struggling to get 9 wo over the 45 min nap barrier

[trinity33]

Hi

My lo used to fight all forms of sleep but he's now starting to do really well at night, typically in bed by 7.30, df at 10.30, feed at 3.45 and then sleep til 7.15.  This has been a massive improvement in the last week. which i'm over the moon about )was waking nearly every hour!

I'd really like to help him with naps though.  He used to only be able to nap on me or in a sling but can now go down fairly easily if swaddled in the carrycot in lounge, if i keep an eagle eye out for his tired cues. The trouble is that he wakes up really cranky after 45 mins and is then generally grumpy through to the next feed, so i'm pretty sure he could do with more sleep. i also have less luck getting im to nap in his room

we switched to mainly ff 2 weeks ago after poor weight gain with a bf + top up in the morning and at bedtime  Our day generally looks like this....

E 7.15 bf 30 -45 mins then ff topup
A 8AM
S 9am nap 45 mins
E 1015
A
S  11.30 45 mins
E 1.15
A
S 2.30
E4.15
A
S4.40 45 mins on me
A bath 6.00
E 6.30 bf 30 mins then bottle at 7
S bed 7-7.30

All advice greatly welcomed

[ZacsMumme]

Hi trinity,

First, conrats on the great nights

Your LOs A time looks a little long for her age, this could be contributing to short naps. Her A time should be closer to 1hr15 or so. Have a look at these sample EASYs for 0-3 month olds. Obviously all LOs are different, but they give you an idea.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164027.0

You may find your LO sleeps longer with a shorter A time. Unfortuantely to some extent 45min naps are common until 6months. there are a few things you can do to try to extend these. Have a look at the links below and let me know what you think.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=213387.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=649.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=128419.0

[trinity33]

Oh dear bit of a disaster on the napping front today.  Tried putting ds down earlier for nap but he went from being happy awake to frustrated and screaming ad I tried to shush/pat. Eventually gave up trying to put him down after an hour of trying and had 20 mins nap on me. Then had another 40 min nap on me after next feed. Woke up really cross until next feed which I gave after 2.15 hours as he was acting really hungry. Seemed to keep getting worse as day went on, managed to get him to have 20 mins in stroller, but only after I'd walked him for 25 mins with him screaming. Woke up crying and hungry so fed again after 2.5 hours. Then gave up hope of naps in crib and let him sleep on me, which has been an hour so far.

He seems to get so angry and frustrated,  if i. Actively try and shorten his activity time with the hope of longer naps.  I feel like I've spent the whole day trying to get him to sleep.

[ZacsMumme]

He is still very little so it is okay if you need to get him to nap on you or AP him to sleep for naps to get that sleep in. At this age they have good and bad days too

[trinity33]

Hiya, last 2 days have been hard on naps. I'm managing to get him to sleep swaddled in Moses basket with some fussing but not too bad and then shushing him through the jolts. He's then sleeping soundly up to the 40 min mark where he wakes up grumpy. I've then tried shushing him in basket but he just gets more and more worked up so I pick him up and rock and shush him but he's in full scream mode and I can't calm him down. This is then carrying on until I feed him again. So yesterday this was a 45 minutes of screaming at each nap cycle until I gave in and fed him early. So 2.5 from last feed. He gulped down the feed, so does that mean he was actually hungry when he woke from the nap after 40 mins and I should have fed him at the 2 hour mark? And that the 45 mins of trying to sooth him back to sleep weren't going to work as he was hungry? We seemed to repeat the same cycle 3 times yesterday and it made us both miserable.  Sorry to be a whinger, but I find the full throttle blood curdle crying really difficult to handle for long periods and I swing between thinking you can't be hungry ad he's having a lot of formula and it must be tiredness through to okay let's try food. I don't think it's wind as it's the same pattern every time.

[ZacsMumme]

Do you think he could be having a GS? EASY is hard with short naps, you can always feed before a nap if you worry your LO will wake early hungry.. It s hard ESP when they OT. I had a screamer with reflux and not a lot of sleep so I symathyse, we did a lot of APOP in the eary days, and to be honest, while he is young and unsetted sometimes you just have to do whatever works have you tried W2S at the 30 min mark?

[stevesmum]

Hey trinity,
I'm no expert and I've not got a solution, but I have a 9.5wo and am having similar issues.
My night times are similar to yours, and have also steadily gotten better the last two or so weeks.
Unfortunately my lo's naps have been terrible, 20m and 40m if I'm lucky, but I can score a good long one if he's in his carrier (I have a 2yo who i'm outside with in the mornings). Again, I'm having trouble settling my lo after he wakes himself up - more often at the 20m. I've made sure he's not doing anything exciting - no dangly toys, or vibrating chairs etc to get him OS. Just the three of us. I watch like a hawk for the cues - and the yawns can start as early as 30min from waking up after a super night sleep.
I'm stuck as to what the go is, but i too cannot handle that blood curdling cry - I end up having to take him out and start over later on. Probably not the right thing to do, but my 2yo can't handle it and neither can I handle the two of them doing it, plus I'm not sure it's helpful to bubba either. I might be wrong, but i'll deal with that.
i'll let you know if i have any success - haven't yet but who knows?

[trinity33]

Things have been better the last few days. We switched ds to hungry baby formula and also have using infacol and in combo he seems much happier. He has done a 3 long naps, 2 when out in the stroller and one yesterday in his basket. The one in Gus basket, he woke and managed to get himself back to sleep- clever boy. I've had no sucess with the w2s technique or being there to help him through the jolts though. Still maybe he is starting to get the hang of the short naps again.

I agree with you Steve's mum, once they start screaming it seems better to change the scene and either abandon or try again later depending where you are un the feed cycle.

[paloma1]

Totally relate - we aren't on formula so not sure how to extend the naps. Our 6 week old is waking every 20 to 45 mins also and is SO OT by the time its bedtime she can't get to sleep. No luck with the shh/pat. The paci seems to work until she pops it out which can be very often. Ugh.

[ZacsMumme]

paloma...Is your LO suffering from reflux that you know of? 20 min naps at that age scream discomfort for me.