8 Month old started doing 15 minute naps :( (for 1.5 weeks now)

[CanadaM0mmy]

Hello,

My 8 month old daughter has consistently started taking 15-20 minute naps for the last 1.5 weeks and it's driving us crazy. I have no time and she's super tired and cranky from the lack of sleep during the day. The only change I can see in the last 2 weeks is that we moved her crib from the upper level down to the lower level and have gently started to wean her from her swaddle. Also, her naps used to be 45 - 90 minutes long.

A few notes:

1) We are gently weaning her from her swaddle by having one arm out. If she can't get to sleep with one arm out, and soothing attempts have failed, then  we do a full swaddle. She sleeps 90% of the time with one arm out. The last few days (bc I have been going crazy), I've been doing naps with both arms swaddled and it's not improved her naps at all.

2) She uses a pacifier, but is very good at holding onto it and it is never out when she awakes screaming from her naps at the 15 minute mark.

3) She falls asleep very easily. I do our wind-down routine, put her in the crib awake and leave. She usually fusses for 2-5 minutes and then is asleep.

Here is my EASY routine
7 am wake up and nurse
8 am solids
9/9:30 nap #1
      Note: I know 8 months old should be staying up longer, but she is very cranky by this point...eye rubbing, yawning etc...
11 am nurse
12 pm solids
1 pm nap #2 (sometimes done in a stroller where she'll easily do a 1.5-2 hour nap)
3 pm nurse
4 pm occasional cat nap
5:45 pm solids
6:45 nurse
7 bath
7:15 bed

When she wakes up after 15 minutes, I've tried the following
- let her mantra cry turn into a full on cry and then attempt to soothe
- rush in right away and try to soothe
I have tried to soothe her by just talking to her gently and/or putting a hand on her shoulder. These attempts have only worked a couple of times after 30+ minutes of soothing and only resulted in another 15 minute nap.

I'm not sure how to adapt PUPD for an 8 month old with one arm out of her swaddle.

I would really appreciate any tips on what to try. I'm going a little crazy!!!!!

[newkidontheblock]

Oh, we had something similar happen when we weaned the swaddle. You will find a thread about it on here somewhere. She would jolt awake 10 minutes after going to sleep. What helped was keeping her room very dark and tucking a heavy sheet tightly over her.

For what it's worth, weaning the swaddle cold turkey worked better for us. It took 1 day for night sleep to fall into place and around a week with naps but I found it easier, overall. In the past I had experimented with the gradual method and it always was a big fail.

[CanadaM0mmy]

Thanks for the reply. I think we are going to try cold turkey this evening. How did you overcome the 15 minute naps? Today I did 45 min of pupd and then finally gave in, swaddled her and she slept for another 30 min. Not sure what approach is best and how long to pupd. After a certain amount of pupd Is it better togive up on the nap or swaddle ? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[newkidontheblock]

I think the first step is that once you start weaning the swaddle, you cannot backtrack. Believe me I was so tempted. It took us 1 week to completely wean it. On Day 1, it took us 30 mins for nap 1 but we got a 1hour nap. For the pm nap it took 50 minutes but we only got a 30 minute nap. It took 20 minutes to get her down for the night as she was so OT by then. But from the very next day things improved. It started taking 5-10 minutes for the am nap, 30ish for pm and she was back to sleeping independently at BT.

A week later, the 10 minute naps started. As i mentioned, what worked was a very heavy sheet over her and darkening the room. We also had to push her A times. All these other issues come to light when weaning the swaddle, so you really have to look at everything to figure it out. Just keep moving forward.



and even then, what worked was transitioning her into a sleep sack. I was hoping to be able to just pop her into the crib but she

[CanadaM0mmy]

Thanks for your help "newkidontheblock"! She is completely unswaddled now and nights are going great  !!! No problem at all. Naps are still horrible and I can't get past the 15/20 minute mark. It's really frustrating. But  I did extend once after 45 minutes of pupd and she slept another 20 minutes.

Her room is very dark and we have lots of white noise. Can you describe the heavy sheet approach that you used? I assume you put it over her arms right, so that it was at chest level. Did you tuck the sheet right over her when you put her down?  I'm really at a loss on how to extend her naps.

I've tried extending A times and it hasn't made a difference, but I'm reluctant to reduce A time to less than 2 hours at  her age.

Any more tips would be great  and thanks for your support!

[newkidontheblock]

Hun, A times for an 8 month old are actually closer to 3-3.5hrs. We were doing 3.20 before weaning and had to jump to 3.40& now 4hrs.

For the heavy sheet, I took 2 bedsheets and folded them into a thick step ( it went from her shoulders to her knees nearly) we tucked it into the crib mattress on one side. Then when we put her down, we would pull it over her and tuck it in the other side. Her hands were inside this, on either side of her. Then she started taking her hands out. And finally she made it clear that she did not want the sheet as she now prefers sleeping on her tummy

[CanadaM0mmy]

We are definitely making progress with your sheet suggestion. She's now getting past the 15/20 minute mark!!! Yahoo!!! Thanks very much for this!!! 

[newkidontheblock]

You're welcome:) Great to hear its working