Short nap - what do we do when he wakes up?

[Sleepless in SD]

DS usually only gets in one sleep cycle per nap (sometimes 2, but not usually). When he wakes, he doesn't cry immediately, but instead moves around, breaks him arms out of the swaddle, etc. Should I be going in there to do pat/shush to try to extend the nap BEFORE he starts to cry, or should I just let him hang out there by himself until he cries? Once his eyes open, he's never been able to put himself back to sleep (we can see this on our video monitor), but maybe I have to let him keep trying? Or if I do pat/shush before he starts to cry it will teach him how to put himself back to sleep?

[deckchariot]

how old is your lo?  Can you post your EASY routine?  That may help figure out what's going on....

hth
michelle

[Sleepless in SD]

Here was our schedule from yesterday through today's wake up:
E: 12:45am
S: 1:15am-3:45am
E: 3:50am
S: 4:10am-5:30am
S: 5:45-6:30am (we re-swaddled and bounced him back to sleep on the exercise ball)
E: 6:50am
A: 7:10-7:40am
DH started trying pat/shush around 7:45am. It started to work, then DS started hysterically crying. When DH picked him up and pat/shushed on his shoulder, DS fell asleep so DH just put him in the crib asleep.
S: 8:45-9:45am
E: 9:50am
A: 10:10-10:55am
I did pat/shush successfully (yay!!!), until DS fell asleep around 11:15am.
S: 11:15am-noon
Tried pat/shush unsuccessfully to get him to go back to sleep until 12:50 when it was time for E again.
E: 12:50pm
A: 1:15-1:25pm
Tried pat/shush to get him to sleep, and it took several tries until DS fell asleep at 2:40pm.
S: 2:40-3:20pm
Tried pat/shush to get him to go back to sleep, and it didn't work. Gave up after 20 mins.
A: 3:40-3:55pm
E: 4pm
A: 4:20-4:35pm
Pat/shush to sleep starting at 4:35pm
S: 5-6pm
A: 6-6:20pm
E: 6:20pm
A (bedtime routine): 6:50-7:10pm
S: 7:30-11:30pm
E: 11:30pm
S: midnight-2:30am
E: 2:30am
S: 3-5:45am
E: 6am

This morning he had another 40 min nap and cried when I tried to do pat/shush to get him to take another nap, so we did some A before his next feed at 9am. Put him back down about 5 mins after E ended, and he's now been asleep for an hour...so maybe this will be a long nap? Crossing fingers!!

[deckchariot]

It looks like you're feeding every 3 hrs and having A times of a bit over an hour?  How old is your lo?  I'm guessing very little from your EASY routine.  Here are some "average" A times for infants:

Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months 1 hour and 15 - 20 mins
3 months 1 hour and 20 - 30 mins

Keep in mind that A time includes both eating and the wind down.  It looks like you are starting pat/shh around 1 hr 5 A time.  So if your lo is a month old, that looks really good.  I see that he is swaddled - that's great!  If he's breaking out of the swaddle and that's waking him, you can try the Miracle Blanket or the Swaddle-Me Blanket, we LOVED the Miracle Blanket!

What are you doing for a wind down other than the swaddle?  He may need a bit more time to transition from A time into sleep time.  Your routine actually does look really good. 

I suspect your bub is really young and he just doesn't have the sleep thing sorted out yet.  Babies brains sort out day and night sleep differently.  Night sleep comes first (0-3 mos) and day sleep later (3-6 mos), so it's really, really normal to have some sleep issues in the beginning.  Doing pat/shh is absolutely the right way to go.  If he wakes early, go ahead and try pat/shh to get him back to sleep.  If you cannot extend his nap, cut his next A time super short (the overtiredness builds throughout the day if you don't) to try to get him back on track.  And yes, that means you will sometimes feed him early (if he's hungry) or get 2 short naps in one feed cycle.

does that help?

michelle

[Sleepless in SD]

He will be 3 months old this Friday, but he seems to get overtired very easily which is why A times are shorter than recommended. Should I try extending them by 5 mins or so to see if that makes his naps longer?

[deckchariot]

Are many of his naps around the 40 min mark?  Generally, 30 min means overtired, 45 min is undertired.  I suspect he's getting OT so easily because his first nap is short.  So I would say, try extending his first  A time by 10 min for the next 3 days and see if that helps his first nap.  If you can get a good first nap, then keep the longer A time for his additional naps.  Keep in mind that the first A time of the day is often the shortest for most bubs.  So if he lengthens to 1 hr 15 for the first A time, he may be able to stretch further for the next one.

You can add that extra 10 min just to your winddown routine - just extend it a bit and keep the extra A time really low key.  And keep up the pat/shh that will really help him to get the hang of independent sleep.

let me know how you get on!