lengthen 2nd nap?

[nilly]

our lo is 5 months and is generally on a 4 hour routine. wondering if i need "easy" tweeking as his second nap is only 45 min. he wakes up content, just talking to himself, were i leave him for a while longer (partly in hopes that he will fall asleep again). i know he needs more sleep. here is our general routine:
E 7:00 (only B.F.)
A
S 9:00

E 11:00
A
S 1:00 (sleeps only 45 min, but stays in bed till around 2:30 "resting" i hope)

E 3:00
A
S 4:30 (for 20 min)

E 5:00 (have to slip in an extra feed as he has stopped gaining steadily)
A followed by a bath
S 6:30-6:45

DF 10:00
S till 6:30ish an the whole day starts again.
he is an "angel" baby, wondering if i really need to extend his naps or just leave things the way they are??? also, who long should i leave him in hopes that he falls back asleep?
thanks for any suggestions.

nilly

[KathrynK]

hi nilly
he's probably ready for some more A time between the first and second naps. At 5 months many babies are starting to push for 2.5 hours of A time. I would try putting him down for his nap a bit later, say 1.15pm and see how he does.

[nilly]

thanks kathrynk, your probably right, cause he can easily stay up later when we need him to.....why didn't i think of that i'll give that a go!

thanks again, nilly

[katemom]

nilly,

I read your post and wondered how things are going - have you seen improvement in that 2nd nap after extending that A time?

katemom (kate is also 5 months)

[nilly]

hello's katemom,

i have to admit, that being easter holidays, i haven't been able to be as consistant as i have wanted to be. problem is, he would go to sleep after only 1:15 of being awake some times.... yes, he loves his sleep. remind me again in a few days, and i'll give you an update. i think this may be what he needs though.

nilly

[nilly]

still need help! seems like things have gone a bit astray lately, our lad is teething like crazy, so i hope that has something to do with things.

in regards to lengthening his 2nd nap, i have lengthened his A time to 2 1/2 hours in hopes that would help. i have also tried to the w2s at 30 min, but this only seems to help him to sleep 15 min longer (still not enough). should i try to extend his awake time by another 15 min? he is a big boy. i am wondering, because now his cat nap is causing him to stay up later, and having a much harder time falling asleep because of it, so i would love to get ride of it, even though it is a bit earler than the BW suggests.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
thanks, nilly

[katemom]

Hi Nilly,

Thanks for your response to my question - I was in your same shoes a week ago, and looking for suggestions.  I tried experimenting with different A times and it didn't help my 5 month old.  It doesn't sound like it's working for you either!  I don't know if this will work in your case, but I thought I would share what worked for us.  I went back to the awake times that were working when this 45 minute nap stuff started happening, which was 2 hours.  And then I started organizing her awake periods differently to start out with the most stimulating activities, and worked down to the most calming ones.  I also limited how much time was spent in potentially overstimulating activities to make sure she was mellowed out enought to fall asleep easily and stay asleep through that transition to the next sleep cycle at 45 minutes.  Well, it worked the first time I did that, and for every single nap since.  Now her first 2 naps are consistently 1:30, and her catnap is 45 minutes. 

I also changed her wind-down to include about 20 minutes of walking around the house doing stuff, while I talk or sing to her, (as many others have posted that this works) and then I just put her in her blanket sleeper, say my sweet nothings, and she puts herself to sleep.  So the wind-down ritual is somewhat longer, but much simpler than it used to be.  (Mine is an angel baby too).

Anyway, I don't know if this will help, but I wanted to share just in case it might.  Keep us posted on how things go, and I'm sure you'll get other suggestions...

kate's mom