reluctant napper - 3.5 months

[PaolaG]

Les is now about 3.5 months and she has not got into a routine of napping during the day.  She was feeding roughly every 3 hours and we are now consciously shifting her to every 4 hours.  She can go off to sleep easily at night, and we have routine of wind down, bath and feeding
starting between 6 and 7 (depending on how she is and what we are up to).  I don't feed her to sleep, but can really leave her awake and talking to herself.  Anyhow, though she wakes for feeding at night, she does go back to sleep pretty easily - the only thing that delays her sleep is if she needs to burp, which isn't always. 

But daytime naps are random and short.  I can see that she gets tired, and try to anticipate when this is, but she ends up either crying or just falling asleep almost by mistake on her playmat or in her chair.  I tried to put her in the cot the other day when I knew that she was due to nap but she ended up crying hysterically - which is very unusual for her.  Also, when she does nap its only for 20 or 30 mins, or occassionaly 40 mins.  She will sleep in her pram, and I am now trying to stop my partner from just putting her in the pram and walking her to sleep.

How can I start to introduce a better napping routine?

Paola

[Taylor's Mommy]

hi there and welcome to the boards. 
You say you have a winddown routine for night which is great, but do you have one for her naps as well?
When you put her in the cot, have you tried doing pat/shush or some other similar soothing techniqe to get her to sleep?  Remember, babies this young are still learning the skills of self soothing, so we kind of have to help them along in the meantime.

Please post her routine and we will go from there.

Also if you have not done so, please read the post titled teaching young infants to sleep at the top of the nap board.

[PaolaG]

Hi - if I am honest I couldn't say that we have a very set routine during the day.  Mainly it revolves around when she eats - which has been every 3 hours.  ANd between feeds we do have activity time - when we play with her, and time when she plays with herself - and also she does nap. Over the past three days we have been trying to shift her to eating every 4 hours, which has been working pretty well, and seems to indicate to us that she is ready for longer gaps between her feeds.  What is pretty much the same every day are the times nad way in which we put her to bed, and she really can put herself to sleep.  She sucks her thumb, so can self soothe - though of course she still needs a lot of help and guidance on that.

So we realised in the past few days that she really only takes short naps and is reluctant to take them in her cot.  At the moment she is asleep, and has been asleep for between an hour and half and two hours - but in her chair.  She probably went off to sleep two hours after waking up.  But this is quite unusual.  Maybe its because I left her to play with herself after feeding rather than what I normally do which is to play with her, and so she didn't get over stimulated.

As a guide here is what her day looked like yesterday- which I think is fairly typical

8am - wake up, nappy change, stretching
8.45 - feed
'active' activity
10.30-11 - nap
gentle activity
12.30 - feed
activity, incuding a walk outside in her pram
3.45 - feed
5.30 - she was tired and she rested on my chest (she didn't actually sleep)
6.15 - bath
6.45 - feed
7.15 - off to sleep
midnight - feed

I realise she is getting overtired because she was so tired by 5.30.  She then got up at 7.30 this morning - she sleeps well in the night, waking to feed, but has never stayed awake more than to feed and burp.

I think she is a 'Spirited-Angel' baby, so I think that during the day she wants to be with company and look around a lot.  When she was younger we didn't put her in her cot for naps because she would get upset.  I have  done a wind down routine when I have tried to put her in her cot for naps, though I really could do with some help with what to do and how.  We do use the pat/shush technique, which sometimes helps during the day, but definitely helps at night.

thanks

Paola

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi There,

I read through your last post and I think you need to really start at geting a more consistent routine during the day and can start by beginning to move your dd to a 4 hour EASY routine.  You know she can make the 4 hour mark between feeds, but the real concern is making sure she doesn't get overtired with the extra A time.  So start increasing her A time in 15 minute intervals over the course of 3-4 days.  You may also find it helpful to not only watch her cues very carefully but also watch the clock.  THis will be beneficial so that you don't miss her window and have her get over tired.

Second, start a nice winddown routine for naps and get her nice and relaxed, but put her in her cot Awake.
Use pat/shush or PU/PD to help her get to sleep on her own in her cot.  You should expect resistance on this because she is not used to falling asleep this way.  You are teaching her a new way.  This may be the difficult part but please remember that Tracy's methods work best when they are consistently followed through on every nap.

The things I have discussed her are covered in great detail in Tracy's new book the Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems.  If you do not have it yet, download the sleep interview with Tracy where you will find a lot of helpful information.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

[PaolaG]

Thanks very much.  I have the baby whisperer problems book, and we will try to follow a more consistent routine with her.  I think the feeding now seems to work at ever 4 hours, occassionally every 3.5 hours, but I am sure we can get going on the 4 hour easy.
best
Paola