Nap help please! 3.5 month old

[amom526]

I posted in the other thread about Ds night wakings, but I'm so confused whatt to do with his napping schedule and A time. DS has never been a good napper. We have a good wind downs routine and he goes down pretty easily, but is ALWAYS up after 30-45 minutes. I've tried wake to sleep, and it either doesnt work, or he never actually goes into a deep sleep. Our current EASY looks like this:

E 615 6 ounces
S 745 (he will go down pretty easily, but always wake up 30-45 minutes later. sometimes just giving the paci a few times can stretch the nap another hour, other times that next hour is a battle. this applies to all his daytime naps)
E 945 6 ounces
S 1115 (same deal as before)
E 115 6 ounces
S 245 (this nap is the hardest)
E 415 or even 4- 4 ounces (i reduced this feed, cause he wasnt eating his full bottle before bedtime)

E 615 6 ounces
S 630

no DF for various reasons

I try giving the paci and comforting for up to 20 minutes, but if he won't go back to sleep I usually just give up and put him in the swing where he will go back to sleep for up to an hour. He's not hysterical when he wakes up, but cries, and then calms down for 2-5 minutes after he gets his paci and then repeat. I really dont want to get into this habit, but I don't know what else to do as I think he needs the sleep. I don't know if I need to extend his A time, as I'm also unclear if he belongs on a 3, 3.5, or 4 hour schedule. Shh/pat does not get him to sleep unless im doing it wrong
His nights are ok, but not great-wakes2-3 times a night, gets fed only once usually around 130, but alwasy wakes again around 5 when i try to hold him off till 615. Help please

[Shiv52]

HI there

He could be telling you he needs a little more A time and ready to move to a 3.5 hour EASY.  Often LOs move to a 4 hour EASY around 4 months, later if BFing. 

Have you tried going in around the 30 minute mark and giving him his paci and sshing him back to sleep?  This worked with my DD1 at this age.  If I let her wake up and then tried to resettle it wouldn't happen but this more often than not got the nap extended. 

Looking at your routine its a long A time after the short nap to the next nap.  If you get a short nap you should reduce the next A time.  So if he only sleeps to 8.30, aim for the next nap about 1-1.15 hours later. He could be getting OT by the end of the day.

What do you think?

[amom526]

I think he may definitely be getting OT by the end of the day. He was already on a 3.5 hour routine, but we've bumped it up to 4 and that seems to be helping a little. I've tried w2s for the naps, and it didn't work, but I don't think I've given it a real chance yet. A lot of times he doesn't even make it to 30 minutes though

[amom526]

Just to add on- He seems to be doing well with 2 hours of A time, but I think we are getting into trouble at the end of the day. Is there some kind of rule for how close/far from bedtime the CN can be, and how long it should be at this age?

[Shiv52]

How many days have you been doing the 2 hour A time for? 

Can you post your EAS as it is now and i'll take a look at the CN for you?  My DD still needed about 1.15-1.5 hours after the CN to have a settled bedtime.  I think at this age 45 minutes is the limit for the CN. 

[amom526]

This is the 2nd or 3rd day of 2 hour A time. part of the days have been 2 hour A time, parts have been 3 hours 45 minutes, some 3.5 hours

So far today we were:

E 650 (later than usual, we both fell back to sleep)
S 840 - woke up 30 minutes later, spent 20 minutes trying to re-settle, then put him in the swing where he went back to sleep till 1040
E 1040
S 1245 - same deal as before-maybe this time woke up 40 minutes into the nap. Eventually he went to sleep in the swing until 230
E 240
S 425 (Just put him down, I'm not planning to let him go past 5, although he will most likely wake up around then anyway)

I know the swing is a prop right now, but I'm just trying to get him some sleep while I figure out how to tackle his naps.