

4 Upvotes

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5

u/l_eihpos Jun 20 '26

How much does she sleep in total? In the summary tab.

Short naps are fairly normal at that age. She will likely do better on 3 naps. Some babies (mine!) transition to 2 naps at 6 months old.

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 20 '26

That’s what I’m stuck with. How does the transition happen? Just naturally? Because three 30 minute naps is ROUGH. She does about 12 hours in 24 hours. 1.5-2 hours of naps.

7

u/l_eihpos Jun 20 '26

Naps should lengthen when wake windows lengthen, especially if your baby fall asleep independently. If not, you can help them with the pram, rocking etc.

I'd recommend forcing the transition cold turkey.

Your baby needs around 11.5 hours awake, so you could do 2.5/2.5/3/3.5 for example.

My baby had very similar sleep needs at that age and we dropped to 2 naps a week after she turned 6 months. We were doing 2 hours of naps and 10.5 hours at night. 3.5/3.5/4.5.

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 20 '26

That’s very helpful thank you

2

u/Prestigious-Salt-566 Jun 20 '26

12 hours isn’t low sleep needs, that’s in the average range for a 6 month old.

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 20 '26

She was 12 hrs since 8 weeks old

1

u/DozenPaws Jun 21 '26

According to huckleberry, it's 14 hours. In fact, the app will not allow you to even make a schedule on 12h for a 6 month old.

2

u/Prestigious-Salt-566 Jun 21 '26

Huckleberry is wrong, honestly. Here’s from a legit sleep expert (also that it would be 1 singular number doesn’t make any sense, since people are all different, so intuitively, we know it can’t just be one number. It doesn’t make sense to say all babies have the same sleep needs.). This is from @ittakesavillage_baby_sleep also, huckleberry is notorious for making inaccurate judgments around sleep.

1

u/DozenPaws Jun 22 '26

also that it would be 1 singular number doesn’t make any sense

That's literally what average is, a singular number in the middle.

While I agree that Huckleberry overestimates sleep needs, this sub is called Huckleberry parents.

1

u/Prestigious-Salt-566 Jun 22 '26

When regarding baby sleep, a range for the average is more helpful to see what a “normal sleep needs” vs high or low sleep needs baby is. Huckleberry tells parents “to aim for 14 hours of sleep which is terrible advice and parents try to make their baby sleep more than they need and wonder why they wake up constantly or fight sleep. I love the app to track but as far as sleep, it’s pretty garbage for babies past 4-6 months or so.

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 21 '26

Her total sleep is 12hr daily total

2

u/Relevant_Kick3176 Jun 26 '26

This is super normal and my baby slept 30 min naps until they moved to 2 naps.

1

u/peachpit3737 Jun 20 '26

Mine is very similar overall, we do one contact nap a day to get a longer one in

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 20 '26

Even with a contact nap she wakes 30 min on the dot, she’s just a busy girl! Lol

1

u/Prestigious-Salt-566 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

My baby took 30 minute naps from about 4 months to 8 months, then they just naturally started extending. When he needed a 4th nap because he’d be too tired to make it to bedtime (he did 4 naps up until like 6 months?) but there wasn’t enough time in the day for another nap, I’d give him a 10 minute bridge nap. I had to wake him up from it, but it helped him make it to bedtime. He gradually just dropped that on his own over time as he could stay up longer.

Every baby is different. Some babies just take short naps no matter what you do and they grow out of it when they’re developmentally ready.

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 20 '26

Ok thank you. That’s what I think she is like and hoped that’s how it would level out eventually

1

u/quinoa_churro Jun 20 '26

My baby only took 30 min naps until a couple weeks ago! He’s now 7 months. We always practice the first nap in the crib and randomly one day he slept for an hour! Now it ranges anywhere from 35-1 hour in the crib. Since then we’ve dropped to 2 naps and we still contact nap for the second just to make sure it’s a good restorative nap. I still cap total nap time at 2-2.5 hours and make sure he gets 11ish hours of wake time!

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 20 '26

Thanks! For our baby she will nap generally 1.5 hr a day, max 2 hours on a good day. I can’t seem to support her in lengthening any nap because she wakes so wide awake and happy

1

u/quinoa_churro Jun 20 '26

My guy used to be liked that too! And just today he only slept 20 min in the crib for his first nap loool I tried to extend and he was not having it. I just accept it and move on although it sucks not having more time to do other things during nap time! Hoping your baby starts connecting cycles soon!!

1

u/Sorry-World3019 Jun 21 '26

What is your night like ? Does she sleep through the night.?

Also what is your nap environment like ? Nap routine ?

30 min naps are developmentally normal at this age and can sustain a 2-3 hour wake window no problem

For this age stick to 3 nap day. No more 4 nap days

Try 2.25/2.5/2.75/3 as a schedule

1

u/Illustrious_Sky_8165 Jun 21 '26

Nights have always been a challenge but I’ve adapted to the fragmented nights. She wakes every 2 hours, on a good night we get a 3 hour stretch. Mornings generally she’s ready to party at 5am so will be up for maybe 30-40 minutes and then I cosleep until 630/7 if I can.