wants to be held/crying at naps---teething? overtired? getting smarter?

[mariarico]

Hi,

My LO is 4 months and used to self soothe herself for naps all the time.  no crying.

She is still doing 40 minutes naps and i'm still trying to figure out the right A time.

This past weekend though, she wails when we put her down and won't stop. I've tried shh/pat, PU/PD, nothing works so we rock her or else she will get really OT.

She never use to do that before. Her A time is somewhere between 1hr 45min-1hr 50 min (includes self soothe time). I've tried longer A time but she has a hard time falling asleep..cries alot.

My husband wants to just rock her because he thinks she's teething.  She is happy and laughing all day, she sucks on her hand a lot and drools a lot, but doesn't cry in A time.

She wakes up happy most of the time, but sometimes will wake up cranky and crying.

how do i know what's wrong...overtired? teething? or is she just getting smarter and wants mommy to rock her???

[jessmum46]

Hi, sorry you haven't had a reply yet.

Rocking can certainly start to become a prop at around this age, so you will need to be a bit careful, but I completely understand not wanting her to become OT.  It may be she's ready for a touch more A time - normally when DD started really fighting naps she was either UT or quite OT.  Many babies are doing 2h A time at this age. How long are you generally allowing for self soothing?  E.g.if you're aiming for 1h50 A time, at what point do you put her down?  If I put DD down allowing for 20 mins to self soothe (as suggested) she would fight the nap all the way, but if I give her 5 mins or less she'll settle easily.  Could your DD need a shorter WD?

How long have you tried shh pat for?  Was that how you taught her to self-settle originally?

[mariarico]

thanks for the reply.

i give her 20 min to soothe....i've tried other times but this is the only put down time she does well with (1hr 25 min put down). other times she will wail more.

she got better this week but i tried 1hr 40 min put down and she cried.  so do i stick with 1 hr 25min put down???

[jessmum46]

My DD would have fought being put down that early......I'd try ten minutes later and persist with shh pat.  Do you have a good consistent wind down?

[jessmum46]

This topic is now locked.  Please continue to offer advice and support to mariarico on her new thread here: confused and frustrated--short naps and tired cues