Nap issues in 4 mo

[Lexys_Mum]

OK, so I decided to try and sort my daughter's sleep schedule yesterday. I started doing pu/pd at night, which although very tiring, showed a certain promise that that would help. However, today with her naps has started me wondering whether this is really helping. She's 4 mo, and never been on a proper nap schedule. Her longest nap to date has been at her grandma's, which was apparently over an hour, but no idea how she did it as i can't replicate it.

She will go down for her naps at first very well (this morning she settled herself with no crying!), but she wakes after 45 mins. She then will not go back to sleep for love nor money. I tried WTS on her first nap, with no success. I spent the rest of her 2 long nap times (after about 30 mins initial sleep for the second one) today doing pu/pd with no success at all - I did get a period of about 5 mins quiet playtime out of her in the afternoon, but no more sleep.

I then tried to wind her down by holding her - she's spirited so this doesn't usually work - and she promptly fell asleep on me, which is the first time that's ever happened. I transferred her to her cot and she slept for 30 mins, and then woke up completely. I tried to do quiet activity on our bed and hoping she would get tired again. She did, and after accidentally bumping her head (gently, thank god) I tried to get her back to sleep, but no go.

I will be doing pu/pd again tonight as it seems to work quite well at night, and just hoping for not so many wakings tonight!

However, I would like some advice about tomorrow's naps. Should I try the quiet time in the middle then pu/pd after she shows tiredness signs again? Should I try a longer wind-down time - she's not used to this, and I'm not sure what to do for wind down - I normally carry her upstairs slowly, and then change her nappy then hold her for a couple more mins then put her in her cot, because she doesn't like to be held.

Any advice welcome.

[deckchariot]

Alison - can you post your "normal" EASY routine?  45 min naps generally (though not always) indicate that your lo is undertired and needs a bit longer A time, but if you could post your routine, that would help.

michelle

[Lexys_Mum]

Ok it's a bit hard to post a normal routine as I am only just starting to get her on the EASY routine. This is the routine I am trying to follow however, and the bits before the first nap are constant

7:00 Eat - usually only takes her 15 mins or so
7:15 Activity
9:00 Nap - unless she shows signs of tiredness a bit earlier, but never earlier than 8:30 so far.
Nap time is til 11:00 although she normally will only nap 45 mins so the rest of the time is spent trying to get her to nap again
11:00 Eat
11:15 Activity
13:00 Nap - by this point our naps are usually all over the place as she's not slept much earlier and so we have to sleep earlier now etc.etc.
15:00 Eat
15:15 Activity
17:00 Nap for 45 mins - this would go ok if the naps earlier hadn't been messed up, i think!
17:45 Activity
18:30 Eat (sometimes she will take a full feed now, sometimes split feed now and after bath)
18:45 Bath
19:15 Bed (and she's pretty good after a couple of days pu/pd about going to sleep there)

Anyhow, hope this is what you wanted.

[dredhead]

have just posted a very similar thing!good luck and let me know your successes - im there for you!

[Lexys_Mum]

well im actually thinking extending nap time bit by bit might work. I got her to have about 10 mins more fitful sleep yesterday and about 20 mins more today. Will see how naps this afternoon go.

good luck to you too!

[laurenwith30]

Try the wake to sleep technique.  DS does the same thing, though we are in the process of getting him on the 4 hour routine, he is only 3.5 months.  But I was going to nudge him 40 mins into the nap b/c he ALWAYS wakes up 45-50 mins into it, maybe that would help her transition into the next cycle.  Just a thought.

[deckchariot]

your routine actually looks pretty good - I'd say go ahead and see if you can push that morning A time just by 10 or 15 min, that may work.  If not, w2s is really helpful like pp said.  If you extend her A time and she still wakes early, and you can't extend her nap, make sure to keep  the next A time short - I'd say feed, maybe 30 min A time, then back to bed, to try and prevent massive OT by the end of the day.  Let us know how you get on....

michelle

[Lexys_Mum]

hmm. i tried w2s once, but after that was not sure it would work as she woke as normal at the normal time and was not sure I was doing it right. I stroked her head and face until she stirred lightly - is that enough or do I need to do more or what?

Should I try w2s and then pu/pd on the same nap if w2s doesn't work to see if I can extend nap time or what?

[Lexys_Mum]

well, her nighttime sleep seems to be sorting itself, but the daytime naps are getting worse.

i tried w2s this morning, she just woke up about 2 minutes after i left the room having (i thought) woken her enough to pull her into another sleep cycle. So i'm obviously doing it wrong. And then she was so worked up that pu/pd just didn't work either, so she's had about 30 mins sleep and refused any more.

I really don't know what to do, it seems that everything I try during the day just upsets her more and doesn't help. I know I haven't really tried w2s very long, but until I can do it right it just seems to make things worse.

What i'm doing exactly is i set my phone alarm for 25 mins in (as she had been having slightly shorter naps). I go into her room and she's heavily asleep. So far so good. I stroke her head and face until she stirs. To me, that means she moves her arms slightly, and today she smiled in her sleep. So, because I don't want to wake her, I leave it at that, and leave the room. (We do have creaky floorboards, but she didn't stir). 2 mins later she starts crying fit to bust. And that's it for any kind of sleep.

Anyone got any tips or help? Obviously you're nearly all on a different time-zone to me, but I'd really appreciate any kind of support or advice from anyone as I'm getting a bit disheartened about naps.

[dredhead]

Poor you! Im totally in the same boat and go through days when it totally feels as if nap mania and obsession is taking over and others when you feel - oh well, if theyre happy and healthy you shouldnt worry too much! w2s hasnt worked for me so far too, but again, i might be doing it wrong!
oh, just had a peek at your babe - she was born the same day as mine! and nearly identical weights! crazy!
good luck!

[deckchariot]

did you try extending her A time just a bit in the morning?  I would try that for a few days and see if that helps.

In terms of w2s - it sounds like you are doing it right.  When we did it, it took me about 10 days to get both the timing and the amount of stirring "right" for my dd.  I was successful about half the time.  What you may want to do for a few days is just go in and watch her to see when she stirs and what happens as she's waking up.  That way you know what to look for when you go in.  Then, go in, and as you see her beginning to stir, put your hands on her -almost like holding her in the crib, but don't pick her up.  The idea is to keep her still through that transition, so she can make it without totally waking up.  When we did it, if she woke, I'd do pu/pd or just pat/shh to try to get her back to sleep.

And remember, if you can't extend her nap, cut her next A time really short.  Hang in there!!!

[Lexys_Mum]

OK now I'm confused. I decided I'd gone a bit off track with trying to sort her naps (got a bit stressed) so decided to give it another full-out try starting tomorrow, as I can stay in for a few days.

And then for some reason, she (for the FIRST time EVER) took a 1.5 hour nap this morning. With no special anything done by me. And not even stirring until 10.30.

So now, I have to figure out what I did or didn't do that worked And pray it will happen again

I'm going to attempt to do exactly the same thing tomorrow morning as I did this morning and see if that works again. I'm so hoping it does - but at least I can now see that she CAN nap for longer and that she seems to need it, even if she still is a bit cranky, we think her teeth might be starting to hurt her although she's not teething as such.

[deckchariot]

one good nap is still one good nap - wonderful!!!!  Maybe she's just starting to sort things out on her own as well.  Let me know how you get on.