help with naps

[sarahr]

hi all, im looking for some help with day time naps, im new to the system at the mo.  Problem is as follows: isaac is 6mths old, sleeps well at night going down at 7pm and self settles, wakes normally for one feed and then not until 7am.  he can do all this with very little help from me and NO DUMMY.  Yet day time he will only settle with a dummy and im lucky if he sleeps for 40mins, wakes up happy, but is then grunpy with in an hour.  id welcome any thoughts

[guff]

Can't help I'm afraid as I am experiencing exactly the same problem, we've been on easy since pearlie was 6 weeks and everything has been perfect until she reached five months last week. Then suddenly naps last between 30 to 45 minutes. I am thinking that it maybe its not dark enough in her room as she is noticing everything or that her mobile which hangs over her cot is now too stimulating,so I put a make shift blackout at the window for the afternoon nap yesterday and removed the mobile and she slept for 1hr 30 mins but that may have been a fluke. I too would be interested if anyone has any suggestions.

[guff]

Hi Layla,
Pearl's routine is mainly along the lines of this:

Wake up at 7
E:7.10 after nappy change
A:7.40
S:9.00
(she'll wake up from onwards of 9.30 til 10,with I wouldn't say cry, more like a shout. Rubbing her lovie over her face! when I get to room she is laughing and wanting to play but also rubbing her eyes and yawning, I keep her in cot til about 10:30 if its not likely she'll go back to sleep)
E:11.00
A:11.30
S:Anywhere between 12.15-13.00
Repeat of morning nap
E:15.00
A:15.40
S:between 16.30-17.00 - this is meant to be a catnap, but she will sleep for an hour, I  always have to wake her.
A:18.00 including bath/massage alternate nights
E:19.00
S:between 19.30-20.00

She has a df at 22.30 and sleeps through until 7 next morning.

Thank you for taking the time to look.

[sarahr]

isaac has been in/on a routine pretty much since he was born, his day is like this:

up at 7am,
breakfast at 7:15, solids followed by milk about half hour after
some activity, then we start wind down for nap at 9am
(today i've been trying since 8:40 for nap when he fisrt showed signs of sleep, its now 9:30 and after much eye rubbing and grumps, he is still in the cot gurgling, but not crying)
30/40 mins after going down he is awake.
i then try putting a dummy in just as he wakes and stroking the top of his head, but he seems to be wide awake, this will go on for over half an hour.
11am milk feed
playtime

12:15 sometimes naps
1pm lunch, solids
activity
2pm cat nap,same as morning
3:30 milk feed
activity
5pm tea solids
by now he is really grumpy!!!!
6:30pm bathtime, he likes this
7pm, milk and bed
he normally wakes once a night normally a different time for feed then up at 7am
He will self settle at night and goes down a wake, but not in the day.

Sorry if this is long winded, but thank you so much for the help

[Layla]

At 6 months, his A time should be no more than 2.5 hrs, so you will need to space out the naps as well.

When you try for morning nap, do you stay with him or do you leave? I would do the wind down 15mins before 9am and then leave him to fall asleep. If he's not crying, let him be. So, does he fall asleep with a dummy? I would say if he is ok to sleep at  night with a dummy, there is no need to use it during the day. If he is dependant on the dummy to get past the sleep cycle and onto the next (that is, sleeping longer than 45mins) then the dummy is a prop and you may need to wean it off him altogether. I wouldn't stroke his hair becuase I would think that its more stimulating than relaxing, having seen you again.... Let him roll around, talk and he might just fall asleep without the dummy or your help. If he's crying I would shh/pat him OR use pu/pd.

The afternoon nap needs to be somewhere around 2.5hrs of being awake from morning nap & cantap around 4.30-5pm. If he is skipping the afternoon nap & is awake from 3pm until bedtime, its just accumulating to overtiredness as well as.

[sarahr]

thanks for that, we have been working at it, and although he wakes for about 20 mins in the middle we have managed to get him back off after, thaks for the advice on the dummy am going to try with out, and will keep you updated

[guff]

thank you for the suggestions, tried w2s on Pearlie this morning and she slept for 2 hours!
It didn't work in the afternoon though, she just laughs as soon as I enter the room! She is tired,and she ends up sleeping again within the next hour.
I will keep trying, I am not complaining though she is such a joy and I am just happy she sleeps through the night.
Do you think the fact that it is not dark in her room has any bearing on her quality of naps?

I wanted to add that I really appreciate your advice.