spirited baby and 45 minute naps

[twinsmommy]

My spirited four month old is waking up after 45 minutes during naps and screams as he tries to soothe himself back to sleep by sucking his thumb.  Trouble is that being a spirited baby, his movements are so jerky that he can't keep his thumb in his mouth and he ends up in an all out rage cry.  I have tried shh/pat and pu/pd but because i have twins, I cannot consistently devote so much time to these methods of getting him back to sleep.  I am assuming that he needs more sleep because he wakes up so unhappy and it takes a long while to calm him down.  W2S is occasionally successful. Bedtime has now become a nightmare too, taking up to a hour of intense crying and soothing to get him to sleep - I assume he's overtired from so many struggles during the daytime naps.  I feel that if I could better gage his window I could put him down at the right time, but being spirited, he seems to get more and more energized as activity time goes on, rather than tired.  Does anyone else have trouble reading a spirited baby's sleepy signs?  Any advice on getting him down for naps and staying down for naps more sucessfully?

Thanks!
Jessica
Ethan (Textbook/Touchy) and Lucas (Spirited), 4 mo

[Mom to M&M]

Hi there! It does sound like he needs more sleep and you are a great mom for trying to help him get it! What is his current routine and how long are his A times? Do you swaddle? Use white noise? Darken the room?

Also, have you checked out the multiples forum and/or the spirited baby support forum for more ideas and support?

[twinsmommy]

Thanks for responding.  Here is the basic schedule...

6am wake
E 6:30am
A 7-8am
S 8am-ish (on the rare good day, sleep lasts 1.5-2 hours, followed by short activity time before bottle, on the more common difficult days, sleep is for 45 minutes followed by time spent soothing back to sleep or being put in the swing to get the needed extra sleep)
E 10:30am
A 11-12:30ish
S 12:30- (same as above)
E 2:30
A 3-4:30ish
S 4:30 -5:30
playtime with daddy 5:30-6pm
bath 6pm
bottle 6:30pm
bed 7pm

My boys are bottlefed formula.  I used to swaddle him for naps and for bed, but more recently left his arms out as he likes to try to soothe himself by sucking his thumb.  Sometimes he succeeds in soothing himself this way, but more often he is very jerky and frustrates himself.

[twinsmommy]

also, we used white noise for a while, but it not only stopped being effective, it seemed to freak him out.  The room is dark as well.  Thanks for the suggestions for checking the other boards - I will do so!   

Jessica

[twinsmommy]

oh, and we have a dreamfeed at 10:30pm - they take almost a full bottle

[~Lori~]

Jessica,
I have a spirited 2 month old dd and I CAN NOT for the life of me read her signs.  I basically have to go by the clock b/c she doesn't give clear signs.  My little one wakes up consistently from naps at the 35 minute point...to the dot!  On a RARE RARE occasion she puts herself back to sleep, otherwise, I do the shh--pat thing for anywhere up to 45 min-1 hour and then just get her up b/c it didn't help.

How do you get to the spirited child forum?  I definitely need to go to that!!

Lori

[twinsmommy]

The spirited baby support group is on the Activity Board under the EASY forum.  Its great to read through the posts there - it feels great to know that I'm not the only one struggling with a spirited little one!  I've tried to shhh/pat,. but I never have enough time to work with him because his brother inevitably wakes up and needs me too.  For about three weeks both boys were doing 45 minute naps, but my Ethan has take 1.5-2 hour naps for the last four days!  If he keeps this up, I can work more with Lucas and hopefully make some progress on these naps.