Little Bear's Mum: regarding sleep/wake modes, doesn't it seem like we are running little science experiments on our babes??? I am going by these times: am nap starting approx. 9am, pm approx. starting 12-2pm and catnap is approx 3-5pm.
Every day seems a little different for us right now. He had an am nap of 45 min. and I thought the day was doomed. This could have been because I may not have heard him wake up. Well, I heard him at 5:45 and left him a bit and fell back asleep, then didn't hear him again until 6:45! not sure if he went back to sleep too. he may have been up 2.75 hours for first A time :?: :shock: anyhoo, then I helped him at 45 minutes for the pm nap because i was having a friend over and didn't want him all fussy. I stayed with him about 15 minutes doing shh/pat (only really needed it for 5) and then he slept 2 hours!!!
I've been tweaking his interval before bed and it seems it just takes him 17 minutes to settle...at least the last two nights he has. I put him down a touch later tonight thinking he'd settle after 2:40 A time...but then he added on 7 minutes, so I think I just need to put him down for 2:30A after a 10-15 minute settling period!
Judy I am in Toronto, east end though...otherwise known as Scarborough. Don't worry though, I'm safe, no gunshots so far :wink: I'm actually in a really nice area by the lake. I'm practically in Pickering if you know the area at all. And I was thinking this morning that you would reply that you were in London! It's like I'm psychic!!!
I remembered the couple of things I wanted to add last night. Also from the Weissbluth book:
Up until about 21 months of age, some babies are born to be short nappers and some are inherently long nappers. Parents can interfere with a child's long naps by messing up the child's schedule, but they cannot make short nappers into long nappers. Impt. facts about short nappers. At 6 months, 80% of babies nap b/w 2.5 and 4 hours each day. 15% nap longer than 4 hours. 5% nap less than 2.5 hours. If you include babies who sleep a total of 2.5 hours or less, 18% fall into this category. They keep this pattern for 12-18 months!
Anyhoo, thought that might be encouraging to those that just can't get there los to sleep more than 45 minutes!!!
Also:
It may be very difficult to establish regular naps at four to five months of age in some babies because their biological nap rhythms are maturing very slowly. Some babies don't evolve into a schedule of regular long naps until five or six months of age, especially if they had extreme fussiness/colic when younger or if their parents were inconsistent or irregular about naps during the first four months
phew, could this post by any longer!
sure it could. I have a Q. How long do you bathe your lo for? It only takes me 5 minutes or less b/c really, what can you do until they sit up?? I still wash his head first while holding him over the tub...do you still do that? Or do you pour water over your los head now? Not sure when you can do that. Just paranoid of water in eyes and ears.
okay, NOW i'm done
i'm gonna go have some ice cream!
Traci