20m nap - what's all that about???

[clairemk88]

My lo is 17.5wks and feeds every 4h and we're working towards 4h EASY... getting there slowly but surely.

I've been working at extending my lo's A time in the morning to try and get rid of the 45m naps and it's definitely been working. Just recently she's managed 1h45 - 1h50 before her first nap and using w2s she normally has at least 1h nap, although it's gradually become more like 1h 30

This is what happened this morning...

A 7.15
E 7.25 bf only
A put down at 8.53
S 8.55
A 9.16 - what's all this about??? ONLY 20m!!!

She was wide awake and content in her cot so I left her in the hopes she'd resettle but she didn't and ended up complaining. So I got her up for a bit then tried putting her down again, starting at 10.05. She eventually fell asleep at 10.18 but only after I'd give her the paci and partially swaddled her. The first nap of the day is the only nap where I can not use the paci, leave her unswaddled but with her blankie and know for sure that she will settle herself after a bout of mantra crying. All other naps she does her mantra cry then breaks into the "i need you" cry, after ssh/pat I give her the paci and sometimes partially swaddle and she'll be off in seconds. I've tried not using the paci but she stays frantic for ages! As I'm trying to extend her naps I'd rather she feel to sleep easily rather than struggle and eat into her next E or A.
Is this the wrong way to go about things???

I've posted on the nw board this morning too as my lo has woken at 2am-ish for past 3 nights which is very unusual. So don't know if that bears any relation to this???

Knickers... I just tried w2s at after 30m-ish which normally does the trick and it's woken her Guessing she's very OT. Doesn't bode well for the rest of the day

[brenda2]

hugs...

sounds like you were doing great and making some progress.  has this just happened the once?  or is it becoming the norm?  if it's just once don't worry and go back to what you were doing.  i think you were on the right track.  1 hour nap means she can probably still tolerate slightly longer A times, but if she does a 30 min one you know you've stretched too far.  yay for the 1.5 hour nap!

the only thing i can think of for a 20 min nap is that she's woken up at the jolts.  it takes 20 min to get to a deep sleep and they have jolts at about 10 and 20 min that can wake them up if they're not able to transition themselves yet.  so it sounds like she is getting there but maybe something was bothering her this morning that she needed the swaddle for or    teeth?

another thing to keep in mind as you use the paci is that LOs often get addicted at around the 5 mo mark.  mine did and we had awful hourly NWs all night long until i weaned it.  so just to keep in mind.

[clairemk88]

thanks brenda, it was just the once, just went into panic mode thinking please no, not again... lol

you were spot on with something bothering her... botty bomb that afternoon!! all naps beforehand were a write off, couldn't manage any longer than 30m fingers crossed we get back on track today

she's had a couple of lousy days with naps so would explain her OT

she thankfully took at long nap y'day afteroon (1h 30) which we had to wake her from in the end otherwise she would've been eating into bedtime, ain't that the way

the 20m totally slipped my mind as we haven't seen it for ages... funny how you get used to things so quickly

[brenda2]