Help with timing when 6 month old takes short naps

[smendrey]

I have some questions about extending naps and what to do about keeping on a 4 hour EASY schedule with short naps.  I have been using the BW techniques for 2 weeks now.  My 5 month old (almost 6 months now) is now falling asleep beautifully on his own in his bassinet.  YAY!   But he is still taking short naps (and still waking up in the middle of the night).  He sometimes wakes up from his naps after 30 minutes and sometimes after 45 minutes. 

My first question is about the timing of the subsequent naps if his first nap is a short one.  He typically takes his first nap at 9:00 am and wakes up at 9:45.  He typically doesn't go back to sleep (even with Pu/Pd).  I know he is supposed to sleep for at least 1.5 hours so that I have to keep doing PU/PD until 10:30.  At 10:30 if he doesn't appear to be heading in the direction of sleep can I stop and get him up?  Would I still wait until 11:00 to feed him?  Do I keep him in his room in the dark and just be quietly with him until 11:00?  If I then feed him at 11:00 when do I put him down for his next nap?  I was assuming that I would keep him up until 1:00 so that his afternoon nap would be at the right time.  But if I do that then he is extremely overtired for his next nap.  He will have been awake from 9:30 until 1:00.  On page 252 Tracy says that you need to keep the baby up at least half and hour after a feed before putting him/her down for the next nap.  In this scenario that would mean that he would go down for a nap around 11:45-12:00 depending on how long it takes to feed him.  That would help prevent him from being as overtired (although still that means he was up from 9:30 until 12:00 with 1 hour of it spent trying to get back to sleep - which is quite tiring) but then that throws off the 4 hour EASY timing.  If I put him down at 11:45 or 12:00 then what do I do about the next feed.  I assume it should still wait until 3:00 because he doesn't need to eat before then, but that would mean that we'll be totally out of the usual EASY pattern and due for another nap shortly after the 3:00 feed.   

As you can probably tell I'm having  hard time getting him to extend the naps.  I think some of it might be that he is overtired from waking up early in the morning (he tends to wake up around 6:00 and talk to himself until 6:45 or so - but then he is up for 3 hours - from 6-9 before his first nap).  I have tried staying in the room with pressure on his body but that doesn't always work.  Then if he wakes up anyway  he doesn't typically go into full crying anymore.  He will cry and then settle himself but then fuss and then settle himself and then cry again.  If he continues to cry I do PU/PD.  He usually stops crying and I put him down.  He then looks around and just fusses or talks for a while and then eventually cries again.  Do I stay with him while he is fussing and looking around?  It seemed so much easier when he was fully crying and I would do PU/PD until he eventually settled himself and went to sleep.  Now that he is in an in between phase I'm not sure what do to.   

Thanks for your help.

[empowered mama]

hi there and welcome to BW

If your Lo ends up taking a short nap, it's important to shorten his next A time in order to prevent him from getting overtired as the day goes on.  A 45 min nap just isn't long enough for him to be awake for his normal A time.  So for example, if he wakes at 9:45 and you PU/PD for 45 more min to no avail, I would try keeping him up, feeding him at 11:00, doing a low-key remainder of the A time (something not too stimulating), then try for another nap say around 11:30-45.  What is his current A time?

Often when this happens your routine looks more like EASASE.  But shortening the following A time may get you a decent nap, then you can squeeze in a catnap and shoot for an early bedtime - make sense?

[smendrey]

Thank you.  It sounds like I've been doing the opposite of what I needed to do.  I was trying to keep him up longer to make it to the next nap time at 1:00.  Instead just give him quiet activity from 10:30-11:00, feed him at 11:00 and then keep him up for only about 1/2 hour and then let him take another nap even though it is probably only 11:45. 

If I do manage to get him back to sleep during the nap time and he wakes up at 10:30 then do I just do an activity until 11:00?  The 4 hour EASY schedule assumes that the baby will take a 2 hour nap from 9-11 and then from 1-3 but the book says 1.5 hour naps are ok.  That means, though, that really the progression is:

7:00 E
7:30 A
9:00 S
10:30 A
11:00 E
11:30 A
1:00 S (again this would be a 2.5 hour A window - so should I do an earlier nap)?
2:30 A
3:00 E

etc. 

Thanks again.

[empowered mama]

yes, exactly.  Often if LOs take a 1.5 hr nap, there are 30 minutes left before feeding, so just do some activity time to get you there.  Some will take 2 hour naps, but 1.5 is restorative enough and many just don't do more than that. 

I would shoot for the 2nd nap to be at 12:30 if your LO wakes at 10:30 from the 1st nap.  You want to keep the A time to 2 hours, unless he shows you he can do more (you might know this if he gives you a short 2nd nap).  But I would start there for now and see what that gets you.  Then assuming he gives you a 1.5 nap for the 2nd, you would theoretically shoot for the catnap 2 hours after he wakes from the 2nd nap. 

Hope this helps - let me know if this doesn't make sense

[smendrey]

Thanks so much for your advice.  It has been better already.  I put him down early for his afternoon nap today and stayed with him to hold him through the jolts and he slept for 1.5 hours.  So now he is up at 2:00 and I'll wait until 3:00 to feed him and then put him down for a cat nap at 4:00. 

Thank you again!  I'll keep you posted about how things go.

Sharie

[empowered mama]

Great news!  I hope things continue in this way - keep up the great work