45 min naps!! Help!

[Gairdinalainn]

Hi all, looking for some advice please! My seven week old baby will only nap during the day for approx. 45 mins before waking! His awake time is approx 1 hour and fifteen mins, I read the signs and at about 1hr and 5 I pop him into his crib put on white noise give him his dummy and he drifts off on his own no problems. However 45 mins later wide awake again 
If he is in the car on a continuous journey he will cry a little at the 45 mins but drift back off. Same in the baby carrier I can manage to get him back to sleep quickly but if in his crib he won't and usually I end up taking him out and letting him be awake again. Every day I try my hardest to get at least one two hour nap into him in the morning and again at lunch time but this takes huge effort on my part and I'm exhausted! After that the evening usually descends into numerous 45 min naps with him getting more and more cranky till we end up using AP to get him to go down at night. Thankfully at night he sleeps ok and goes three hours between feeds. He is ebf. He is a really active baby and moves a lot in his sleep. He is fully swaddled and blankets tucked in really tight. Room is dark but not totally black. I'm wondering if he is attached to the dummy and this is why he can't get back to sleep? I really would appreciate any advice u have? I follow easy and feel like I'm reading his sleep cues well but maybe he is Ot or Ut?? Ugh I'm confused and frustrated

[Gairdinalainn]

Sorry I should add.
Wakes up: 6.30-7.00 bf
07.45-08.15 (depending on wake up time) into basket and asleep in five mins approx.
09.00 awake (at this point I try dummy back in, have tried feeding in the past in case of hunger but no interested, sometimes pick up etc but usually he doesn't fall back asleep)
Alternatively if in the carrier or I manage to get him to sleep he will then sleep through until approx 10am when wakes for feed.
This repeats all day with me trying to get him through each nap. After lunchtime if he has has two good naps with help I just let him have 45 mins or whatever after that. Sometimes he ends up very cranky by bedtime sometimes not! We don't have huge succes with him self settling in his basket for night times though we often end up AP.  He then has bath and bed around 7pm. Sleeps until 10pm when I either dream feed (havnt had any succes with him sleeping longer so don't alway bother maybe I should?) then wakes at 1am, 4am and 6-7am.

[julia.north]

Hi There!

First of all, congrats to you for trying so hard and having a cute little baby!
I'm sure you are doing wonderfully!

Have you tried the wake to sleep method?
If you know he's hard to settle after 45 min, try to go in there very calmly at around 40 min into his nap, gently stroke him or pop the paci back in, and he may transition softly into the next sleep cycle.

My 9 week old also wakes up regularly after 45 - 50 min. Sometime I get him to settle again, sometimes not. Usually I go in once, give him the paci, tell him that I'm there and that everything is fine and that he should try to settle himself ( I literally talk to him like this: "Hey sweety, try to go back to sleep okay? If you need help, just call me, I have the baby phone with me. Good night sweety" . Then I go out and leave him to it.

7 out of 10 times he will need around 20 min of fussying (he's not actually crying, more like moaning) before going back to sleep, and 3 times, he doesn't manage and gets upset, so I get him up.

Don't stress too much about it.
Gently try to keep him awake a bit longer every time, he may get more tired.
Just be calm and remember that neither you nor him are failing if he only sleeps 45 min each.

Maybe he's just happy to see you again after 45min!

[Gairdinalainn]

Aw thanks Julia that's a nice way of looking at it!
I havnt tried that but I will now thank u. I had heard of it but wasn't sure how to do it. How do you do it? Gently stroke his cheek until he wakes or just moves? Also good to know I'm not alone! Thanks x

[deb]

If you can get there just before the 45-minute mark and re-plug the soother before he realizes it's out, he might begin sleeping through that break. Worked for us.

And yes, the way Julia described W2S is about how it works.

[Gairdinalainn]

Thanks Deb. I will definitely try it later. Just out of interest how long did it take your lo to learn to do it himself after u helping him for sometime?

[julia.north]

It worked fairly quickly with mine. However, it also depends on his daily mood. If I feel that he gets distressed easily I take a lot more time assisting him to settle down. Other days he goes into the crib wide awake and manages to settle within 3 min all by himself.

[deb]

Thanks Deb. I will definitely try it later. Just out of interest how long did it take your lo to learn to do it himself after u helping him for sometime?

It did take a few days - mine was older, though, and reflux was another part of our equation, as was the 3-month growth spurt and her needing longer A times, which I don't think is likely to be the case with yours. This is our (very very long!) story: How Tracy Helped Josie and her Family Get Past 45-Min. Naps!