1 hour break between naps, how to solve?

[lilsweetie]

Lately my 5.5 month old has been having a lot of trouble with the little startle in the middle of his naps. Mainly the afternoon nap. I used to do w2s to get him through them but lately after the 45 minute startle, it takes me 1 hour to get him back to sleep and by then, it's almost time to wake up again!

I have tried not to overstimulate him, I have tried adding more of a pre-nap routine... He never used to be like this. It is also hard to get him to go down for his naps. I'm losing my mind. I try to put pressure on him through the jolts, I try W2S, I try putting him in a darker room... it doesn't make sense. His night time sleep is wonderful though. 11-12 hours uninterrupted.

Routine looks kind of like this:
8am - wake & breastfeed
9am - cereal
10am - sleep

12 - wake & breastfeed
1pm - veggie and/or cereal
2pm - nap for 35 mins
2:35pm - wake up for 1 hour <-- i spend this entire time doing pu/pd
3:35pm - continue the rest of his nap
4pm - wake & breastfeed
5pm - dinner
6pm - catnap (30-45 mins) but lately he has been refusing this nap altogether too.
7pm - bath and bedtime routine
7:30/8:00 - sleep
*he doesn't do a dreamfeed. he can sleep through the night without it.
nap (35 mins).

please help me! thankyou!

[Colin Macs Mom]

I'm sorry you haven't had any replies yet.... I don't know that I have solution for you exactly but here are my thoughts.

My DS also started refusing the catnap at 5.5 mo. He wasn't ready to stop it but he wasn't going to have anything to do with it either.    If you're sure that yours is just not going to do it anymore then move bedtime up at least 30 minutes to compensate and prevent overtiredness. In a couple of months at the most you should be able to push it back again when he's ready for that longer A time before bed.

With that 2pm nap issue, have you considered trying wake to sleep, maybe 5 or 10 min after he falls asleep?

[lilsweetie]

thanks for your reply. I have tried your suggestion, putting him to bed 30 mins earlier and it does seem to be working better for us. i also darkened the room a lot more and it helped. thanks again!

[Colin Macs Mom]

GREAT!!