5 mo only takes 45 min naps - can't seem to extend

[beckylewis_ob]

I have a 5 1/2 month old that has been a constant 35-45 minute napper. He sleeps from 6pm to ~5:45am so the night sleep is great. He's on the 4 hour schedule and eats 8 oz at 6, 10, 2 and 5:30pm. He goes down easily for a nap, but when he wakes up he's crying and obviously still tired. If we get him up, calm him and play with him, he's fussy and tired in about an hour. So down he goes again for another 45 min nap...he ends up taking 4 naps a day with 1.5 to 2 hours in between. I've tried just letting him cry for 15-30 min w/o going into his room, but rarely has he even gone back to sleep on his own. Occasionally I'll get a 1.5 hour nap in the morning, but it's very rare. I always put him down after seeing the first signs of tiredness. I just bought Tracy's book and want to try PU/PD but when I pick him up I can't get him to calm down to do the PD part. Any suggestions? This is getting so frustrating - we've been working on his naps for over a month and still no luck extending!

[beckylewis_ob]

I forgot to add a few things here. We don't swaddle or use a pacifier, and my LO sleeps on his tummy. We don't do anything special to get him to sleep except bring him in his room, dim the light, change diaper, hold him, then put him in the crib.

[beckylewis_ob]

Okay, I just tried the sleep to wake method for the first time. I was in the room when he woke at 40 minutes and placed my hand on his back firmly. He continued to wake and cry, so I picked him up to quiet him before his crying got really bad. Then put him back in the crib after he was quiet and he really started crying. At that point he was frustrated and arching his back...we let him cry in the crib for 10 minutes before picking him up to calm him, and considered the nap done. I know the wake to sleep posting says it may take many naps to get it to work and that sleep is a learned thing. I just am not sure I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our LO has the ability to self-sooth so shouldn't he eventually be able to put himself back to sleep if he's really tired (ie, the occasional 1.5 hour nap we get)? Just not sure it naps will eventually get longer after 6 mos or w/o working to fix them now we'll create a much larger problem later.

[chomer]

I have the same question.  My 5 month old is a 45 min napper.  I'm able to extend his naps by rocking him back to sleep.  Recently I've had success with applying pressure to his limbs and shhhing him, but it takes much longer for him to fall back asleep.  I've been "working" on nap training for almost 3 months now and am not convince, by any means, that what I've been doing is helping at all.  Could it be the case that it's a developmental thing that will be grown out of on its own?

[Mom to M&M]

5 months is a notorious time for 45 minute naps - but most do work through it by 6 months or so. However, often it can be helped with routine tweaking? Short naps at that age can be caused by not enough A time - hence the LO is thinking "I've only been awake a short time, I only need a short nap" - the problem being that the short nap only holds them so long so they need another one soon - perpetuating the cycle.

At that age, we were comfortable at 2.25 hours A time - sometimes closer to 2.5 later in the day.

Do you want to post your routine and we'll see how things look?

[naunmom]

Sometime I wonder if what we do really has any effect or if they just eventually settle into whatever they are predisposed to doing and we manage to find a system that works for both baby and us.

I just want to share with you that I know of at least one baby (who was in daycare with our ds) who was a great at self soothing and going to sleep but would not nap for long.  He also ended up dropping naps altogether fairly early (not quite sure of exact age, but I just remember that he was no longer napping when my son still needed his afternoon naps).  I think the daycare provider/his parents never fought what they thought was his natural tendencies are were ok with it ... so ... I guess if your lo seems rested after his naps and you're ok with his short naps ... maybe it's not a problem ...

[chomer]

You're both so sweet.  Thanks for "listening".  I wish he were ok with his 45 min naps, but if I take him out of his crib following one, he tires with 30 mins of so...

Generally, his day looks like this:
7 AM awake, 7-8 oz bottle, activity
9 AM nap
11 AM awake, 7-8 oz bottle, activity
1 PM nap
3 PM awake, 7-8 oz bottle, activity
4:30/5 short (45 min) nap
7 PM 7-8 oz bottle
7:30 bedtime

The day changes a bit depending on what time he wakes up.  Aside from this last week, he usually gets up around 7:15 AM-ish.  This past week he's been up between 4:30-6 AM!!  Nonetheless, I never take him out of his crib until 7 AM.  I should mention that he doesn't cry.  The just sort of occasionally "barks".  The day also varies depending on the length of his naps.  Sometimes they are a total of 1.5 hours.  Usually I get 2 hours in b/c it includes the time it takes him to fall back to sleep after the 45 min min-nap.  I struggle a bit with the third nap b/c sometimes he doesn't get sleepy until after 5 PM and this starts to interfer with getting him to bed at 7:30.  Lastly, I put him down for his naps based on his sleepy cues, so occasionally this 'A' time is longer than 2 hours, especially btwn the 2nd and 3rd nap.  So, that's our day!

Oh, I should probably mention that he is still swaddled.  A nurse at his pediatrician's office suggested that this could be the cause of the short naps.  Perhaps he wants to roll over or stretch his arms...  All I know for sure is that he loves his swaddle.  Do you think I should wean him off of it?