Thanks to some amazing advice and support on this board, we finally got Stanley (now 16 weeks) napping well, settling himself to sleep, and OT no longer. I am incredibly grateful, and overall, things are going really well.
There's this one niggle though. Stanley wakes up and needs to be shh-patted back to sleep in the middle of EVERY SINGLE NAP! It can happen as early as 30 mins or as late as one hour, and it's just getting really tired, having to spend 15 mins with a crying baby every nap. Sometimes he wakes once, other times he'll wake, be resettled and go back to sleep, and wake again 10 mins later. Sometimes he just needs a shh- and a hand on his chest, other times he gets more and more upset and needs shh-patting on my shoulder until he calms down.
It really eats into my Y time! More importantly, it makes it way more difficult for my mum or DH to care for him, as they're less confident about extending naps. They're likely to give up, and leave us all in an OT situation. And, he's starting childcare two days per week in a couple of weeks time, and I'm worried that they won't be as diligent about making sure that naps are good long naps!
He's a textbook boy (little bit angel, little bit touchy) and his routine looks pretty much like this. If the afternoon catnap doesn't really work (we're usually on the move, and sometimes he only gets half an hour) bath and bed will be brought forward by 15-20 mins:
EA 7
S 8.45
A 10.45
EA 11
S 12.45
A 2.45
EA 3
catnap 4.45
A 5.30
bath 6
E 6.30
bed 7
DF 10.30
He's swaddled for every nap. I want to try and wean him from the swaddle before he starts childcare (and also because he's really too tall for his miracle blankets), but I don't know how to tell if he's ready - he's desperately trying to find his thumb, but hasn't managed to yet. I've tried leaving one arm unswaddled for a couple of naps this week, but it doesn't seem to make any difference to the wakings.
I'll be so grateful to hear if you have any advice or words of wisdom.
anna
x
