30 min naps ... cant be OT??? Advice PLEASE!!

[lilflav]

Oh, and I just wanted to add that I'm going to choke the next person who says "Oh she missed her nap, she'll sleep GOOD tonight!"


And thanks for all the help & therapy!

[proudmum]

Hi there 

Well after a good day yesterday, we've had 2 30min naps today      Don't ask me why, because I've given up looking for answers!  Its hard to see that she's OT ... and her first A time was ony 1h45min?? 

I hear you Lilflav about getting comments about sleeping well tonight after no naps ... people just don't get it  I always jsut let comments like that wash over me, my M-I-L can be lke that, she just doesn't listen and then makes comments that make no sense     ... I just smile and nod and try to ignore it 
Your wind down sounds lovely and a  good way to pick up her cues. My LO is angel-spirited too and can also lose the plot when she's OT.  Also she's happy and smiling one min then crying and OT the next  I think re the routine, just keep  adjusting A times according to length of naps and hopefully she'll get better soon.  don't forget that OS can make things worse too, especially for spirited babies.

Anna, generally 30 min sleep means OT, and 45min+ means UT.  I think he may be ready to extend his A time a little, try by 15 mins.  What are his other A times during the day? what is your wind down routine?  My LO used to have a fairly long wind down, over 15 mins, but now its very short.  I think you have to experiment a bit to find out what's right for you LO.  Great news on resettling for that nap  .  If his eyes are poppng open at 45 min, he might be ready to extend A times slightly, start off slowly by increasing 5-10 mins at a time and see if this makes any difference. Dont' do too much longer because he might get OT ... the last thing we need  .  Let us know how it goes. 

my biggest gripe at the moment is bedtime .... I sit there patting for 30min minimum before she falls asleep ... I'm always falling asleep before her with my head on the side of the cot!  I don't know if she's UT ... OT ... OS    I can't seem to find the magic remedy! And she's so restless, head moving from side to side, it drives me crazy.  last nite she refused to have a catnap, and fell asleep in 10 mins at bedtime, so maybe she's UT?  But then we had a 330am NW so I don't know if that's related to no catnap.  I'll see what happens tonight.  Where is the manual when you need one 

Kerrie, I've been thinking of you, how are you all doing?  I read that you're back at workk, hope it's going well.  How did your family photo's come out the other day?  You'll have to show us one!  Hope DD is sleeing better for you.  Your DS must be nearly 2 now ... that's pretty exciting, have you got anything special planned? 

Karina, how are you doing?  you've been quiet for a few days, hopefully this means that things are so great you haven't even thought of BW 

take care everyone 

[lilflav]

hello all!  we had some good then some bad.  I figured out how to extend naps today!  I hid from her so when her eyes opened she wouldn't see me.  I went by her feet & slid my hand through the slats & patted her! she slept 1 1/2 hours!  Unfortunately for some reason she was already very tired 1 hour later, I wasn't expecting it and when I got her down she only slept 1/2 hr.  Then she seemed really tired soon after waking, but it took 1 hr to get her down!  She slept 45 min, and woke at 7:05.  I figured, ok, she's been going down really soon after her naps, so I'll feed her, bathe her, massage her, bf her, then she'll go down easily by 8:30.  NOPE!! I tried to swaddle her after all this, and wind down, but I could tell she was not ready.  So I unswaddled her, and let her play- she was all smiles, playing, wide awake!!  Finally I got her to sleep at 10!!  She was just starting to seem tired then, I just don't get her! 

Hoping everyone has good naps/sleep today!!

[campbellchick]

Hi there, just a quick post while I am eating breakfast before the kids wake up and we have to head out the door.  I've just quickly read the last few pages that I have missed out on, so I am sorry to hear everyone is having so much trouble.

Work is going well and dd is going well at daycare.  She is sleeping about 3hrs a day all up and doing 1 nap of 2hrs and 1 nap of 1hr in the afternoons.  She probably needs more sleep at her age, but this is the minimum she can survive on, so I'm happy she is achieving that at least.  I really started ramping up her solids this week and within a week she is at 3 meals a day, which I think might be helping with her sleeping.  Except she is still waking at least 2 times a night and last night was 3.  Not sure what is going on with that, but she still seems really hungry at night.  I am very confused and really don't know how to stop this.  It will need to stop soon as I am going on my first trip away for work in early October.  Maybe at least that will start to break the habit if she has no food at night if she is still waking then!!! 

Anyway, must run and finish getting ready for work and getting the troops out of bed.  Jackie - how is your dd going, is she now over her bout of OT again? 

I hope everyone else is going well - have been thinking of you all.

Karina - where are you?  I hope you are okay.

K

[campbellchick]

PS - Brenda great to have you back...

[proudmum]

Hi there, great to hear from you Kerrie, glad all if going pretty well.  I also got my DD onto 3 meals a day really quickly and now she's on formula as well, it's definately made a difference with her sleeping. Now if she wakes up at night I know that she's definately not hungry and feeding isn't even on my mind.  I think once she had a couple and night where she sttn, and was on solids for a little while, it all kicked in and we havent looked back since.  I think once you stop feeding at night, she'll understand that if she wakes up she won't be rewarded with milk. 

as for us, we've taken about 10 steps backwards        All was going so well and now it's like the wheels have fallen off.  she's back to 30 min naps, if I work REALLy hard I can get her to resettle for some of them, for either 45min total or an hour.  I don't know what's happened, I was getting to the point where I thought that she would soon be doing long naps without any help from me, and hoping to have 2naps a day and catnap ... then just suddenly she became difficult to put down and began 30 min naps again.  I'm so miserable about having to go through all that again  Having said all this her night sleeping is improving, she sttn for about 10 days, then she got sick again so the last few nights havent been great.  she'll still have a good night even though she may only have had a couple of hours sleep during the day, and if she stirs, most of the time she'll resettle herself. 

Hope everyone else is doing a bit better ... thinking of you all
J xx

[brenda2]

hugs jacqui, sorry it's still tough.

we had the same thing with the sttn at about this age.  i weaned  to bottles and stopped the feeding at night and things got way better and she started sttn and hasn't really looked back since (except for teething...).

for us this coincided with being much more consistent with naps.  prior to it we got the odd short nap and then when she dropped the catnap and went to 2 naps they were more consistently both long.  not sure what else to tell you other than try shortening up the a time again if it's all 30 min naps.  if you are getting some that are 45 min it may be that she needs longer A times.

[lilflav]

Hello again!! Hope everyone is doing well!  Yesterday was almost perfect as far as naps go!  We had a 2 hr nap, 1 1/2 hr nap, and a 30 min catnap!  Her A times were a little all over the place though.  They were 1hr45min, 2hr15min, 1hr40min-she seemed to be getting ot early on at this one, then I tried at about 2hr10min for bedtime, but she couldn't fall asleep for 2hr50min!  2hr10min was definately too long!  And today she has been asleep for 1hr11min( & counting)!  So she is 7 months, almost 6 months adjusted. Her a times should be at least 2hr20min, but we are not making it that long.  Should I start stretching them out at some point?  Or just let her go as we are until she starts short napping (I would like to avoid this)?

We are still having night wakings, but now there are some 4 hour stretches instead of all 2 hr, so it's improved.  Hopefully they will get better as she gets used to moving through sleep cycles.  Any thoughts??  The past few nights I have been letting her have 13 hr nights so she can get caught up on sleep, if she is not waking, she must need it, right??  But her night wakings total to about 1 hr (or more), so it really is a 12 hr night.  Should I change it, or let her sleep (sorry, I know that ? is off topic)? 

And the possible bad news is I have to go to a wedding this weekend that is far & we will be driving for about 5 hrs & staying 2 nights!  Hopefully we won't get too off track & things will pick up again. I wonder how long she'll sleep in a car that's constantly moving?  Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

[lilflav]

Well, the first nap was 11/2 hrs, unfortunately the second was only 30 min   Her a times were 2hrs 15 min and 1 hr 55min.  what gives???

[proudmum]

Hi Lilflav,

I feel your frustration, it's hard when you have a good day and feel that things are getting on track, then it all falls apart the next day, for no apparent reason! 

I'm all over the place with naps too at the moment and don't seem to know what the right A times are.  So don't know what to tell you except to hang in there and be consistent ... maybe someone else will have some good advice!  as for the wedding, try your best to keep her on routine, and then be prepared to do some hard work when you get back 

it also takes my LO ages to fall asleep at night and I jsut don't seem to be able to get the last A time right, I have  no idea if it's too long or too short.  My only saving grace is that even if she only gets 2 hours sleep a day, she still sttn  it means I'm not exhausted during the day and can cope with the short naps.  I wonder if because she's sttn now, maybe she doesn't need as much sleep during the day?  Anyone have thoughts on that idea?? 

Jacqui x

[Ellie-Leo]

Hi all

I share your pain! We are now totally stuck in the 30 minute rut. Even when he seemed to have caught up a bit on sleep and was STTN again, he hasnt been through 30 mins on his own. But i had about 2 weeks of success extending one nap a day by holding him through the jolts. This no longer works, and we are in a hideous cycle of cat napping and snacking -how on earth do you keep the feeds on track when you're having to put them down for 2 naps per feed cycle (which we do). He's also got a coldso the last 5 nights we have had at least 3NWs, meaning i guess that he's starting the day already not very well rested. I am trying to stick with it and keep working on extending the nap and keeping A times short, but frequently I'll put him down after c. 1 hour A time (after 30 min nap), and he'll only fall asleep at 1.5/1.75hr, either crying or playing in the mean time. It feels like despite my best efforts then, he remains over tired. I'm not sure that he'll ever go longer than 30 mins on his own, since even when he was well rested, being pushed through one long sleep a day (c.2 hours), STTN etc, he didnt sleep for longer than 30, and was generally waking up quite happy.

I no longer have any clue what to aim for with his naps, since whatever works for a few days, stops working after that and he lets me know loud and clear that it is not acceptable anymore. I'm sure some of this is linked to his recent cold but in reality the 30 min naps have gone on for a month, and before that, 45 and 30 min naps. Feeling very down and frankly clueless as to what to attempt with him each morning, and it's making it v difficult to enjoy my time with him, which I hate.

OK vent over for today Hope the rest of you have a better day/night

[Ellie-Leo]

He must have known I was at absolute breaking point, think he may just have gone through 45 mins!! Certainly past 30 anyway which is a miracle. Will try and be super cheery (not teary) mummy this afternoon

[brenda2]

as night sleep gets better and longer it will for sure impact day sleep.  but it will be with the A times stretching.  30 min naps still mean Ot and put them down earlier.

[proudmum]

Ellie-leo, you sound exactly like me a couple of months ago  so i totally relate to what you're going through.  i used to wish away the time and couldn't wait for her to be a bit older so that we'd be past this and I could enjoy her more ... sounds awful I know, but when you're so exhausted and miserable you just want to be over it. 

The only thing I can say is keep at it, keep trying to keep A times short, keep trying to resettle past 30min and I promise you it will eventually start to change.  you will find that after a little while, there will be 2 good naps in a day, then maybe 3, and then instead of it being so up and down from 1 day to the next, you will start to have a few good days in a row. 

The feeding thing is so hard too, the short naps throw everything off.  Try to stretch him occasionally rather than let him snack all the time, so 1 feed may be 3 1/2 hours, and the next only 1 1/2 hours.  This will also work itself out, once his naps improve the feeds will too and the snacking will stop. 

I hate the feeling too of waking up feeling clueless and not knowing what the hell to do, your life revolves around his naps.  Its difficult but if you stay as consistent as you can now, things will definately get better.  there is light at the end of the tunnel!  you are doing the right thing, remember we're always here when you need to vent or need support, we'll help you through it. 

J x

[Alex mom]

hi girls , I'm back 

hi my DD is not exactly good , so i spend my days watching his cues , I'm so tired that when i have a moment for rest i just want to sit down  :Pi used to have nights off  but now is different my DH hasn't patient any more with my little guy because he gets crazy at night he wakes up after one hour at 9.00 pm and then i let him play for 15 min then he starts crying , he put him to bed and starts crying level 10 he try until 11 pm and then, is my turn and walking with him , patting and at the moment i put him in the bed he starts crying he just doesn't want to sleep so for the last 2 weeks almost every day he falls asleep at 12or 1am or 2am yesterday was at 2 in the morning even if he had a good day.   

now with the naps, after buying spa machine with aromatherapy and miracles blanket hahahhah some days he sleeps all his naps good  but the night is the same  ,for the naps he still waking up after 30 min but now i don't go to him i just wait i watching him , he starts fighting with his miracle blanket hahah and after 10 min he just quit and felt asleep , so is better for me don't go there because i remember took me 30 min to get him back to sleep ,so now he wakes up for the last two naps and he knows he cant unswaddle so he starts doing noises with his mouth doesn't cry  10 min later he is sleeping, he does one nap without waking up in the morning 8.30 to 10.30 he sleeps 2 hours in the morning 1.45h at 12pm and 1.45h at 3.45pm without counting the 10 or 15 min awake in the middle of his two naps.

well girls that is my situation i I've been crying i cant go out  because he doesn't falls asleep at all , i hope when he gets older the situation get better ,

How is everything with u Kerrie and proudman ?
How is work ?Kerrie

hugs Karina