Catnaps: Why won’t my baby nap longer than 23 minutes?

Ah, the catnap. Short enough to leave your coffee cold, long enough to fool you into thinking you might get something done. Bless.

We've been there - You set the mood. You follow the wake window. You do the wind-down, the white noise, the whole she-bang. They go down, you breathe out… and BAM. Basically twenty-three minutes later, they’re wide awake like they just power-napped through a spin class.

So what gives?

Let’s break it down.

The truth about short naps

Babies cycle through sleep stages just like adults, but theirs are shorter, usually 30–50 minutes. Around the 20-minute mark, they hit a light phase where they stir or partially wake.

The dream is that they settle into another cycle. But in reality? Many babies pop straight out of sleep, especially if:

• They’re under 6 months

• They haven’t yet learned to link sleep cycles

• They’re overtired, under-tired, or just not feeling quite right (teething, leaps, digestive weirdness, read: all the usual suspects)

So is this a “problem”?

Not always.

Short naps are super common, especially under 5–6 months. But if they’re:

• Waking cranky every time

• Struggling to make it to the next nap

• Catching up with mega-long night sleeps (or waking up more overnight)

...then yeah, it’s worth adjusting.

What can help?

Here’s where we enter the “it depends” zone (aka: why you need personalised advice).

But in general:

• Check your timing Too short or too long between naps can cause disruptions. Sometimes bumping the nap earlier by 10–15 minutes helps more than you'd think.

• Create a predictable wind-down Babies love signals. Low light, same song, same steps before every nap = sleepy brain cues.

• Resettle (but don’t panic if it doesn’t work) Try pausing before rushing in. See if they’ll drift back. If not, that’s okay too.

• Use contact naps strategically Can’t link a cycle in the cot? Try one nap a day on you or in the carrier to extend sleep and reduce overtiredness.

• Stick with it Consolidated naps don’t happen overnight. It’s developmental just like rolling, crawling, and saying “no” with perfect clarity.

TL;DR: It’s not you. It’s naps.

If your baby’s stuck in the 23-minute loop (or something like that, anyway), you’re not alone. It’s normal, maddening, and usually temporary.

But if you want help that actually fits your baby’s age, sleep needs, and your own preferences (contact naps? sleep training? somewhere in between?) — Ask Yawn. We’ll figure it out together.