A little help please

[NicolleD]

My 19week old has been taking 45 min naps for ages & it's getting me down now. I have a 2 year old as well so have been ap'ing a lot of naps in the sling etc to avoid overtiredness but my back is starting to get sore now! My mum has come up for a week to look after my 2 year old so I can work on the naps. I only have 1 week so please please help!!! I've been trying wake to sleep but even though she wakes and goes back to sleep I only get the extra 15 mins to make up the 45 minute cycle?? She is exclusively breastfed and only goes 2.5-3hrs between feeds (she's little), she has a little reflux but on meds etc, she will settle to sleep in her own cot but only with dummy, this is still in at 45 min mark - she has a very strong suck and dummy is only way of avoiding being on boob all day so it's not going! She needs about 4-4.5hrs of day sleep and manages a 1.5-1.75hr awake time. Please help me get over these dreaded 45 min naps!!!

[jessmum46]

Hi hun, I think you nay need to increase your A times a touch to get over the 45 minute mark - it's not unusual for LOs to be up to 2h A time at her age: Average A times and "Is my baby ready to increase A time?" and to be moving towards a 4h EASY.  Some BF babies can't manage to get to 4h between feeds initially, so you may have to be a bit creative fitting things in, but I would have thought she should really be able to manage at least 3h consistently, if not 3.5h.  I'd be concerned she's snacking at only 2.5h..........do you feed both sides at each feed?  How long does she feed for?  What are your nights like?

Some sample routines here: chronological EASY samples, 4-6 months and here: 3-4hr EASY Transition – In 5 Minute Increments

Also with wake to sleep - the idea is not to wake fully, just to stir LO   Another trick you can try is being there at the 45 min mark and start shh-pat as soon as she stirs and try to resettle before she wakes fully.  However, if she's UT for the nap, then it's almost impossible to resettle her and W2S won't work either.

HTH to start x

[NicolleD]

Ok thanks ill try increasing A time, she just seems so grouchy! I tried before and got 30 min naps which i assumed to be overtired? She feeds from both sides tends to be closer together in the morning and gets further apart as the day goes on.

[jessmum46]

DD was always really grouchy when stretching A time at that age too - just do it slowly, 10 mins very low-key activity e.g. walk round garden, look at a book and hold at the new time for a few days before making any more changes to give her chance to get used to it

[NicolleD]

Thanks for your advice, w2s seems to be working with longer A times & we are getting the 1st nap in cot at least! Trying to space feeds a bit more as well hopefully things will continue from here!

[jessmum46]

Well done!  Great progress x