Please share your 45 min nappers success stories

[Sarahboh]

Courtney could you post his routine as you are going to do it now then I may be able to help Sarah

[chomer]

Great.  Thanks...

7 AMish up
9 AMish nap
9:45-10 AM up
noon-2 PM nap (I'll help him extend on this one)
4PM nap
4:45 PM up
7 PM bedtime

In between each naptime we eat and play.  He usually sleeps through for 12 hours.  Any feeback is appreciated.  To date our schedule was:
7 AM up
9 AM ish nap
11 AM up
2 PMish nap
4 PM up
7 PM bedtime

Over the last few weeks we dropped the cat nap as I was able to extend his 'A' time throughout the day.  He could last 2+ hours in the AM.  2.5+ mid day and almost 3 hrs in the afternoon.

Thanks!
Courtney

[Sarahboh]

I see what you are doing. You said he was 5.5 months right? Well I think this might be a transitional routine for you because it can change pretty quickly once they get to this age. You will find this will work on the days that he has a 45 minute morning nap, but if he starts having a longer morning nap then I would push him out to having a longer afternoon nap and make his bedtime earlier until he can successfully manage just two naps a day. You said his awake time is longer right, I think if he starts having a long morning nap then you could push 2.30-3.00 hours until the afternoon nap then he might make it to bed if it is earlier, if the afternoon nap ends up being short and it is too long even with an earlier bedtime, give him a mini-catnap to get him through. I think you are doing a great job going with the flow. I hope this wasn't too confusing. Take each day as it comes. Sarah 

[chomer]

Sarah, I only hope to have that new challenge!!  Although it isn't relevant now (I hope it will be soon), do you find an earlier bedtime translates into an early AM wake up time?  About 5 weeks ago Sullivan moved his own bedtime to around 6:30 and then started waking up earlier, sometimes at 5 AM and sometimes at 6 AM.  This timing corresponded with a tooth popping through and his second is on its way.  I moved his bedtime back to 7-7:30 and he went back to waking at 7 AM.

I'm currently reading Ferber's updated "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" and it states that the average 6-mth old sleeps a total of 12-13 hours (page 29).  "Nighttime sleep typically last 9.25 hrs (and as long as eleven hours if daytime naps are short) with two one- to two-hour naps each day.  On most schedules the morning nap will start btwn 9:30 and 10:30 and the afternoon nap btwn 2-3 PM."  Given Sullivan sleeps 12 hours at night, if I were to put him down at 6 PM, asking him to sleep 13 hrs, until 7 AM seems unrealistic.

Isn't it interesting how each author has their own expert opinion on the average number of sleep hours babies should get??

[Sarahboh]

Courtney, really I never found an earlier bedtime made her wake up earlier in the morning, probably was the tooth. Mind you if she ever woke up early like that I would put her back to bed until 7:30 (her wakeup time). I see what you are saying about putting him to bed earlier fearing he will wake up early according to the information you read in Ferber's new book. I haven't read that book, I mostly refer to BW or Healthy Sleep Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. Dr. Weissbluth specifically says an earlier bedtime is not related to an earlier wakeup. I know they all say different things so you just need to go with what is good for you.

Congrats on the new teeth for Sullivan 
Keep in touch and let me know how things are going.
Sarah

[chomer]

Thanks so very much, Sarah! 

Happy day,
Courtney

[Brandonsmom]

still trying w2s after three pretty successful days.. though sometimes i miss the window.. and i haven't really had success with the late afternoon nap any day so far just thought i'd let you know it's still working for us, and she seems much more rested (and i am much more sane!) hope your lo's sleep longer than 45 mins. i love it when i look at the clock after i have done w2s and it has been over an hour since she konked out. it's the best feeling to know she's going to sleep longer than 45 mins.

Brandon will nap 45 min. when he hasn't stayed up long enough. So I extended his wake times gradually and with A LOT of patience this "phase" passes.

do you suggest extending A time for a 11 week old? right now A time is 40-45 mins from wake to fussy. do you extend it past their cues? just wondering....
hope all these lo's sleep longer than 45 mins tomorrow!

Sorry I have been out of town and I'm just now reading all the responses...
At 11 weeks old, Brandon was still on a 3 hour schedule and that's about the time the 45 min. naps started. I did try to extend his schedule but the problem was he would not stay up more than an hour and 30 min. So instead of thinking then that he was trying to extend his awake time I thought it might be that he wakes up and cannot get himself back to sleep. So that is when I began to darken his room and do the shh/pat. And it really worked for us. Sorry if I didn't clarify that earlier! Anyway, now that he is 5 months they started back a few weeks ago. So this time I began to extend his awake time and finally we've gotten on a good 4 hour schedule. It was the same problem I just had to find a different solution than before. I hope I haven't confused you! Now in your case it sounds like to me the A time isn't long enough. And that maybe why your sweetie isn't napping long. In the early days when I first had the short nap problem with Brandon he would yawn and show the sleepy cues 40-45 min. into an A time. But I still kept him awake at least an hour 15 min. We would do quiet activities like reading or rocking. I would say to gradually extend the A time. There are links on these boards about how to do that too and maybe one of the Mods can send you a link to it.

[mom-2-3]

Hi Courtney,

I find that with my ds, if he has one longer nap a day (which usually ends up being the mid-afternoon one), and two shorter ones, he's able to function without being very cranky.  He has for the last two days been having decent naps both in the morning and the afternoon and a short cap nap later in the afternoon.

If my timing doesn't work out during the day and he's tired, I put him to bed early, around 6pm.  I usually try to hold him off until 6:30.  If he happens to wake up early, I give him his soother and hold him off until 7am if possible.

A babies natural sleep biorhythm is to wake up at 2am and 5am.  They are able to sleep through the 2am awakening first.  If your lo is not usually up at this time, you should be able to get him back to sleep.  You might notice that his nightime sleep patterns change a bit as his daytime sleep is organizing itself.

I found that the more I tried to manipulate his daytime sleep, the more he would wake up at night.  I'm happy to say that after a few rough months of short napping and crankiness, the waiting is finally paying off.

I'd say find the right balance of how involved you want to be in helping him to nap longer, while keeping your sanity.

Good luck!  Heidi

[chomer]

Thanks for the feedback.  I'm happy to report that Sullivan has not done 3 days in a row of only a 45 min nap in the AM, a 1.5-2 hr nap midday (with my help) and then a 45 min PM nap 2 out of the 3 days.  I'm happily finding that he is happy after only 45 mins in the AM and is better able to take a longer midday nap.  I assume this is b/c he is more tired due to the shorter AM nap.

I'll keep you posted as if I find this to be a good interim solution; I'd like to share it with others who may have the same issues.

Courtney

[Sarahboh]

Good news!!! Hope Sullivan keeps it up.