Should I be extending his naps?

[mamapye]

Mu little guy is 19 weeks old. Since about 12 weeks his sleep has just deteriorated.45 naps and hourly night wakings. We tried Pat/shhhh for about a month and then went to pu/pd for the nights. Things seem to be working a bit for night sleep. We have gone from picking him up 31 times to just 2 or 3 to put him back to sleep. However after 9 days of doing it we are still having hourly night wakings. I am thinking it is because he is overtired because of his short naps.

Some times the naps are as short as 20 minutes, and never longer than 40-45 minutes. He doesn't go to sleep all on his own. I usually wind him down by singing, rocking and patting his bum. Almost right away he will close his eyes and start moaning. While he is still moaning I will put him in his crib and pat him until he falls asleep. He is not swaddled as he rolls around. He prefers to sleep on his side. He sleeps in his own room without a paci.

When he does wake up from his nap he his eyes pop open, he is wide awake,  never cries, and is very happy. If I leave him there he will play for about 20 minutes and then start fussing for me to come get him. I know they say if they wake up happy that they have had enough sleep but as we are still have night sleep issues I am wondering if I should extend his naps. PU/PD isn't really an option as he is not crying. They only way I have ever been successful in extending his naps is by rocking him and then holding him (he falls back to sleep right away which makes me think he does need more sleep). Even pat/shhh doesn't work as he is wide awake and just wants to play.

Here is his EASY (this is a 45 minute nap day, sometimes naps are shorter)
E-7
A-7:30
S-8:30
A-9:15
E- 10:00
S- 11:00
A- 11:45
E-1:00
S- 1:45
A-2:30
E-4:30
S-4:45
A- 5:30
E-6:30
S-7:00 bed
After that we are up every 1-2 hours. Usually we have 6-8 night wakings. Sometimes he wakes at 6am so the schedule would be moved back one hour.

Since he has the 45 minute naps it means his eating is in the middle of the A time and often right before his S time.

So...should I be extending his naps, and if so how if he isn't crying?

[andylynne]

If you think he is tired, you might try putting him to bed by moving bedtime earlier by 20 min increments every third night.  My LO is taking 40 min naps now (he's 4 mo) and I'm getting him more sleep by putting him down for the night at 6 pm.  He still sleeps 15 hrs in 24 but now most of his sleep is at night.  From 4-6 mo, daytime sleep is organizing into two naps (usually 9 am and 1 pm ish) with an optional third CN, which fits in nicely with going from a 3hr EASY to a 4hr EASY...but it seems from my own experience, and from reading the boards here, that its a bit of a rocky transition with lots of 4 mo olds with 40-45 min naps.  Sometimes day sleep takes until 5 or 6 mo of age to organize and I think I have one of those kids.

I've had zero success with nap extension.  As soon as he sees me, my kid gets all jazzed up and wants to play.  But your LO might be different.  You might have more success extending naps if you avoid the OT state by getting more sleep at night with an earlier bedtime.

[mamapye]

I've tried the earlier bed time but he still wakes every hour. I also find it hard because since he has short naps it means he has a nap at 4:30, and then wakes up around 5:15. Will he be tired enough to go down at 6 with only 45 min of A time? If I skipped this late nap then he would have an A time of 3.5 hours.That's way too long.

I'll try to tinker with things a bit to see if I can get him down earlier.

[andylynne]

I know...its so tough right now.  These short naps result in overtired baby by the end of the day.  Mine just woke up at 5:40 pm after yet another really short nap (40 min), had a bath, bottle and was in bed, asleep at 650...but he was rubbing his eyes.  Poor thing couldn't decide if he should eat or sleep.  Sometimes I cut out the afternoon catnap and just put him to bed super early.  It depends how our day is going and how tired I think he is.

I really wish there was some kind of secret recipe for happy, rested baby, don't you?  I'm tinkering a lot these days and keeping good notes and just trying to get through this.

[ZacsMumme]

Have you tried W2S to extend the 45 min naps?
Some LOs just short nap developmentally till about 6 months, unfortunately there is only so much we can do to et them to nap longer, and it doesn't always work

Does your LO suffer from reflux? Do you suspect discomfort at the NW?

[mamapye]

He does suffer from reflux, but it seems we finally have it under control now. Also the wake ups are so predictable and routine that it really seems that he just can't transition between sleep cycles. Also he falls back asleep almost instantly if I pick him up. If it was pain he would continue crying right.

We backed off any sleep training until we thought things were better with his reflux. It took about 3 months to get things under control.

I tried W2S a fee times when he was younger and it didn't seem to help. Maybe I will give it another try. I never know exactly how long his nap will be so I trends to get there to late most of the time.

[ZacsMumme]

If the naps are usually 45 mins o so you can try the W2S at 32 mins or so, if waking at 35 mins try around 22 mins...it can take a bit of trial and error, but it can really work

[ellen109]

It may not be logical or right, but I had some luck with night wakings by moving the bedtime later, to 8:30 or 9 with last feed at 8:30.  My DS is 17wks.  Then I treat any awakening before 7am as a night feed and start the day with a feed at 8am.  (Even if he wakes up at 7)  yes, it isn't EASY but it never seems to be with short naps. 

I find that after the first wake up of the night he doesn't sleep as soundly and wakes more often.  when i used to put him down around 7:30 he was up at 12, 2, 4, 6 if not more.  since switching to 8:30 feed, 9pm asleep we are getting the first wake up around 2 or 3am and the next at 5 or 6. 

Oh but I do have issues with the 4th nap, which I'd like him to take around 6-6:40, but often happens, if it happens at 7.  Still goes down pretty easy at 9 though and usually is up for the day happy around 7:30.

He doesn't take a DF.We  still go to bed when he does to make sure we get sleep, so these days I'm feeling pretty rested cause of the improved sleep.  Although I can't wait to stay up and watch the news again someday!

We may just be in a good week, I find things change a lot so I try not to get too attached.  My copy of Wonder Weeks is on the way and I'm hoping it will help me anticipate the bad weeks.  Although I knew 12 weeks was coming and it still was miserable.