Nap Intervention

[liseK]

Hi Everyone!  I'm pretty new to this site and hope you have some thought/advice regarding extending my dd's naps.  She is nearly 5 mos old and is on a 4 hr easy.  (Just started 1 week ago) 
For her naps at 9am and 3pm I intervene by patting her back described in the BW 30 min into her sleep cycle to help her sleep longer.  It works like a charm...only yesterday and today she only sleeps 1 1/2 and wakes crying.  I know she needs that extra 30min of sleep - So my ? is:  Should I go in 10 min before she would normally wake and pat her back through this "wake cycle"?
Thanks so much!

[liseK]

I should mention that I am having trouble with pu/pd...not sure if it's her me or both but she is a very sensitive baby 

[claires mum]

Hi liseK

Not sure if I'm reading your post correctly -  is your LO is awake between 11.30am and 3.00pm (4.5 hours)??   If that's the case then at 5 months of age it seems like a 3.00pm nap might be a little too late in the day???  Have you tried an earlier afternoon nap with a 20 minute cat nap at around 4.15pm?

Claire's Mum

[liseK]

Hi Sorry I was having a crazy day yesterday and didn't get a chance to check in....

To answer your question yes she takes a nap at 1pm - 3pm ish....you think that may be a bit late in the day???

As for the wake time...she will wake from her nap around 10:30 (grumpy) and then up till 3pm for the second nap.

Does that answer your question?

[claires mum]

OK...so then she's sleeping for 1.5 hours from 9 - 10.30 and then another 2 hour nap from 1-3pm?  And you're worried that she really needs both sleeps to be 2 hours?? 

If I've read your posts correctly - then I wouldn't be too worried about that 30 minutes reduction in sleep unless she's starting to wake up a lot at night.  You could probably try not to intervene at the 30 minute mark now...as her sleep cycle should be set to sleep for 1.5 hours without help...have you tried it???

What do you think?