Help with getting baby to nap longer??

[stacemcace]

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions how to get my 3months old daughter to nap longer. She will only go down for 20-45 minutes at the most and as you can imagine she gets very overtired because she isn't getting enough daytime sleep. She is doing better at night and goes down at 7pm, dreamfeed at 10.30pm and only wakes up for a small breastfeed at about 3am-ish. She is on Easy and feeding every 4hours.

Any suggestions please, its horrible seeing her so overtired and grumpy??

Thanks

Stacy x

[momofclaire]

What a precious little picture that is!

What have you tried to extend the naps?  Do you have a good windown for naps as well as bedtime?

[KathrynK]

Stacy can you post your usual daily routine?

[stacemcace]

I usually take her into the bedroom and close the curtains and we have a cuddle until I notice her getting really sleepy, I then put her in the cot and she fusses for about a minute then starts to stare and then her eyes start to close. She gets off to sleep fine but wakes up too soon. I've tried getting her back to sleep if she wakes after 20minutes but she is wide awake.

I wrote down the sleeping times yesterday and today and this is how it went.

Yesterday             Today
E - 7am                 E - 7am
S - 8-8.30             S - 9.15 - 10am
S - 9.35 - 10.15

E - 11am               E - 11am
S - 11.45 - 12.00   S - 11.45 - 12.30am
S - 12.45 - 1pm

E - 2.30pm            E - 2.45pm
S - 1.40 - 2.10pm  S - 1.45 - 2pm
S - 2.50 - 3.40pm  S - 3- 3.50pm
S - 4.55 - 5.15pm

E - 6.30pm            E - 6.30pm
S - 7pm                S - 7pm

As you can see yesterday wasn't very good and today was a bit better. Should I keep persisting and it will get better?
 

[tara72]

I don't know if I will be much help, but at least I can say, I feel your pain! my 4-month-old was a short napper for what felt like a long while. though we had a routine of EAS (now sometimes EAEAS), we weren't (and still aren't) necessarily on a 4-hour routine. I tried w2s, but had no success.

now, she takes a 3-3.5 hour nap in the morning after a short awake time. I think we were keeping her awake too long. I have read that sometimes the first awake time is shorter because the first nap is kind of a continuation of night (and will often be longer), so baby is often tired earlier. it doesn't look like your awake times are too long, but does she show tired signs when you put her down (very quiet, less active, yawning, rubbing eyes, maybe fussy)?

then she takes either one more long nap (and sometimes a short cat nap) or two shorter naps. but that long nap in the morning is SO wonderful!

besides letting her sleep as long as she wants for her naps (instead of waking her after 2 hours), we also are letting her fall asleep on her own in her crib. sometimes she will protest cry, but somehow it has helped her sleep better, I think. sometimes after she wakes from a short nap (when it should be a long nap), we will let her "cry" for 5-10 minutes. sometimes she will put her back to sleep. of course, if it's an all out CRY cry, we will get her, but often it's kind of a whiney cry, which usually means she will go back to sleep. I had to stop rushing to her whenever she made noise!

people always told me that they will grow out of short naps around 5-6 months, too, so maybe that will be of comfort to you!

your LO is so precious!!  best of luck!

 --tara

[momofclaire]

Yes keep persisting, conistancy is key.  I would really work on getting her on a better EASY which means lengthen those naps!

Good luck

[KathrynK]

I think it's a combination of hitting the right amount of A time, and working on extending those naps. Have a look firstly in the FAQs at the top of the board- there's a topic for Teaching sleep to 3-6 month olds and the 45 minute nap. This has loads of good techniques for extending naps. Some involve getting her back off once she has woken at 45 mins, some involve trying to prevent the waking in the first place. Whichever one you decide to try, make sure you are consistent with it at every single nap and don't give up if you don't see an improvement after a couple fo days- these things take time. If you chop and change and try different things you'll never win- consistency is key with your dd as Myia said above.
As far as A time goes, from your routines sometimes she is awake for nearly 2 hours, sometimes for less than one. I would try to keep her A times fairly similar as it'll be easier for her to get into a routine. As Tara said, usually you find the first A time of the day is the shortest as that first nap is really a continuation of the night sleep. If she wakes at 7 I would try to have her back asleep around 8.15. Average A time for a 3mo is around 1hr 20- 1hr 30 mins but bear in mind some babies handle more than this, some less. Then perhaps try for around 1hr15 to 1hr30 A times throughout the day. If the A time is 1hr30 that means she is back in bed falling asleep 1hr 30 after waking- not starting to get her ready for her nap as then by the time she is in bed she will be overtired.
When she wakes at 45 min what happens? Is she happy in her cot or does she cry straight away? Is it a real all-out I need you cry, or just a moan/ grumble? Do you go to her staight away or leave her for a bit to see if she will drop off again?