How long until babies nap 90 minutes unassisted?

[yogahoneybunny]

I've been intervening to extend my son's 45 minute naps for almost two weeks now.  It works about 50% of the time.  He's 3 months old, on a 3 hour EASY, about to start the move to a 4 hour EASY over the next few weeks.  So, longer naps are essential.

Typically, what works is either pat/shush for 10 minutes, or picking him up swaddled and waiting until he settles to put him back in bed for pat/shush.  It usually only takes him about 5 minutes to settle, but sometimes I have to move backwards and start into the 4-S wind down routine...and then it can take up to 20-30 minutes to get him settled. 

I've given up on lengthening the first and the last naps of the day, as he wakes up for the other two naps with eyes wide and is not crying.  But the two middle naps in the day, (late morning and early afternoon) are the times I'm trying to extend.  So, I'm consistently trying to intervene to lengthen the 10:30 and 1:30 naps (see schedule below). 

E: 6:00
S: 7 - 8

E: 9:00
S: 10:30 - 12:00

E: 12:00
S:  1:30 - 3:00

E: 3:00
S: 4:15 - 5:00

Bath: 5:30
E: 6:00
Bedtime: 6:30

E: 10:00 PM (I don't DreamFeed b/c he has been diagnosed with colic)
E: 1-2 AM

Wakeup: 6:00 AM


1. Will there be a time when my hard work will pay off and he will continue sleeping past 45 minutes? 
2.  How long does it usually take to teach a child to sleep past 45 minutes using the interventions that Tracy recommends (wake to sleep or PU/PD)?
3. Should I be intervening at every naptime for consistency?
4. Should I start to use PU/PD now, or wait for a few more weeks?

 
 

[empowered mama]

hi there!  welcome to BW

I'm wondering if your LO is an independent sleeper?  Can he get to bed on his own at this point?

From what I hear, 3-6 months can be a rough time with the short naps   But to answer your question, yes!  Your hard work will certainly pay off.  The first thing is to find out the right amount of A time for your LO.  The typical amount of awake time for 3 months is 1 hr 20-30 minutes.  Perhaps you could first try this A time in the morning and see if it makes a difference.

Another thing that could be going on his difficulty transitioning to the next sleep cycle.  Between the age of 3-6 months, babies are working on organizing their day sleep and developing the ability to transition past the 45 min mark.  For this you could try wake to sleep or holding through the jolts.  See this link for a description: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64168.0   For my DS, I did HTTJ for nearly every long nap in the 5th month of life and it worked pretty well.  However, it was hard work - I had to be in there for 25-30 min each time.  But it could be worth a shot!

I will say that I really believe things get easier as you go along.  It can be hard and discouraging at times, but each day you learn something new to try the next day.  My LO just turned 6 months and I can certainly tell a difference in his ability to transition to the next sleep cycle now.  So it does get better over time!

HTH!

[brenda2]

i think it may get better if you tweak your A times a bit.  your first A time is too short as pp said.  you should be aiming for 1.5 hours first thing, so the first short nap is likely due to ut.  but if he does a short nap then you need to reduce the following A time.  if only a 1 hour nap then try only a 1 hour A time or maybe 1 hour 10 min after it because a short nap is not as restful.  so the short naps you're getting as the day goes on may be due to ot.

every lo is different.  ages 3-6 mo is prime short napping territory.  my lo short napped every nap until 7 mo and then i started getting more long naps.  i did try everything before then to extend the naps but nothing worked and she had no props and was an independent sleeper.  not saying this will happen for you, hope it doesn't but some are just short nappers

i would tweak the A times and continue trying to extend as you are doing, it should work eventually.

[yogahoneybunny]

Great advice!

I started this morning to extend the A times...it wasn't until last week that I realized that 60-75 minutes of awake time was NOT enough.  And you are both right...it's a delicate balance between too much and too little activity.  So far, it's easier to get him to extend b/c he's tired.  BTW - I thought that he might be going through a growth spurt, so tried to give him a little extra food 1 hour after feed time to extend a nap. 

RESULT: no extended nap, but extended the next feed time b/c he wasn't hungry!  So, I think that it's not a growth spurt that is cuasing the 45 minute naps.

Also, thanks for the encouragement and sharing your experiences.  It IS tough...especially taking the lead as the mother and being in there ALL of the time as the person in charge of sleeping.  It's good to know that 3-6 month short napping is par for the course.

[brenda2]

It IS tough...especially taking the lead as the mother and being in there ALL of the time as the person in charge of sleeping.

TOTALLY agree, i've felt this way a lot.

good luck, let us know how it goes.

[yogahoneybunny]

Morning # 2 - kept him up for a good 1 hour 20 minutes, and got an extended nap, although it took pat/shush to keep him in the zone.  Will continue trying...and also making the conversion to 4 hour EASY, as I'm now on Day 93 of 2-3 hour night sleeping intervals.  But that's ANOTHER story!