Nightmare with Naps

[parmar1]

My LO is now 12 weeks old and is a terrible napper and is def OT. She sleeps for max 45 mins and has on a good day 3 45 min naps and maybe a little catnap around 4.30ish. On bad days she goes through 1 or 2 45 mins naps for the whole day, and spends the rest of the day playing and crying/wailing!
She is also def a spirited baby and often I miss her tiredness cues...
I'm at the end of my tether.
I combined feed her and she is on a 3 hourly feed routine

I need help!

A typical day is as follows:

E - 7/7.30
A
S 8.30 (for 45 mins/1 hour
E - 9.30/10am
A
S 11.am (30/45 mins) this sleep doesnt always happen if I have missed her cues and she then becomes erratic and OT
E 12.30/1pm
A
S - 2.30 (usually 30/45 mins) although this nap doesnt always happen
E 4pm
A
S 4.30/5pm

She is in bed by 7am without much fuss and normally stays asleep until 11am/12am and then wakes around 3/4am for feeds.
I must also add that she has no probs going to bed at night and I can normally hear her go through sleep cycles...

Any help much appreciated

Ash

[CRHMOM]

Hi,

My son is 16 weeks and has just finally started to take longer naps. He has always been a terrible napper and would literally be awake all day if he wanted to. He would sleep so good at night 7-7pm without any waking. We had many days of 2 or 3 40 minute naps and he couldn't get past the sleep cycle and would just scream. Nothing really worked except time. Just in the last few weeks he has started to take a long 2-3 hour morning nap but he still catnaps (2 * 40 minutes)  in the afternoon. I've also read where it can take 3-6 months for them to figure out their day sleep and the morning nap is usually the nap that develops first. I know every baby is different but what seemed to work for us was continuely putting him down clam and drowsy but still AWAKE (no more rocking him to sleep). This has taught him to fall alseep on his own. When he wakes up from the 40 minute sleep cycle we ALWAYS give him the oppotunity to resettle (usually 10-15 minutes) before we go get him.  Try not to stress so much about it, there are loads and loads of us that have this problem.  The ability to transition from sleep cycles will come with time and maturity!!! Hang in there!!!!!

Trisha

[marensmama]

Hi there.  I think your LO could use a bit more A time in the morning, like 1.25-1.5 hours.  Usually 45 minute naps mean UT, and you could try stretching that first A time slightly.  Then if she short naps, you need to cut back on the following A times, by 15-30 minutes, depending on her cues.  30-40 minute naps usually mean the baby is OT, so it's really important to remember that a shorter A time is necessary... you'll be fitting more naps in the day.

HTH!