What's the minimum amount of sleep for a nap so it doesn't need to be extended?

[J+M]

(I have an 8 week old but don't know if that matters or not)

So I get of course, at 20 min, or 30 min, or even 45 min if he wakes up then I am going to try and extend the nap again.

But what about 1 hour and 5 min like he sometimes does...or 1 hour 15 min?  Do I take it even though it's less than 1 hr 30 min and try to extend again?

I worked on extending the 10, 20, and 30 min wake up and after a week of work I got almost all naps through to the 40-50 min mark with him transitioning between the jolts on his own. 

I have worked on the 40-50 min transition and have had moderate success.  About 50/50 of the naps are making it to the 1 hr 30 min up to 2 hr 30 min time frame with the rest still at 40-50 min.  I took that as success and thinking over time the rest will follow.

But this week has been rough...and short naps galore!  I'm on antibiotics which pass through to him through breast feeding and I know they can cause an upset tummy.  Maybe that's why we have not had a decent nap all week?   

Now I'm getting short naps PLUS the occasional 1 hour plus a little extra...but not nearly 30 more minutes to be what I know he needs.

What do you think?

So far if I try to extend the nap it is a huge fail every time.  But I don't know if I should just keep trying or if that's too much sleep to recoup the nap from and I should cut my losses and move on with the shorter EASY for the day.

It makes me stuck around a 2 hour EASY cycle vs a 3 hour EASY cycle.

(Oh- and I will even give up - change diaper and outfit and buy some time so it's closer to 2 hour 30 min EASY but by the time I finish nursing it's almost time to put him to sleep again and it seems to mess up the flow of things.  LIke he just woke, fought going back to sleep, got his meal, and I'm trying to put him back to sleep again.  Is that right???)

[Shiv52]

I would extend anything under an hour.  i tried to extend for 10-15 minutes and if it didnt' work by then I got her up.  If you do get a short nap you can't extend you reduce the next A time slightly. 

What A time if your LO doing?  When you say 2 hour EASY does that mean you are feeding every 2 hours or are you waiting until the 3 hour mark?

[J+M]

I'm trying to hit a 1 hr 15 to 30 min A time.

I'm feeding every 2 hours if I feed when he wakes. (1 hr 15 min + 45 min nap).

The past 2 weeks I was getting long naps 50% of the time with that A time so I think it's right but he's just not transitioning on his own (or even with my help) anymore.  I'm hoping it's due to the medication and not that he can't do it at all anymore.

He just woke at 45 min and I tried for 25 min without success.  He started to drift off on me so I put him down drowsy and he got very upset again.  He used to be ok and fall off to sleep so he must be feeling bad I think.

Now I've had 25 min of A already...plus I'm nursing him for 20 min at least...then diaper change and soon I try again.  But it seems like he is fighting me more now resisting.  He used to go down in 5 min or less, it was perfect!  Now it's all screwed up and I don't know if he's just not tired enough or if he wants more A time being relaxed and awake observing things around him like he gets when it all falls into place, does that make sense?