30 minute naps only-help

[nadiaet]

Hi there,

I am having a lot of trouble getting my DS-12 weeks today- to sleep past 30 minutes during the day. This is my second baby on EASY and he is doing great with it except for the napping part.  I don't remember having this much trouble with my DD at this age.  I watch for his sleep cues and get him in bed usually by the second yawn(about 1 1/2 hours after he wakes up)  He is not overstimulated but will literally wake at 30 minutes to the second after he falls asleep.  By the end of the day his routine is so messed up and he is so overtired it breaks my heart.  I have read a lot of the other posts and have tried everything from holding down his arms and legs for 30 minutes to sitting in his room the whole nap .  Sometimes I can get him back to sleep, but usually he is done with the nap.  He is happy for about 45 minutes then starts to get fussy again-tired not hungry and the cycle starts over again.  He won't even stay asleep in the car or stroller for more than 30 minutes at a time.  He sleeps 8-10 hours at night with no dream feed.  Any advice would be great-our days are starting to get harder and harder.  Thanks

[kendraandella]

I'm having the exact same problem except she will usually go back down again with her pacifier.  However, my problem is that after the 30min mark, I have to re-plug for anywhere from 30 min to an hour just to get her back down for the total of a 2 hour nap.  Then, sometimes after I finally re-plug for what seems like FOREVER, she ends up sleeping a total of 3 hours!  I end up spending all my time in her room trying to keep her asleep.  My baby is 11 weeks old and is pretty much always happy but I would LOVE some advice on this!  Should I quit the pacifier?  How do I get her to keep sleeping?

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

nadiaet - usually, 30 minute naps mean overtired.  Have you tried putting him down at maybe an hour and 15 minutes?  I know that when my ds yawns, it means he's already overtired (yeah, he switched that up on me and it took me a while to figure it out). Does he fall asleep unassisted?  Does he use a paci?

Kendraandella - does she fall asleep with the paci in her mouth?  If so, I would use the paci, but take it out just before she falls asleep. That might help with her waking up looking for it.

[nadiaet]

Yes he falls asleep unassisted with a paci no problem.  It's just getting him to stay asleep that we are having problems with. He is swaddled with both arms in because he hasn't found his thumb yet, so I am still using the paci to get him to sleep.  He wakes up at 30 minutes and then i run up and put the paci back in-then it's usually ever 5-10 minutes after that that i am having to put it back in to get him to sleep.  Sometimes he wil go back to sleep,  sometimes not.

[kendraandella]

The same goes for me.  I have her swaddled and with the paci and she falls asleep in the crib no problem.   The paci falls out on its own right away but then she wakes at half an hour and ends up wanting it.  It's not the paci falling out that wakes her though because it usually falls out within the first 10 min.  I've tried pulling it out before she's completely asleep and it falls out but she is still comfort sucking and immediately wants it again.  I've continually pulled it out for easily 30 min straight so I just let her fall asleep with it because it always ends up falling out.  I've tried waiting to see if she'll go back down on her own but she just gets more agitated and ends up waking even more if I don't give it to her.  When I give it to her it seems to be a 5 min cycle: she becomes still and seems to be asleep within 5 minutes, the paci falls out and she stays asleep for about 2 min then she wakes and wants it again.  Then she seems to sleep for another 5 min then it falls out..etc. etc. etc.

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

My ds used to do the same thing with the paci...until I decided to wean it.  It was really only difficult the first couple of naps, then he found another way to soothe himself.  Trying to remove it never worked for ds as it would just get him more frustrated.  That's when I decided to ditch it.  If you aren't wanting to do that yet, we'll have to find something else to help you out.

[kendraandella]

How did you wean him?  Did you just not give it to him?  Did he have to cry it out?  I don't know if I can bear to hear her cry...on the other hand, I'm sick of sitting in her room and holding her paci in over and over.

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

I went cold turkey with it.  All he needed was a bit more shh/pat and he was ok. Just took him a little longer to settle initially.  You certainly do not need to let her cry it out.  What type of wind down do you do with dd?  Do you do shh/pat?

[nadiaet]

My ds is starting to not take it .  He now rubs his head from side to side-a form of soothing.  He can sometimes put himself back to sleep like that!

[~*~Little Miss Sunshine~*~]

YAY!!  That's a very good thing!!

[kendraandella]

I actually don't do too much of a wind down.  I used to try and walk and sing to her for a bit and then sit with her but it seemed to agitate her.  Now, all I do is take her to her room, lay her in the crib on her side, give her her paci, turn on some ocean sounds, swaddle her, kiss her cheek and then leave.  Sometimes I will sit with her in her room before putting her down but if she's making cranky noises, I just put her right in the crib and it seems to calm her. 

I have tried the shh/pat initially when I started putting her down on her own and it didn't seem to work at all.  She would fuss, kick and eventually start crying which is why I stopped doing it because she seems to fall asleep all on her own if I gave her the paci.  Did your lo do that at first?  I'm scared that I'll spend all my time shh/patting while she cries instead of spending all my time re-plugging.

Nadiet, did you just quit cold turkey or did you do shh/pat for it to start working?  I've noticed when my lo wakes up, she moves her head side-to-side and I'm wondering if that would self soothe her too.

[nadiaet]

He will still take the paci in the beginning of the nap and if he is really overtired and cranky, but if I put him down early enough and especially at night, he will start rubbing his head like that.  In Tracy's sleep interview she says that that is a form of self-soothing-she saw it a lot.

We have been working on it a lot-I was re-plugging too-over and over.  But I think it helped him get past the 30 minute mark. He now wakes at 45 minutes-it used to be 20 min, so I think we are making progress.  Now when i hear him and go up to re-plug in the middle of his nap-he won't take it.

[kendraandella]

She actually went almost the whole night last night without the paci.  I gave it to her at 8 pm when I put her to bed and it fell out when she fell asleep.  She woke at 2am to feed and went right back to sleep.  Then she woke at 5am, fed, and then when I put her down, she did the head rubbing thing.  She was opening her mouth but I waited it out (rubbed her back a little) and she ended up falling asleep without her paci.  She woke at about 6:20 am though and had broken her swaddle.  She kept trying to put her hands in her mouth and was squirming really bad.  I waiting about 15 min but then she was wide awake.  I didn't want her to get up that early so I ended up giving her the paci until 7am (I had to re-plug a few times). 

During your naps, do you just not give it to your lo when he wakes and see if he goes back down himself? Is that all you did?  I think I'm going to try it today.  HOpefully she won't get too upset.

[nadiaet]

Yeah, I used to run up the second I heard him squirm, but now I let him try to figure it our a little on his own.  If he is just fussing, I leave him. If he starts to cry for me, then I go in and pat his chest. If that doesn't work then I put the paci back in. A lot of the time now he doesn't even really want it uless he is really worked up.

Have you tried to give your dd the paci at 2am instead of feeding her then?   My ds used to wake up then and once I tried just reswaddling him and giving him the paci and he went right back to sleep.  Every time he woke up after that, i would do the same and have now stretched him from 8pm-5:30 0r 6am.  Just a  thought.

[kendraandella]

Well, I tried letting her squirm yesterday during her naps to see if she would go back down but it didn't work...she just got more worked up and eventually cried.  However, when I did give her paci, she fell asleep better and I didn't have to re-plug nearly as often.  I haven't tried the paci at 2 am just because when she eats, she really seems to eat hungrily.  Maybe I'll try that tonight, we'll see.