I am hoping you all will be able to help me figure out what I am doing wrong with my 4 month old daughter's schedule. She has always had a hard time with naps and would only sleep for about 30 minutes in her crib (except her morning nap, she will sleep for about 40-50 minutes). If I allow her to sleep on the couch with me sitting close by or in her swing, she can sleep for hours and hours. She is also a great night sleeper since she was 3 months old.. sleeping from 7:30-7 am without any problems. The fact that she can sleep through the night makes me think that she should be able to soothe herself back to sleep for her naps. I am just racking my brains on what piece of the puzzle I am missing.
I just transitioned her from a 3 to a 4 hour EASY schedule without any problems. Here is her schedule:
7:00 Eat
7:30 Play
8:45- 9 Sleep in crib - she will usually sleep about 40-50 minutes max
11:00 Eat
11:30 Play
12:00 Sleep in crib - since she doesn't take a longer morning nap, she is very tired and wants to sleep by 12. Sometimes we even have to put her down at 11:30. She will only sleep for 30 minutes max. Today, I watched her throughout her entire nap to see if I could learn anything from her sleep patterns. She really was very restless and would jerk and wake herself up (we swaddle her) and would try to go back to sleep and finally, she would get frustrated and start crying. So even though she is napping for 30 minutes, it isn’t very restful or sound sleep.
2:00 ish Sleep on couch – she will take another nap because she is still tired from not getting enough sleep from her prior nap. We let her sleep on the couch so she can get some rest and she will sleep for hours here if we let her. I have to wake her to feed her at her 3 pm feeding.
3:00 Eat
3:30 Play
5:00 Sleep – we let her sleep in her swing and we have to literally woke her so she doesn’t sleep too late. She will usually sleep at least an hour in her swing.
7:00 Eat
7:30 Bath time and Bed
She will sleep until 7-7:30 the next morning with no problem at all.
Also, my daughter has no problems getting to sleep. She just can’t stay asleep longer than 30 minutes in her crib for her naps. If she is in her swing or on the couch, again, she will sleep hours. Why is she not able to get herself back to sleep in her crib after only sleeping for 30 mins when clearly she is still tired. She is able to soothe herself at night so I am not sure why she can’t do it for her naps?? It is so puzzling.
I desperately need everyone’s great advice. Thank you so much in advance!!
