Short naps-how to tweak EASY?

[slumberbaby]

Help please! I'm really struggling with lo's naps at the moment.... it's becoming increasingly hard to extend his naps if he wakes- I used to just go in, put hand on chest and say shhhh and he'd go back off, tho I might have to do it a few times. Now it takes up to an hour for him to go back off if at all and I have to pick him up and hold him till he relaxes then put him down and I may have to do it more than once.

His A time is between 2 hrs and 2hrs 20 mins usually and due to his naps we aren't really on EASY at all now. I know he's capable of having two hour naps but at the moment he's waking after 30 or 40 mins. This morning he woke at 6am (an improvement as he'd been waking at 5 for a while) and was yawning constantly so put him down for an early nap (7.45) and he woke after 30 mins- it's now nearly 9 and he still hasn't settled back off.

Any suggestions  xx

[brenda2]

hi and hugs
30 min naps mean OT, 45 min naps usually mean UT, but can also mean OT.

just a few questions....
how old is he?
can you post what you did yesterday?
how is he over night?
any props?
can he go to sleep independently?

[slumberbaby]

He's just over 6 months, at the moment during the night he wakes once for a feed and maybe once or occasionally twice needing to be soothed a little before he goes back to sleep. Just to give you a bit of background- he has only been in his own room for about 2 weeks, before that we had lots and lots of NW, mostly babbling, and EW too. So now it seems that overall his night sleep is improving ie he's not waking as many times but it's harder to get him to go back to sleep when he does wake.

We are prop heavy- swaddle, dummy and womb noise tho he settles off to sleep quickly with no fuss and without my presence for naps and bedtimes. The dummy is kept for sleep time only-he now doesn't need it when we are out and can be resettled without it during the night. I think the swaddle is more of an addiction...

Yesterday we were out for the whole afternoon so he ended up catnapping all day- he slept for 30 mins first thing (when I posted) then after an hour or so slept for another 30 mins. After that we were out and he had 3 other 30 ish minute naps  He never has a long nap when we are out.

Sadly this is a reflection of most days for the last couple of weeks even when we are home all day- I put him down, he wakes then takes ages to settle back, sleeps for another 30 mins by which time it is feed time. I can't even really post a typical day now except that his A time is 2-2.20 hours. He was having one long nap (2 hours) and two shorter naps (45 mins/1 hour)- thought he was getting ready to drop the catnap and that once his A time was up a little the two shorter naps could be tweaked onto one longer one but it seems to have backfired! Mind you he was waking at 5 every morning so was the long nap just an extension of the night sleep?

His feeding is now becoming erratic too-we have just started BLW, perhaps he wants to drop a feed I just don't know what's what any more 

Anyway thanks for replying, can't see the wood for the trees at the moment so any pointers appreciated! xx

[brenda2]

hugs...

if he can be settled back to sleep without the dummy and he doesn't wake when it falls out, then must not be and addiction and it's fine.  a lot of 6 mo are still swaddled, up to you whether you want to wean this now or wait.  as long as he's not breaking out of his swaddle this is probably not what's waking him.

long naps are hard when you're out and about, especially as they get older.  if you want to work on naps you may have to commit to being home for a few days so you have some consistency to work on it.

great he's in his own room now, it may take a bit longer for him to get used to this.

at 6 mo the typical A time is 2 hours to 2.25 hours, but this is if they're doing long naps.  if he is only doing 30 min naps this means OT and you should try to reduce his A  time between naps.  this will pack in more short naps in the day (it sounds like he's doing more tha n 3 naps if short but is his A time still so long?)

at 6 mo usually they have 4 feeds plus a df or night feed.  how many feeds does he have in the day?

can you post your routine (what you did yesterday) like this:
6:30 am E
8:30-9 S
9:30 E
etc
it will help me visualise better...

[slumberbaby]

Thankyou 

Actually today was tons better sleep wise-

6am Awake, didn't want milk (had 1oz) or any solid food
8.20 S
9.30 A (E @ 10.30- 6oz)
11.45 S
1 A (E @ 2.30- 3oz)
3.20 catnap while out, only 20/30 mins
E @ 5.45 (6oz), offered solids during this A time too but got upset)
6.30 bed (tried to see if he would have top up but wasn't interested)

He settled immediately for all naps and didn't wake halfway. BUT his feeding was terrible. No idea why  We have started BLW and the bad naps have been making it v hard to fit food times in and he can get tired and frustrated, plus his milk feeds are becoming more and more erratic, not sure if he wants to drop one (usually has 5 in 24 hours but sometimes doesn't want the first one of the day)

So 2 hrs 20 mins seems to be a good A time for him right? I'm not sure the 30 mins OT/ 40 mins UT thing is right for ds eg yesterday his first nap was early and he still woke after 30 mins.

If he wakes early how much earlier should I put him down for his next nap?

xx

[brenda2]

so his naps were both 1 hour 15 min and then 20 -30 min for catnap?  are you waking him up or does he wake up?  ideally you want him to sleep 1.5 to 2 hours for each of the first naps, 20 -30 min for the catnap is fine because he'll drop it soon anyway, but he probably still needs it for maybe another month.  so if he is waking after 1 hour 15 min you could actually increase his A time a touch to 2 hours 25 min or 2.5 hours but i wouldn't go longer than that.  if you get a short nap you've done too long.

after a short nap maybe try 1 hour 45 min to 2 hours A time and see what happens.  you may need to fiddle with this though as all LOs are different so i can't really say.  can you go by his sleepy cues at all?

his feeding did sound off today though .  by BLW you just mean you're introducing solid food now?  in canada weaning means switching to a bottle usually.  with solids just take it slow, no rush.  he'll eat when he's ready.

at 6 mo it can be hard to get them to take milk feeds during the day.  is he still eating at night?  do you df?  at 6 mo i found it easier to bottle feed as she just wouldn't sit still to bf anymore, she wanted to look about.  i also took her into a dark room with no distractions or talking or else it just wouldn't happen. he should be having 4 to 5 milk feeds a day.  you want to keep his milk intake high even if he's having solids.

teething can also cause them to be fussy with eating.  do you see any teeth coming?

[slumberbaby]

Thank you so much for your words of wisdom! Sometimes it's so hard to know what to do...

He wakes up himself from the naps, I did try to extend the second nap yesterday but he woke again after about 5/10 mins and because his feeding was off I couldn't be sure he wasn't hungry so got him up (he wasn't hungry!)

I don't df as when I tried he got a really windy tummy and ended up waking up more so just felt it was better to let him lead. Last night he had a night feed at 12.30, woke for the day at 5.40 and had a decent amount of milk for breakfast so the day has started better than yesterday.

I'll try slightly longer A time and see if we get longer naps. Seems very very hard to go by cues these days (used to be so easy to read...). Eg the last few days he has been yawning non stop-yesterday had to force myself not to put him down for a nap earlier than I did. And it's virtually impossible to extend his naps now. He seems quite spirited these days.

By BLW I do mean starting solids (self feeding), he is ff- usually feeds like clockwork time wise but does vary the amount per feed but ends up roughly same amount per 24 hrs. When his feeds become really erratic or strange it usually means he needs to change his routine-last time it happened he wanted to go from every 3 hours to 4. In fact he really doesn't have a big appetite, especially for a baby his size but his weight gain is perfect so it's just the way he is. This is why I'm wondering if he wants to drop a feed or something but nothing seems to be settling. Of course I'd love him to drop that night feed  but don't think he can go that long without anything at all. I was wondering about teething too..he has two already, I don't see any more coming but who knows???

Being on a good EASY seems more important than ever, especially now we're introducing solid food, the tiredness and chaos of short naps is horrible for both of us 

To be one step ahead - what A time are we aiming for by say 7 months? and 8 months?

Thank you so much for your help and advice 

[brenda2]

i know, it's great to bounce ideas around on this site!

their sleepy cues do get less reliable as they get older.  sounds like you are doing well though.

most 6 mo are getting 4 milk feeds plus a df and/or night feed.  at 6 mo DD was taking 4 milk feeds and a df and a night feed.  at about 6.5 months i weaned the night feed, then at about 7.5 mo i weaned the df (slowly) and 8 months dropped to 3 milk feeds, no night feeds.  most LOs drop to 3 day milk feeds at about 9 months.  i don't think he's ready to drop a day feed.  it may be that he's taking in too much at night and this is affecting how much he'll take in the day.  since you are bottle feeding you could water down his night bottle and see if that makes a difference with how much he'll take during the day.  you don't want to drop a day feed until he's taking in a lot more solids and until you get rid of the night feed.

i wonder if you get the feeds under control if this would help the sleeping?

check in NW under FAQ - there's a sticky ther e about typical amounts of day and night sleep.

our A time at 6 months was 2 to 2.5 hours, 7 months was 2.5 hours and 8 months just under 3 hours...we're still stuck at about 3 to 3.5 hours.  every baby is different, this is just a guide.