4.5 month old - taking shorter than 1.5hr naps (is that ok?)

[Fefekabob]

I was just wondering if I have this right?

- Anything under 45 minutes is an OT nap
- Anything between 45 - 1.5hours is an UT nap

If that is the case, what should I do if my 4.5 month old's first nap of the day is 1 hour or 1 hour 20min long? I have been putting him to bed after 2 hours A time because I thought the first nap of the day should begin about 2 hours after they wake up to prevent OS/OT. (I have read so many different books/websites that I have no idea where I got this from).

When he wakes up after those short naps he is fine. He will play in his crib and babble. So I leave him, hoping he will put himself back to sleep for another hour. But that doesn't happen... he will eventually start fussing after about 20 minutes. Another 10 minutes later, he will be hysterical. If I try and shh/pat as soon as he wakes up, he will go bezerk. I always end up taking him out of the room after unsuccessfully trying to extend that nap. But, then the weird thing is that he will be whiny for 20 minutes (probably from crying)... then he will be fine and make it up to 2hr 20 min A time. So maybe I need to make his first morning A time also 2hr 20min...but isn't that too long for first thing in the morning?

I feel like me trying to extend that nap is just causing unnecessary crying and crabbiness. As a result, I can never read his cues properly for the second nap, causing them to be anywhere from 30min - 2 hours (if I put him down after the right A time). And he is ALWAYS very tired by the end of the day and ALWAYS has a bad catnap at 4:30/5 (meaning he wakes up screaming after 30 min)

Is my problem trying to extend the nap or not extending his first A time. Or is it something else?

I am so embarrassed that after 4.5 months I still don't know how much sleep my baby needs. I want to follow the BW recommendations because I know he would be a happier baby with more sleep, but I can't get him to do anything other than what he is doing.

[Papaya]

Yes, GENERALLY, that's probably right. UT naps are commonly somewhere between 50mins-1hr20, so unless there's any discomfort, noise etc that could be waking your LO early, I'd say he probably needs an A time increase before his first nap. If he's UT, it will be almost impossible to extend his nap, and he'll be most annoyed with you for trying because he's had enough sleep!

Have you seen this link?  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.0

You're right that the average awake time for this age would be about 2 hours, but some babies can do more.  So I would try extending the first A time by 15 mins and see how you go. You'll need to stick with it for 3-4 days to see if it's working.

It's also important to remember that A times are assuming your LO has had a good night's sleep or good previous nap. So if the first nap is short, he won't be able to do quite a full A time afterwards - the 30 min naps you've got here will be OT. So say the first nap is only an hour, I wouldn't do more than a 2hr next A.

What do you think?