Trying to not respond too quickly, but. . .

[kim&savannah]

OK, I'm trying to not run in the room at every peep, but how do I know when waiting is going to make things way worse?  Abe wakes at the 45 min. mark for most naps--I always try to extend the first 2 naps of the day so we can stay on some semblence of EASY.  If I go in when I first hear him, its usually pretty easy to get him back to sleep.  But occasionally, I haven't made it in right away and he has gone back to sleep on his own once or twice, but more often, he gets more worked up and then it can be really hard to get him to go back to sleep. 

I'm not sure if I should be waiting more often so maybe he will learn to do it on his own, or if I should keep going in quickly in order to preserve as many naps as possible.  Anyone have any suggestions?  BTW, he can go from mild fussing to full on screaming pretty quickly, so its not a matter of just waiting for that perfect moment--by the time I know he's not putting himself back to sleep, it could very well be too late.

~Kim

[Lana]

I always went in right away.  I found that if either of the boys go to crying then I was in for a long time to get them back settled.  Also he is still really young so hopefully he is almost over the hurdle where he will be able to get through on his own.

[KathrynK]

have you tried extending his naps by holding him through the jolts to try to stop him waking at the 45 min mark in the first place? I did this with dd when she was small and we did have some success and I am sure it helped her to grow out of the 45 min nap thing.

[tylersmommy]

I go in right away if I can. Like Lana said, if the crying starts, forget it. I've also had some luck going in before she stirs like Kathryn said and applying some pressure through the jolts or doing W2S.

[kim&savannah]

Thanks for confirming what I pretty much felt I should be doing--I just didn't know if I wasn't being patient enough in giving him a chance to work through it himself.

I haven't tried holding him through the jolts--he's still napping in the swing so that wouldn't work.  And since he does make it through on his own for his first nap about half the time now, I keep hoping he's outgrowing it and I won't have to do that--I want to always give him the chance--I mean, if he isn't even fussing.

I have a feeling when we wean him from the swing (which I'm hoping to do in the next month), then I will have to do some different things.

~Kim