Anyone know what to do about A times if baby doesn't have full nap?

[spiritedmama]

My health visitor/Plunket nurse told me to make sure my baby is in bed no more than an hour and a half after waking. He is nearly 4 months old now. The problem is he catnaps and never sleeps longer than half an hour in the cot...if I wait an hour and a half after him waking from, say, a 20 min nap, should I still be waiting the hour and a half? He seems to get OT really really quickly and is often yawning within half an hour of waking but it seems to soon to put him down again after waking so I wait, but then he is OT and cries as soon as he is in the cot and it's hard to calm him down and get him to sleep.

I've tried lengthening A time in the morning as soon as waking, up to two hours but then he is OT and if I can get him to sleep he doesn't sleep any longer. Just wondering how the A time should be adjusted when a baby catnaps and has not had fully refreshing sleep?

[*Ali*]

I would usually go by sleepy cues and expect them to be tired again about 20-30 mins sooner than had they had a full nap. Typical A time for a 4mo is about 1hr45-2hrs so I'd probably aim for them to be asleep by 1hr15-1hr30 after they last woke.
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

I'd follow his cues though and if he seems tired enough to sleep again after 30 mins then I'd go for it.

How long ago was it your HV told you to limit A time to 1hr30? Just wondering as their A times move up pretty quickly at this age so what may have been perfect at 3mo would be too short now, yk?

Have you tried resettling you LO at the 30 minute wake up? Do you use shh pat to settle in the first place or does LO have props like feeding to sleep, soother, rocking etc.?

Or what about trying wake to sleep? I used that at 4.5mo with my DS1 to solve short naps and it worked like a dream. How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

[spiritedmama]

Yes the HV told me that when he was just a little over 3 months but in all honesty I wouldn't want to make it any longer as he gets severely OT....for example this morning he was awake at 5.50 am, was showing tired signs so put him in the cot at about 7.05 and he was asleep within two minutes, no crying, but only slept for 20min. He was then showing tired signs within about half an hour or less of being awake but I thought no way will he sleep so kept him up until about 1hr 15 min had lapsed since he was last awake - tried to feed him too but he was showing mega OT signs and fussing at bottle and breast (mixed feeding) so couldn't  get much milk into him, put him in cot and I can hear him grizzling but he's almost asleep already within a couple mins so clearly needs to go to bed. This means his A times so far today have been 1hr15 min both times....which at a 4 month old is way less than what's recommended.

I do try to resettle when he wakes but very very hard to get him back to sleep. I've never managed it yet. I have white noise playing as he is spirited and very sensitive to stimulation. Never tried wake to sleep as his naps vary in length but I could give it a go. Chances are with my LO though that he will simply wake and not sleep as he is so easily woken up!

[*Ali*]

The average A times are following a full nap of 1.5hrs or more though. He'll definitely need significantly less after only 20 mins of napping as that wouldn't be restorative at all.

When you increased his A times did you do it gradually by 10 mins every few days or did you do it in bigger jumps? He is less likely to get OT if you do it in small increments to give him time to get used to it.

What is his night sleep like? Sounds like he likes an early start. Does that mean he has a short night or does he have an early BT? I'm wondering if he is needing his nap so soon after waking because he is still tired when he gets up in the morning due to either NWs or a short night? Any chance he would resettle after a feed at 5.50am? 10-12hrs is typical night but most will need closer to the 11-12 end I imagine.

[*Ali*]

Is there any way you can AP a longer nap in the buggy or sling or car for example?

[spiritedmama]

He can only do longer naps with me in our bed latched on to the breast...he can do up to two hours tho he will wake two or three times in that time but just re latch and comfort suck. I'm trying to get him used to sleeping in the cot and falling asleep without props but there are times when we hit a neverending cycle of OT so I cave in and take him in bed so he (and I) can get some rest.

We co-sleep at night (starting pupd this coming weekend) so he goes to be on average around 8pm. He wakes MULTIPLE times in the night for a comfort feed but never takes much milk. When he wakes around 6am there is no getting him back to sleep for an hour as he is too awake and wanting to play and see the world. This is his best time of day and the rest of the day he is massively OT and cranky. Can't seem to get out of the cycle of short naps and OT....it even affects his feeding as he is so OT he gets frustrated with both breast and bottle and I can rarely get him to take a full feed. 2 or 3 min on the breast and then 30ml on the bottle and that's with a LOT of messing around....eventually later on he will take a full bottle but it can be many hours....

[*Ali*]

If he's feeding on and off throughout the night he probably isn't hungry in the morning then.