Extending naps: Is he tired or just bored in his crib?

[katriona]

Hi ladies,

I'd love to extend DS' naps past 45 minutes. I'm willing to do pu/pd as this has been working at night. However, when he wakes from his 45 minutes, he's happy and burbling -- there's nothing to do pu/pd with! However, I know he needs a longer nap, as 2 hours of A time is a stretch. So at the moment I'm leaving him in his crib till an hour is up (including his 40 minutes of nap). Towards the end of the hour he gets fussy and starts to do his peed off cry. I don't know if it would be appropriate to start pu/pd at this stage, or if he's simply crying because he doesn' want to be in the crib any longer, as he doesn't feel tired.

What would your advice be?

Thanks!

Katy

[katriona]

2 hours... I know that's not enough for a 6 month old, and we're trying to stretch it. I just don't know if I should ignore his eyerubs and yawns at 2 hours and burn through for another hour, or respect his cues, but then have him only nap for 40 minutes.

I sat in on the last one to try w2s at 30 minutes, and the lil' bugger woke up before I could even try!

This will be a four nap day...

[katriona]

OMG, SEVEN month old. How's that for a Freudian slip? 

[katriona]

I'm also a little perplexed, as DS' A time before this particular 30 minute fiasco was 2 hours 20. So the A time was longer than usual, but the nap was shorter than usual.