Hi there,
Glad to see this post, as I have a Spirited 22-week-old baby who pops up from naps regularly after 35-45 min. Also, she has been very difficult to put back to sleep lately; sometimes she’ll cry and/or babble—usually both—for the rest of the two-hour nap. (If she sleeps 1.5, I let her get up, but if she’s still crying, I try for the full 2, as I know she’s still dogged, KWIM?)
I have tried reducing stimulation for a half hour prior to naps. This entails strolling outside—where she looks mellow—or playing with soft toys or reading softly.
I have been trying to seriously address this issue since Josie was around two months old, and our routine is basically the same. We are on a four-hour EASY. I wind-down Josie 15 min. prior to naptime (with the aforementioned attempt at ½ hr. of calm time prior). This entails reading softly in the rocker whilst she holds a soft toy. Once she squawks, rubs eyes, yawns, etc., I take her to the crib, swaddle her (while she sucks on a paci, otherwise she starts fussing badly sometimes, and I was afraid of getting her stimulated, as you warned against)), take her back to the rocker, take out the paci, rock her whilst she fusses, cries softly for around 3 min., put her in her crib when she’s sleepy but not sleeping, then keep my hands on her until she’s asleep.
Then after 35 min. or so, she’s been waking up. She occasionally gets herself back to sleep and has a handful of times slept a full two hours, or 1.5, which I’ll take! But more often than not, I have to intervene. To do so, I go in, place my hands on her chest and legs –which are swaddled, separately—the strong little turkey! Lol Then I wait … and wait … and wait…
I wonder—because she’s still swaddled—does this make it harder for spirited babies to settle themselves back down? Is this common?
Sometimes she seems to go to bed faster if I put my arm up to her lips and she can suck on my arm for a bit until she nods off. Is this fair? Too much like a paci addiction?
We do not insert a paci to get her back down during naps. I tried this prior to 8 weeks old, but she would wake when it came out, and I would be re-inserting sometimes 5 times per nap. Figured that wasn’t working. However, we do use the paci when traveling for naps in the car, naps in church, to extend night sleep if she wakes early in the a.m., which she usually does, to keep her calm while putting on pajamas (hard time of day for her) and swaddling her. But I haven’t used it routinely for naps since she was a couple of months old. (Rarely if I have company I’ll use it if she’s been up already 20 min., and I can’t be rude for that long, so I’ll give it to her to finish off a nap, but this is RARE.)
When she was younger—under 6 weeks, I tried shush/pat, but that seemed to intensify rather than calm her cries. Pu/pd seems to do the same; at least, hands-on her seems to be just as efficient if not more so. (Because she’s spirited?)
I’m looking for any ideas. Am I doing something blatantly wrong? Do most babies “catch on” by now? I mean, I’ve heard other mother say sleep training takes a max of two weeks. I’ve been at it for over three months with no clear improvement, save for that I can send her back down sometimes within 10 min.
Note: She sleeps VERY WELL at night, for which I am eternally grateful, God, don’t think I’m not and take that away, PLEEEEASE. Lol She sleeps from anywhere from 7-7:45 (depending on how well she goes down) until 4-6 a.m., usually until at least after 5.
Also, she catnaps well. Surprise, surprise, given she only needs to sleep for, oh, around 35 min.!
Also, she is easy to put to sleep (except sometimes at night, but we are doing it!)
Am I wrecking things by using a paci for the early a.m. wakings but not for the daily naps? Does that confuse her?
In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that, as I write, I just settled her after a 35-min. wake-up, and she went back down in 10 min., and has stayed down now for a half hour. I believe in positive thinking, so I thought I needed to include that—lol.
Someone suggested W2S—am I the only freaked out by that method. I did get some links on it, and so will check it out but am looking for anything else that worked for anyone else.
One last ?: Am I strange for trying to send my daughter back down to sleep so that she's taking at least 1.5 hr. a.m. and pm. naps and then her catnap? It seems that so many moms say that their kids only sleep for X-number of min. and then seem grumpy. I thought it was best to keep them in the crib for the length of time you want them to sleep. Thoughts?
Thanks!
