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SLEEP => General Sleep Issues => Topic started by: SDER on December 13, 2016, 19:55:45 pm

Title: PU\PD: Prolonging Naps & Tackling MOTN Wakings @ 6 month old
Post by: SDER on December 13, 2016, 19:55:45 pm
Hello Ladies!

My brain is kind of in a haze and I need your help on a couple of issues.

I started PU\PD with my almost 6 month old yesterday.  Long story short, I went from having a 4 month old who'd been STTN for 2 months and who I could just put down in his crib and let him fall asleep on his own to an almost 6 month old who I had to rock for 45 min before he'd fall asleep and who would only sleep if he was in someone's arms (naps and nights).  Suffices to say that besides a mess of AP brought on progressively by a growth spurt, wonder week, two teeth and a pretty intense cold that left him with trouble breathing when he was flat on his back and A times that were too short, I decided that I wasn't going to spend another night sleeping in the rocking chair with my son in my arms.

Anyways, so far things are going reasonably well, I went from needing 20 minutes and about as many PU/PDs to get a 25 minute nap out of the little guy for the first nap to needing 15 minutes and only one PU/PD for a 45 minute nap for the most recent nap.  He's a thumb-sucker so it helps, he only needs to stop being ed off to remember putting his thumb in his mouth  ;D.  The first night was harder and it took me 40 minutes before he fell asleep, but this is with very minimal PU\PD.  I only pick up when he's really frustrated otherwise, I find that his crying just escalates once I've put him back down.

I do have a couple of questions though. 

I know that ideally, I want to be prolonging the nap with W2S or HTTJ, but that's not always possible.  If he wakes up early from his nap, how long should I be trying to prolong the nap?  Today, I only tried for 15 minutes because I had my older kids at home exceptionally (usually they are at daycare).  When I turned off his white noise and took him out of his room he was happy as a clam (still is  an hour later).

Also, how should I be applying PU\PD for MOTN wakings?  Yesterday, for instance, I nursed him at 6, he was sleeping by 7, he woke up at 10 (I nursed him as he hadn't nursed for 4 hours, he fell asleep at the breast and I put him back in his crib sleeping).  He woke up again at 0:30. I tried PU/PD for 90 minutes and although he had managed to fall asleep 2-3 times, he was always waking up 5-10 minutes after despite the fact that I kept a hand on him).  By that time, it was 2 am so I nursed him (because he hadn't eaten for 4 hours and he'd spent the last hour and a half crying so I figured he'd be hungry).  He fell asleep at the breast again, then slept until 6.  This feels counter-productive though, because, essentially, he was nursed back to sleep both times he woke up, which, in essence, was one of the major props I'm working on fighting.  But then, I can't expect him to sleep through without nursing, right?

Thoughts?
Title: Re: PU\PD: Prolonging Naps & Tackling MOTN Wakings @ 6 month old
Post by: jessmum46 on December 15, 2016, 13:41:15 pm
Hi, it sounds like you are doing a great job with PUPD!

I know that ideally, I want to be prolonging the nap with W2S or HTTJ, but that's not always possible.  If he wakes up early from his nap, how long should I be trying to prolong the nap?
I would say 5-10 mins max, if at all.  It's just not practical (or desirable!) to sit in a dark room trying to resettle forever.  My experience was that if it didn't happen quickly and easily within 10 mins max it wouldn't happen at all, so why make both of you miserable trying longer?!  To be honest sometimes I consciously just didn't bother resettling, we just got up and moved on with the day - with other children to consider I think that can be quite liberating!!

 
Also, how should I be applying PU\PD for MOTN wakings?  Yesterday, for instance, I nursed him at 6, he was sleeping by 7, he woke up at 10 (I nursed him as he hadn't nursed for 4 hours, he fell asleep at the breast and I put him back in his crib sleeping).  He woke up again at 0:30. I tried PU/PD for 90 minutes and although he had managed to fall asleep 2-3 times, he was always waking up 5-10 minutes after despite the fact that I kept a hand on him).  By that time, it was 2 am so I nursed him (because he hadn't eaten for 4 hours and he'd spent the last hour and a half crying so I figured he'd be hungry).  He fell asleep at the breast again, then slept until 6.  This feels counter-productive though, because, essentially, he was nursed back to sleep both times he woke up, which, in essence, was one of the major props I'm working on fighting.  But then, I can't expect him to sleep through without nursing, right?
This is trickier.....one way to approach it which it sounds like you were probably trying is to set a time, say 4h which you will not nurse before.  If he wakes at 4h or later, you nurse straight away and put back down, ok if he falls asleep for these ones.  But if he wakes prior to 4h then you use PUPD all the way until he goes back to sleep even if it takes you back past the 4h.  That said, he only needs to go back to sleep for a short time - so actually if (say) he wakes at 3h, you PUPD for 45 mins and he goes back to sleep, then wakes 15 mins later, it's actually 4h by then so I would count that as a 'feed' waking and nurse him.  Essentially you are aiming for him to only wake when genuinely needing to eat and this seems to be a strategy which works well for lots of people.  You can then work on (when he's old enough/established fully on solids plus milk etc) reducing/eliminating those feeds if needed.

Does that help?
Title: Re: PU\PD: Prolonging Naps & Tackling MOTN Wakings @ 6 month old
Post by: SDER on December 16, 2016, 09:25:35 am
Thank you!

Makes perfect sense to avoid making both of us miserable by trying to prolong the nap for too long.

As for MOTN wakings, I had indeed been aiming for a 4h period between feeds, but hadn't thought to keep pushing through until he'd fallen back asleep (even for a few minutes) before feeding even if we'd passed the 4h mark during a MOTN PUPD session.  But it makes sense, as it'll put us at a lesser risk of becoming dependent on being nursed back to sleep.  I am indeed planning on reducing to 1 (or perhaps even removing) the NF as solids become established, but I kept 1 NF with my two oldest kiddos until I weaned from BF completely before returning to work.  I knew they didn't need it, but kind of enjoyed the 10 minute nighttime cuddle.
Title: Re: PU\PD: Prolonging Naps & Tackling MOTN Wakings @ 6 month old
Post by: jessmum46 on December 18, 2016, 14:28:08 pm
Know what you mean about that cuddle!  Tiring but oh so precious too :D

Keep us posted with how you're getting on x