45 minute naps, this worked for us!!!

[lizard4455]

Well, I had been struggling with short naps for about a month after having good naps in the past.  This worked for us, so I thought I'd share. 

After a few weeks my EASY had gone out the window, so I was just trying to do whatever I could to get through the day...  My LO was so cranky and tired, but she could not nap appropriately, no matter what I tried, including some serious APOP to get her the sleep she 'needed'.  So I figured why not try something totally different?  I started reading all sorts of sleep books and such and came across the idea that maybe my LO was sleeping too much at night, and not able to take naps during the day because of it.  So, I pushed her bedtime back over a couple days, and today...  Beautiful, long, peaceful naps!!!!  She is also waking up happy and smiling, instead of screaming and tired. 

Just somthing to consider...  Maybe your LO doesn't need as much sleep during the night as a traditional EASY schedule dictates, and while they CAN sleep that long at night it is taking away the ability to take good naps during the day. 

I am by no means an expert, but this worked for me   

[susaninlondon]

Lizard tell us more, 
How old is your LO?
What was /is your old/new bedtime?
was your LO sleeping through the night before?
and was your LO a classic 45 min napper?

many thanks
Susan

[lizard4455]

My DD is 3.5 months, she had been taking great naps until she got to about 2.5 months, that's when it all fell apart.  I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I tried so many different things!  I tried shh-pat to get her back to sleep, wake to sleep, holding through the jolts, nothing worked.  For a while, if I held her her entire naptime, she would go back to sleep after the 45 minute mark after a few minutes of being awake and me rocking her.  In the process of trying to figure out her naps though, she got to be a much better self soother   

Her previous bedtime (to be asleep in bed) was 7:30 ish, sometimes a bit earlier or later depending on how the day went.  She at first woke up twice a night for a feeding, then went to three times at about 3 months (I assumed growth spurt), then she was waking early for the day, and started waking every hour from about 5:00 on.  Most days, I ended up holding her in the morning until what had been her wakeup time.  Her record of night wakings was 7 in one night...  Sigh, very little sleep for me.  THEN, yesterday I put her in bed after her bedtime routine at 8:45, she stopped making her little baby falling asleep noises by 9, so I am assuming she was out around 9.  Tonight, I put her down around 8:35, and she was again out around 9 (assumption, since she was in there alone and I don't have a video monitor).   Last night, was AMAZING!  She slept until 4:30am and woke to eat, then went right back to sleep until 7:50.  I am hoping that she will do a repeat of this tonight, but we will see. 

Anyhow, after this wonderful night, she woke up smiling and happy, played for a while (not sure how long, DH played with her this morning while I napped...  I couldn't sleep because I was so anxious about DD not needing to eat during the night, silly, I know)  Then, she took an 1.5 hr nap.  Later, she played about an hour and 45 minutes, then took a 2 hour nap!  We were out and about running errands after that, so it is hard to say how long she actually napped, but she did in the car. 

It wasn't a drastic change in bedtime, but it made a huge difference all around.  Also, admittedly, this is a new thing, and I don't know how she will do tomorrow, but this was the only thing I changed, and the next day was immediately better, so I tend to think that was the reason. 

[lizard4455]

Just to update, day three of great naps!  10.5 hours of sleep at night.  It wasn't just lucky for a day! 

[Duby]

hello Lizard
Is your LO still having great night sleep and naps?
My LO is a bit older, 5 months now, but I'm wondering if what you did could also work for us.
Till 3 months everything was fine... she used to sleep from 9pm to 8/8.30 in the morning, with just one NF around 4am.
Then we noticed that she was tired earlier, so we gradually brought forward her sleep time and introduced the DF at 10.30 or 11pm.
Since we changed her habits and introduced the DF she started waking at 2.30/3 am to eat and also to wake earlier: before it was 7-7, now she wakes at 6am and a couple of times even 5-5.30.
Now she wakes once or twice more times and just cries. This could be teething or gas or whatever, but is happening every night - not at the same time.
And naps are also a mess. At home she sleeps only 30 to 45 minutes, no way to get her back to sleep. Outside she is sometimes able to do it after a few minutes awake but this is happening less and less often.
Sleeping for such short amounts of time is not good for her. She's often crancky and already tired has soon as she open her eyes after naps!

Me and my DH have sometimes thought that bringing forward her sleep time was a mistake, and your story seems to support this idea.
Having read all those books on sleeping what do you think?
From tonight on we'll give your method a try and put her to bed an hour later (15 minutes more each evening) and see what happens.

thanks
Debora

[rachelusc]

Hi!  I am also following, as DS is 4 months old and we are having scheduling issues.  He takes three naps (adamantly refuses more!) and we are having trouble spreading them out through the day to make bedtime later.  Then he continues to wake earlier than we'd like.  Can you tell us the approximate times of you LOs naps?  Is there one long A time?

[lizard4455]

Well, I wish I could say if it worked long term for us or not...  I really don't know if it would have.  Unfortunately, my LO had a couple health scares in the last month since we had established this new schedule.  She ended up in the hospital and it seemed like every time she would go to sleep someone else would come in to check her and wake her up...  She came out with a clean bill of health, but severely OT.  We were finally recovering from that, and it happened again.  Same story, ended up very OT.  So now, after another week and a half of battling being OT, we are trying to get back on track.  I will let you know how it goes. 

I will tell you though, in order for her to 'catch up' on her sleep I put her bedtime back at 7, and she was asleep by 7:30 at the latest.  She still woke up at 7:30, but for the last two days she has woken up around 5 am and played in her crib for an hour before going back to sleep until 7:30.  I think she is telling me she doesn't need as much night sleep anymore, but we will see!  I am trying to push back bedtime again starting tonight. 

Her last wake time before bed has always been longer than it 'should' be.  She tolerates it well though, sometimes I have tried to make her do an extra catnap, she'll do it only if she's really tired enough.

[rachelusc]

Hope the health scares are over!  We tend to have a long last A time as well.  Hope things even out for you soon...Hugs.

[lizard4455]

Thanks!  I hope so too!  :-) 

[Rose.]

I just wanted to say that this sort of thing helped us too... my son was sleeping too much at night and I only started getting longer naps out of him when we cut his night sleep to 10.5 - 11 h. Finally clued in around 5-6 months I think. If he slept 12 h at night he would only take short naps.

[Joahs Mom]

That's good to know...my son will sleep at least 12 hr at night and only takes 45 minute naps. I wonder if I push bedtime a little later if he will sleep longer during the day? Anyone else had success with this? Lizard- hope your LO is doing better! xo

[Duby]

DD doesn't like a longer A time in the evening at all... she was asleep at 7.40 yesterday but the last 30 minutes were too much for her. she even cried during the bath - something she really likes. we'll try to get her used to this new bedtime and push it later again afterwards.
hope your LO is getting well!