Multiple wakings during naps

[LaurenJadeMom]

Just over a week ago I trained my 19-week old DD to go to sleep independently using PU/PD (huge thanks to the moderators on that message board and prior posts there)  She has been a 45-minute napper since she was 9 weeks.  Until I did the sleep training she was usually picked up immediately after she woke at the 40-45 minute mark and then held for the remainder of her nap (45 minutes or so).  For the past week we have not picked her up at the 45-minute mark for fear it would interfere with her ability to put herself to sleep at the beginning of her naps.  

For 5 days after teaching independent sleep, I tried several techniques to get her to extend her naps, including W2S (the stirring method 5-10 minutes before she woke - has never worked), and soothing her in the crib after she woke (she would just smile and grab my hands).  She was so tired this past week from only taking 45 minute naps all day long (luckily it did not really affect her night sleep).  

She is on a 3.5-4 hour easy (closer to 3.5 hours if she is only taking short naps).  2 days ago we tried keeping her A times close to 2 hours regardless of whether she had a 45-minute nap or not (she was really ready to go down by 1.5 hours with such short naps, but we kept her occupied  ).  For the first time, she woke at 45 minutes, fussed for 5-10 minutes (it's pretty funny to watch her kicking her legs straight up in the air), and then put herself back to sleep for another 40 minutes.  I felt like that was an incredible accomplishment!  Since then, she has been waking up for most naps anywhere between 37-45 minutes and after some fussing/light crying, going back to sleep.  However, she will keep waking up and going back to sleep on and off for the next 45-60 minutes.  For example, her first nap this morning was 90 minutes and I never heard a peep in the middle.  The second nap, however, she woke at 37 min, was up for 5 minutes, back to sleep for 10 minutes, up for 5 minutes, then asleep again for only 15 then wake again and fuss for 5 minutes, then sleep again for 20 minutes.  The third nap was similar to the second.  

My question is whether these fragmented naps are normal for a baby learning to transition and put themselves back to sleep?  Do you think she'll eventually be able to transition from the first sleep cycle to the second more effortlessly?  Has anyone else experienced this?  I'm not complaining about the fact that she's doing it - I'm actually quite proud of her.  But the quality of these naps is not nearly as restorative as a nap where she is not constantly waking up for minutes at a time throughout.

Thanks much!
Dee  

[LaurenJadeMom]

Hi Stacy - I think of you more like a sleep fairy and am happy to have you follow me and baby Lauren!

Thanks for the input.  Her first nap today was 90 minutes with only yell-out at the 40 minute mark and then silence for the remaining time, so I assume she must have immediately gone back to sleep.  She is almost done with her second nap of the day, and the same thing happened, which is so much better than having her wake up and fall back to sleep multiple times in one nap period! She has been eating at just about 4 hours so far today, plus I had her awake for 2.25 hours before her second nap, so hopefully that helped.  I'll continue to stay the course for the rest of the day so cross your fingers!

Of course this follows a relatively poor night of sleep, where I had to do pu/pd for 50 minutes to get her down for the night (finally conked out at 8:10 p.m.), then she was up crying at 10:15 and 11:15 (both times was able to sooth her in the crib after a couple of minutes), and then up again at 4:40 a.m. for good.  I fed her at 5 a.m. b/c I figured she was hungry after all the earlier crying plus it had been 10 hours between feeds.  Previously I only had to do pu/pd on her first day of sleep training 8 days earlier, so it was quite a shock (to both of us, I'm sure) to have to do it again.  I was unsure whether I should have done it b/c she defiitely was gassy at her last bottle last night so I really hoped her fussing/crying wasn't due to her tummy.  However, my parents were over for dinner last night and she ended up falling asleep in my mom's arms for 30 minutes from around 4:45 - 5:15 p.m.  I figured I could count that as her catnap, but later thought that having her sleep on my mom and wake up like that (like she used to do) really may have been AP and this is what could have contributed to her regression at bedtime last night.  So difficult to know what to do sometimes!!