tea time nap connected to night wakings? and routines for short nappers

[Lisa J]

my LO is 14 weeks old and always takes 40 mins naps.  On a good night she will wake up twice but it is usually 3 or 4 times a night.  Last night I couldn't get her to stay asleep for her tea time nap which was about 5.15 pm, I tried s/p for 25 mins before she woke right up.  So I thought I should go straight into bedtime routine - quick bath, pjs, feed and then to sleep.  She still wouldn't go to sleep so hubby tried and succeeded at about 7pm.  She woke up at 10.10pm and then 5 or 6 times throughout the night!!!  I'm exhausted!  Do you think there is a connection between the tea time nap and a good night's sleep?
Also can somebody post their routine for a short napper?  I try to fit in as many naps as possible but it means each day is different.  Things always seem to go off track from about 5pm onwards.  I really need to get a good night sleep - when can I expect her to sttn?

[brenda2]

hi
OT certainly can lead to many NWs.  i would say this was the case yesterday - she missed a nap, got OT and woke all night.

does she go to sleep independently?  any props?  has she ever taken a long nap?

what does she do when she wakes at night?  scream?  chat?

if short napping you do need to put in as many naps as possible to avoid OT and her A time will be quite short.  if you want to post your routine i can take a look at it.  sometimes by tweaking it you can change the nap length.

BTW, do you think this is a napping issue or a NW issue...if a NW problem i will move it over to the NW board for you.

[Lisa J]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I have to s/pat her to sleep and use a dummy.  I think that before 6 weeks old (when I started b/w) she took longer naps.  When she wakes at night she starts to make noises and bring her legs up and down and then starts to cry out, if I try to hold her off with a dummy she usually really cries if she hasn't been fed for a few hours but if it's a short time after a feed she will take it and I have to hold her to put her back to sleep.
Here's today's routine which is a little different as we usually start the day at 6.30 ish but she woke up a few times between 4 - 6.00 am so she then didn't wake up until 7.50.
E: 7.50am
A:
S: 8.50 wind down sleep at 9.05
A: 9.45
E: 10.20am
A:
S: 11.20
A:12.00 (not too sure here until 1pm as we were out with dd1 so slept in pushchair
S: 12.20
A:1.00
E: 1.10pm
A;
S: wind down 2.20pm sleep: 2.40
A: 3.00
S: 3.45
E: 4.25
A:
s: 5.40 wind down but could not go to sleep properly kept waking up until 6.10 woke up completely couldn't get back to sleep.  Didn't know what to do so did the following:
E: 6.20pm
A: bath, feed then sleep 7.15pm.

I am not sure if it is a napping issue or a night waking problem.  I've just assumed it a napping issue because of her short naps.

[brenda2]

hi
i think you have 2 problems actually...1 is a props issue.  does she always sleep with her dummy and always wake for it?  if she is waking for it and won't go back down without it being replugged this may be a problem leading to both Nws and short naps.  also you said you sometimes have to hold her to get her back to sleep, this may become a prop if you're not carfeul so i would try to avoid that if possible.

the bigger problem i think is length of A tie during the day.  since she is short napping you have to reduce her A times.  rights now they are not consistent, and they are quite long considering she is short napping.  at 3.5 mo her a time should be 1.5 hours first thing and then maybe slightly longe than this during the day (1 hour 40 min)only if she takes a long nap.  if a short nap i would try to put her back down for another nap after just 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min.

maybe this will help explain:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=128419.0

try adjusting your A times and see if this helps naps, if not then you may need to adress the props issues.