45 minute nap schedule

[JBmommy]

Hi everyone!  I am the happy mom of a 3-month old son who just happens to be a short napper.  We have been using EASY since he was 6 weeks old but have never been able to get him to keep to the schedule due to his short naps.  We have tried multiple things including wake-to-sleep, PU/PD and just keeping him in his room for the full naptime to help him nap longer but no luck.  For the most part, he wakes up quite happy after 45 minutes to an hour so I am starting to believe he just has a 45-minute rhythm like the book says some babies have.  Unfortunately, he is only happy for 20 minutes after eating or so unless he has gotten the whole naptime so there is no way we can keep him up until his next feed time. 

We are just about ready to give up and accept that he is a short napper but then we are struggling with how to keep him on a 3-4 hour schedule.  Another difficulty is is a very efficient eater and then shows sleep cues (usually yawning) usually only after an hour of being awake which puts us a bit off schedule.  He definitely doesn't need to eat more often than 3 hours so I would appreciate any suggestions on how to adapt the 3 and 4 hour schedules for 45 minute naps.  Do we keep him up for some activity and then try to put him back down (EASASE) or try to push him to stay up until the next feed time (EASAE) or hopefully some other suggestion?  Thanks in advance for the help!

Here is his typical schedule if that helps!
6am - Wake-up
6-6:20 - Eat
6:20 -7 - Activity
7 - 8 -Sleep
8 - 9 - Keep him in room trying PU/PD
9 - 12 --> SAME SCHEDULE AS ABOVE
12 - 3--> SAME SCHEDULE AS ABOVE
3 - 3:20 - Eat
3:20 - 4 - Activity
4-5:30 - Sleep + Try to put back to sleep
5:30 - 5:45 - Eat
5:45 - 7 - Quiet activity (sometimes a catnap)
7 - 7:10 - Bathtime
7:10 - 7:30 - Eat
7:30 - 6am - Sleep
* He sleeps so well during the night that we tank him up a little at night and then let him go without a dream feed.

[JBmommy]

I also forgot to mention that he manages to get through the night including soothing himself back to sleep sometimes if he fusses so it seems like he can do that-- just not during naptime

I also saw the note that says to describe other developmental changes or issues.  He seems to have some reflux issues so we are carefully feeding him, burping and putting him to sleep on raised angle.  He does sometimes wake himself up coughing or spitting up but not everytime.

In terms of development, the only recent changes is that he is found his hands and most recently his thumb.  But the 45-minute naps have been the case since day one so it doesn't seem to be a developmental issue.  Thanks for the help!

[deb]

We also went thru 45-minute nap hell and got help from Tracy way back in the day (the "baby" is now 9-1/2 YO!).

Have you seen this thread about another approach to extending naps? http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=649.0