Anyone with a baby around 7 mths who's wake time is 3+ hours

[zap]

Is there anyone out there who has a baby who's wake time is actually 3+ hours before they take a nap?  If so, how long is the wake time and how long is there nap?

My LO has been on EASY for months now.  He is super active!!!  Always moving, always having to stand and jump since he was 2 months old, always laughing and smiling.  I know to some this might sound great, however he never sleeps!  I find it impossible to get anything done in the day and its completely frustrating.  He eats every four hours, then has his activity time, then I start to wind him down 20 minutes before bed. This consists of playing in his room (with a small toy that makes no noise), reading a book or just sitting with him and singing.  Then I swaddle him, turn off the lights and sit with him for 3-5 minutes maxium.  Í make sure that he is put in his crib awake (wide awake).  I then stay with him, usually with my hand on his back until I see his eyes close.  There is usually no fussing and he goes to sleep farely easily.  The problem is he won't sleep for more than 30 minutes.  Its like clockwork!  I started putting him to bed after 2 hours wake time and have even extended it now to 3 hours and still 30 minutes.  95% of the time he wakes up happy and alert.  He starts playing away in his crib for about 15 minutes and then he starts fussing and crying for me to come and get him.  I've been doing PU/PD now for almost 2 months and it hasn't made any difference in his naps whatsoever.  As soon as he stops crying, I put him immediately back in his crib and continue the process.  About 25% of the time I can get him back to sleep, but it usually takes me about 30+ minutes.  I'm spending half my day trying to get him to sleep. 

I don't know if maybe he just doesn't need that much sleep, or if his wake time should be much more than 3 hours.  3+ hours seems very long for a baby his age, but maybe its possible?!  Does anyone have a baby similar to mine who actually stays awake much longer to extend naps or does anyone see any fault in what I'm doing?

Any input would be helpful!

Thank you!!!!
Alison Zap

[mommytsa]

Personality wise, he sounds very much like my DS.  The extra-long A time and the short naps is a problem that I've pretty much gotten over (about 2 months of work-but it's finally better!).  What may be happening is that your LO doesn't really have any tired signs, so you are putting him down too late and he gets wound up because he's overtired, and then he's too tired to sleep (IFYWIM).  You may have to actually shorten A times in order to get longer naps.  It sounds crazy, but that's what's worked for me.

For example--here's an outline of a typical schedule--(not like there's ever a really typical day!).  I will warn you on this though--I nurse my lo to sleep--anit-BW, but it works for us at the moment, so I'm not going to mess with it.  You'd have to tweak the E times to accomodate what your LO is used to.

6:30 wake up
7:00 Breakfast -solids
8:30 nurse to Sleep -usually 2 hours or so
10:30 A
11:30-12:00 Lunch-solids
2:00 nurse to sleep -usually 1.5 or so
3:30 A
5:00 dinner- solids
6:30-7:00 nurse to sleep

Sometimes he wakes up once in the night to eat, sometimes not.  I have found that the morning A time has to be much shorter than the mid-day and evening A time.  So pretty much his A times go: 2 hours, 3-3.5 hours, 3 hours. 

I hope that helps a bit, but if it seems like there's no way it'll work, just ignore me .  Half the time I haven't a clue as to what I'm talking about anyways :wink: .

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Allison, please post your routine for us.  At about 7.5 months Taylor moved to 3 hours A time, so it is definitely not unheard of.  But like Teresa said, maybe because he is so spirited he needs a little shorter A time.

also, does he fall asleep independently?

[zap]

Ok, his routine looks like this.

8:00am - usually wakes around this time

8:15am - eat

8:30-10:45 - activity (consists of books, jumperoo, excersaucer, soft toys, blocks - I don't use all of these things just around 3)

10:45- wind down in room (rolling on carpet, or practising crawling(only for 5 minutes or so) and then a book).  I then swaddle him and sit in the dark for around 3-5minutes.  I say only 3-5, because sometimes he's looks as though he could fall asleep any second and I want to make sure I put him in his crib fully awake. 

11:00am - Then I put him in his crib and usually keep my hand on him until I see his eyes close and I leave the room.

11:30 - and not a minute later he's awake!  And I mean usually wide awake!!!  He only cries about 10% of the time when he wakes up. 

11:30-12:15 - I do PU/PD to try and get him back to sleep.  The problem is he's usually playing around in his crib.  So I don't let him see me until he starts crying or fussing for me to come and get him.  Then I continue to do PU/PD.  However, most of the time while doing this, he'll cry, I'll pick him up until he stops and put him immediately back in his crib.  I usually do this several times and then he starts laughing and playing in his crib again.  I can't figure him out.  Is he still tired or what?

12:15 - I get him up to eat

12:45-2:15 - activity time.

2:15 - upto his room to wind down

2:30 - into bed

3:00- he's wide awake again and I continue to do Pu/PD until his next feed - I can sometimes get him back to sleep and sometimes not.  If I can't get him back to sleep, he goes down for another nap around 5:00 for 30 minutes.

4:15 - eat

4:45-6:45 - activity (usually consists of a bath just before wind down)
(If he needed the nap at 5:00, I won't put him down until 7:30 or so)

And then off to bed.  I'm still doing the dream feed at around 10:30pm and he doesn't wake up for anther 5 hours or so.  I feed him around 4:00am and then he starts his day again around 8:00am. 

He may wake up later somedays (around 8:30 or so), so everything moves ahead.  All the times I gave are approximates.  I rarely have any problems with night wakings, so I don't know why I can't figure out the nap thing.  I should add the only night wakings I'm having problems with (and this has been happening for about 4 months) is - he wakes up usually 45 minutes after we put him to bed crying (usually screaming crying).  I will go up and do PU/PD until he stops .  I'll stay with him until the 20 minutes is up and then leave.  Then he'll wake up again within another 45 minutes or so and do the same thing.  This could happen 4 times in a row (up until 9:00pm or so).  It sometimes takes about 10-15 minutes to calm him down. 

Hopefully you or someone can figure this out for me, because I feel like I've tried everything and nothings working.

Thanks for the advice!

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi There,

When you do 3 hours of A time, does he just seem absolutely exhauseted, or is he relatively happy until about 10-15 minutes before his nap?  I think if he is acting really tired, then he may need a shorter A time for the time being.  If he's happy, then it sounds like 3 hours is enough.

One thing that did strike me was:

Then I put him in his crib and usually keep my hand on him until I see his eyes close and I leave the room

I don't mean to be nit picky, but perhaps he is so used to your hand being there as he starts to go through the sleep cycles, that when he comes out of deep sleep at 30 minutes, your hand is not there so he wakes and can't make it through the transition without you. 
What happens when you leave the room immediately after putting him down wide awake?

I usually do this several times and then he starts laughing and playing in his crib again.

How long does he continue with this happy demeanor after his 30 minute nap?  After his first nap, does he continue to play happily for the next couple of hours?

(If he needed the nap at 5:00, I won't put him down until 7:30 or so)

So with no catnap does he go to bed earlier than 7:30?  So does this mean he gets about 13 hours of night sleep?  THis may be so much which is why he doesn't nap much during the day?

I'll wait to hear back from you.  We'll try to get this figured out!  :wink:

[Colesmom]

I then swaddle him and sit in the dark for around 3-5minutes. I say only 3-5, because sometimes he's looks as though he could fall asleep any second and I want to make sure I put him in his crib fully awake

I agree with Taylor's Mommy that this combined with your hand on him while falling asleep may be causing the issue.  He may wonder why you're not there when he starts to come out of deep sleep at 30 min.

Then I continue to do PU/PD. However, most of the time while doing this, he'll cry, I'll pick him up until he stops and put him immediately back in his crib

How long are you holding him until he stops crying?  I'm trying to remember how long Tracy says at this age to hold for.  Could be that you're holding him too long and he's settling in your arms.

Usually for my lo if he wakes after the first 45 minutes of night sleep it's an indication of overtiredness.  I wonder if an earlier bedtime would work, even just 20 minutes can make a difference.

HTH