Should I accept that I CAN'T extend my baby's nap times?

[peetie]

So great to hear all of the moms out there with short nappers! I am still trying to decide to just stop obessing about it. I guess if my lo seemed happy after the short nap, it would be easier...but sometimes she really is cranky so I know she needs more sleep. I can only do my best. I am also jealous of my friends who have good nappers. They are all in shape and have their homes in order. I am a huge frump and feel like I am barely surviving. Guess it makes a huge difference when you have 2 hours to get things done and are not leaning over a crib for the whole day!! Well, thanks for the support and if things don't change very soon I guess I will just get her up, put her in the sling and let life move on!

[lilmonkey]

Is this an exclusive club or can I join too?   

[orbmom]

Lil'monkey of course, you can join!  Unlike those in the long napper club- who post things like "if he sleeps past two hours, should I wake him up"- we're a little less organized, more sleep deprived, and generally crazier.  Passing you a virtual glass of wine... come on in. 

[lilmonkey]

we're a little less organized, more sleep deprived, and generally crazier.  Passing you a virtual glass of wine... come on in. 

Yup sounds like me. 

Cheers and bottoms up!   

[aedge]

I know this may not be the right forum - but since the root of my question is shared by all of you ladies - I thought I'd ask anyway.  Have any of you switched to 4hour Easy with your short nappers??  I don't understand how/if it is possible? 

I am still doing 3hr EASY w/ my DD (almost 5months old) b/c of the short naps.  Sometimes it seems like she isn't really very hungry and could go longer than 3hrs between nursings, but the EASY routine I have her on has made her accustom to eating after she wakes up.  Any suggestions?

[sherry lynn]

Aedge,
thanks for asking that question, that is what I was thinking the whole time I was reading this. My LO is 4 1/2 and when he only naps 35-45 min, especially if he's had an early waking and I let him be for awhile, then we struggle to just do the 3 hour feedings. I'm guessing that it gets easier as they get older and can handle more awake time? I'm still trying to hold out hope that he will learn to nap better at around 6 months like many people say on here. I truly hope it doesn't take too much longer because he is such a happy baby when he gets enough sleep.

[Rybky]

WOW! Thank you so much for this thread!! I am also in the club of the "nap freaks", at least that's how I felt trying to extend his naps. For what? He is happy, healthy and really looks like he has enough sleep. I just thought that if the books says, it must be really bad for him to have just two half hour naps (he is ten months now). Thank you so much, I really just needed this thread to make me feel like I am not doing anything wrong giving up obsessing about the short naps. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! And here is to happy days with no more hours of making my son and myself miserable. Thank you!!

[OJ30]

Thank you so much for this post!  I really was beginning to believe I was the only one battling with short naps who was getting obsessed with sleep (or lack of).  My 4 mo spirited lo has always had short naps.  He only ever sleeps for 45 mins at a stretch and wakes at exactly 45 mins.  You could set a clock by him.  I have spent so much of his early life sitting in the dark in his room shush/patting, waking him, holding his legs that I was starting to go insane!  Now I have learned to accept that this is what my little boy is like and although I get very little done I now feel I can enjoy the time we have together.  Most of the time he wakes happy and content but still needs a second nap in every EASY cycle.  It can still be a bit of a nightmare but it's the way it is!  I look back and remember the early days where it was a battle to even get him to go to sleep.  It just goes to show what progress we have made! 
Jo and Alex x

[lilmonkey]

Aedge, I've never forced the 4hr schedule on both my babies.  DD was a great napper as an infant but she couldn't last longer than 3-3.5 hrs between feedings (small eater & had reflux).  She naturally went to 4 hrs by 5/5.5 mos.  DS is mostly a short napper and we just follow the EAS cycle throughout the day.  I hanve noticed that the cycles are never exactly the same as the middle cycle (between the 1st and 2nd naps) is the longest 3-3.5 hrs.  YOu will find that as your lo grows older and his A times are more than 2.5 hrs, EAS might becomes EAEAS or AEAES.  The key to BW is to listen to his cues and to do things in a consistent matter so that he know what to expect.  HTH

[Mar2006]

Aedge, my LO is the same way, although the interesting thing is that our routine ends up looking more like EASAEAS, even with the feeding every 3 hours or so!  So I've gotten him used to not eating right away after waking up, but if I wait the full 4 hours then I end up feeding him to sleep for his next nap, and I don't want to get into that habit.  This way does seem to be working for us for now...I know that doesn't really answer your question, but at least you know you're not the only one who can't get onto the 4 hr EASY.

[Jann]

Ahhhh Finally, I am not the only one freaking out about short naps.  My ds is almost 5 months and i only got a hand full of long naps.  The majority of the time i hold my breath at the 45 min mark and hope he will make it passed.  My boyfriend thinks I am driving myself and him crazy over these naps.  He wakes happy as a clam from his 45 min nap.  I promised myself this morning that I will accept his napping situation for what it is and watch his A time a try to adjust it as needed.

Thanks for the encouragement.
J

[aedge]

Thank you Lil'monkey and Mar2006 for your responses to my 4hr Easy question.  I appreciate the suggestions.  My DD is happy with her short naps and just this past week started sleeping through the night (7-7 hurray!!!), so I certainly won't force 4hr EASY on her.  In fact, I'm afraid to change a thing for fear that she'll start night waking again   If the opportunity arises and she starts taking longer naps, then we'll switch to 4hrs, until then.... 

[dizzy]

Thank you, you guys are so right. I am going to try to enjoy him more and stop obsessing about his naps. he is a lovely chappy really. My dad is a vicar and I took him to a lunch club for oap's today and he was brilliant for just over the 2 hrs he smiled and gurgled and took it all in. He brightened up their day and they all loved him. He then slept for 40 mins in pram on way home and then was up again but he was a brill boy while we were out with lots going on and may strangers I should celebrate that! Thanks

[hannahbanana]

My LO is 9.5 months and we're only now starting to have some consistent success with naps (in the past week!).  The key for us was ignoring lots of yawns and eye rubbing and putting her down when she seems really, really tired and didn't even had energy for play.  Really.  Now we have 3-3.75 hours of A time and she naps 1:15x2.  This never used to happen.  Maybe I'd get one 1 1/2 hr. nap a week!  The rest were 45 (or 35).

I think the window of opportunity opened around 7 months (but I didn't seize it until now).  That's when what I thought was enough A time only yeilded 45 minutes.

I should note, however, that this turn around in naps started the week I decided that I wasn't going to just get her out of bed but try to extend them.  The extension only worked a couple of times, when she woke after 35 mins.  It never worked (or has worked any time I've tried) after 45 minutes.  For me, the success with 35 mins. gave me the courage to try to drastically extend her A time, figuring I'd rather get 35 and extend than 45.  And if the 35 mins. didn't extend, I figured, what's the big difference in 10 mins.  So, I took the plunge and lengthen her A time from 2 or 2 /12 to 3 1/2 and voila!

Take heart.  PU/PD isn't the only solution.  Do enjoy yourself and motherhood more.  But don't resign yourself, if you know your LO needs more sleep.  In time, you'll figure it out.

(And please know that I am totally struggling with other sleep issues, NWs and EWs.  Thankfully, I'm getting some relief with naps.)