Another Short Napper - 14 weeks **UPDATE please advise**

[Josiepoo]

Hi all

After battling through colic and Cows milk allergy we properly began the EASY routine roughly 3 weeks ago. It has really helped, before my little girl had trouble napping at all unless she was being rocked on me and then would wake up as soon as I put her down. Now we do a little wind down (dark room, sleeping bag on, white noise, story, Twinkle twinkle little star, a small bit of rocking on our chair and then put down when she looks drowsy) she will actually nap!

The problem is she only naps for the dreaded 45 minutes. I know she can self settle as I hear her do it at night - she sucks away at her fingers, but she tries this during the day at it doesn't do it for her.

I was wondering if her E/A time is correct for her age. ANY time she wakes up she will still be yawning, even after a whole nights sleep so I have to look for other cues which often come at the 1hr mark (even after a long sleep, but definitely after a short 45 min nap) - but is this too soon for a 14week old? Our wind down only takes 10 minutes, so she tends to be asleep after 1hr 10mins of A. Then up after 45minutes, which then means it is going to be a short A time again. I really try to settle her back down but this only works 40% of the time.

Days often end up like this.

Slept from 7pm-7am DF at 10ish and sometimes NW at 5am but this is starting to happen less.
7ish wake up and feed
8ish tired signs
8.15 asleep
9 awake
10 or 10.15 feed
10.30 asleep
11.15 awake, I try to resettle. Sometimes it works for a short while.
11.45 admit defeat and have some A time
1 or 1.30 feed
Asleep soon after.

Then the day carries on in a similar battle until 6.30 bath time and massage, 7pm bed.

Maybe I need to transition her feeds further apart? Or keep her awake longer at the start of the day?
Any thoughts appreciated. Sorry for the long/incoherent post!

UPDATE
I have found out that the reason she keeps waking up is gas, as sometimes I pick her up and she will burp/pass wind and go straight back to sleep. I'm not sure what forum I need to go to now - please let me know.
I want advice on attacking this wind issue... we use gripe water which helps her burp but she still wakes crying and squirming from naps and sometimes in the night. I massage her, cycle her legs, but don't often get anything out. She often wakes up crying her little head off. Suggestions welcome!

[Papaya]

Hi and welcome

The average A time for a 3 month old is around 1hr20-30, so I think she could do with an A increase.

Is my baby ready to increase his ‘A’ time? (incl. 'A' times for younger babies)

A lot of LOs do start to have trouble transitioning to the second sleep cycle around 3/4 months anyway (it's a developmental stage as they sort out their daytime sleep) but you're much less likely to be able to help her resettle if she's undertired. It's also common at this age for LOs to give tired signs sort of out of habit, when they are used to getting a nap - so when you see those signs in the morning, I would try to distract with something fairly low-key and stretch her out for another 15 mins, aiming for sleep by 1hr30. Hold for 3-4 days and see how you go. If you get full length first nap (1.5hrs+), try the same A again. If the nap is short, you will probably need to shorten the next A slightly to avoid OT - some LOs can still do a full A (so 1hr30 or so) on a short nap, but I'd be careful about those A times later in the day getting even longer if the naps have all been short. Your EAS may get a bit out of kilter to compensate but that's ok

[Josiepoo]

Thanks, I will try to enforce the 1.5hr A time from the start of the day.

Today I actually managed a good nap out of her (poss due to having her injections last night) so tried for a whole 1.5hr A time which she dealt with quite well but then the nap after was only 45mins again.

I wonder if her room isn't dark enough, even with blackout curtains the room is a lot lighter than it is at night...    so many things it could be!

[Papaya]

Glad you got a good first nap at least!

so many things it could be!

There really are - and these 45 min naps are just really common at this age so there's not always anything you can do. Stretching A times can help, and a nice dark room especially for touchy or spirited LOs, but sometimes they will short nap anyway. It can be worth trying W2S if LO consistently wakes at the 45 min mark (option 2 on this sticky: How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)) - or else aim for a series of short naps and short As, which is not ideal but should keep the OT monster at bay

[Josiepoo]

please see the update in the original post re:gas!

[amayzie]

If you post a new thread over on colic reflux crying they should be able to give you some ideas:

Colic, Reflux, & Crying