Quick help with naps and A time please!

[monopod]

We've been having the second of two very bad days nap-wise - after nearly two weeks of excellent napping, a dummy ejection and sttn for the first time, all of a sudden I have a tremendously OT and super-crabby LO on my hands, only 35 minute naps, and loads of crying.

Today he woke at 5.30 after 4 NWs (I fed him at 6) and has had only 2 35-minute naps throughout the day thus far. Because I've kept to the 4h feeding schedule (he hasn't been hungry earlier), we've ended up with his A time after each feed getting shorter and shorter, with the result that it's now only just past 3pm and he's gone down for his third nap. Based on experience he's going to wake in half an hour again and will absolutely refuse to resettle, but what do I do then with his next feed not due until nearly 6pm??

Do I bring the feed forward and give him a super-early bedtime (with what consequence??)? Or try my utmost to get him down a second time before his feed? If not I'm going to end up with another super-long A time before bed and I'm sure that's just going to make our NWs worse...

Please, please - quick advice would be received with so much gratitude!

[lilac83]

Personally, I would try to squeeze in another nap. I have had some success putting my LO to bed early and waking at the same time she normally does, however, one can never be sure. I always prefer to try to get another cat nap in. Sometimes I will even put her in the car and go for a 30 minute drive, even if it's right before bed. Then when we get home I let her stretch and play a little bit, do our bedtime routine and she falls asleep.

[monopod]

Robin, thanks so much for your post. I actually - get this - managed to get him to sleep for just over 2 HOURS instead of the 30 minutes I was expecting I've never been successful with W2S but this time I was there to watch him and stroke his head etc. as soon as he stirred and screwed up his mouth, and he went back down like an absolute dream! I'm still in shock but now I know what worked, you can be sure I'll be trying it again in the future

For future reference I will definitely be taking your advice about trying to squeeze in another nap instead of bringing bedtime forward though - last thing I want is the possibility of him waking even earlier than 5.30am!

Thanks!

[brenda2]

i agree with robin.  when short napping you need to try to get in more naps during the day so the totla daytime sleep is about the same.

[lilac83]

That's excellent! Keep up the good work!