5 month old textbook baby out of his routine wit naps

[Miniem]

Hi,

<p>I have a text book baby who was in a really good routine with his naps.  He usually went down to sleep well and would generally have 1 and a half to 2 hours 3 x a day.  Now he seems to wake up half way through and thats him awake even though he's still clearly tired.  I then seem to be up and down trying to sooth him back to sleep during which he's breaking his heart crying.  Any suggestions on how to get him to go the full nap time?

<p>Many thanks!

[kezzi78]

have you tried PU/PD

[lilac83]

He also may be getting ready to increase his A time and make the longer 3rd nap a short cat nap.

[brenda2]

how old is he?  do you want to post his routine?  short naps can be due to Ut or OT if the A time is not appropriate for his age, or difficulty transitioning through the jolts into the next sleep cycle if he is dependent on a prop to go to sleep such as rocking or paci.  does he have a prop?  does he go to sleep independently?  is he swaddled?

[Miniem]

Hi,

Sorry I didn't reply.  I kept checking back had no replies so forgot I had posted.  I'm still having the nightmare of short naps.  When he wakes he is still rubbing his eyes and clearly tired.

Here's his routine

E 7am
A 7.30-8.30/8.45
S 8.30/8.45-9.30/10

E 11.00
A 11.30-12.00/12.30
S 12.00/12.30-13.00/13.30

E 15.00
A 15.30-16.00
S 16.00-16.30/16.45

E  18.00/18.30 (Bath before bottle)
A  18.30-19.00
S  18.30/19.00

This is roughly how it goes.  I put him to bed when he is rubbing his eyes and also starts to winge.  Should I be trying to keep him awake longer??  At the moment it seems that we have most of his A time before E time.  He sleeps well during the night.  If he does wake he usually just chats to himself and sends himself to sleep.  He also goes down to sleep well at night.  He does have a dummy/pacifier to go to sleep but I'm not sure that its causing a problem.  He usually spits it out when he wants to and it doesn't wake him when he spits it out in his sleep.  He also doesn't wake for it during the night.

I just don't know what to do for the best to be honest.  He was pretty much a text book baby and is easy to read in most instances but this has got me baffled!

Thanks

Emma

[lilac83]

Hi there!

How is your LO's mood throughout the day? Especially in the evening, does he seem OT or does he play happily? He's a bit on the low end for daysleep, but not terribly so. Seen as your not having any NW or EW he may just be on the low end of sleep needs. You could try extending his A times a bit before nap since a 1 hour nap normally means UT, but 2 X 1 hour naps plus a catnap really isn't horrible (I know it would probably be nice to have more "Y" time though!). My DD will wake up from nap yawning sometimes and wanting to be cuddled for a bit but that's just how she transitions from asleep to awake, perhaps it's the same for your LO with him rubbing his eyes?

[Miniem]

Hi thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

I think he seems OT during the day and as I said he wakes up and he's still rubbing his eyes and winggy.  He then goes into 'manic mode' and his arms and legs are all over the place. I then struggle to get him back to sleep......any suggestions welcome!!

By the way what does UT mean??

Thanks!

[Miniem]

Oh and could someone also tell me whether the 'top tips' book is different to the 'Secrets' book?

[lilac83]

UT means under tired. Meaning he was tired enough to fall asleep but not tired enough to take a good nap. An accumulation of UT naps can lead to an OT baby because none of the naps were very restful. Average A time for a 5 month old is 2-2.25 hours. It looks like his first A time of the day is only 1.5 hours, so he probably needs more here first thing. When you first see his tired cue, instead of starting wind down right away, take him a low key activity for another 15 minutes before starting wind down. Hopefully this will lead to a longer nap. Let me know how it goes!

[Miniem]

Ahhh ok make sense.  Thanks for that.  I'll see how that goes

Emma

[Miniem]

I'm begining to think that my textbook baby may be turning!  Is that possible?!!

I've been trying as you said to keep him awake slightly longer just in case he's UT and that's been fine.  I have also tried the W2S as I read up on it and was wondering if he was just not making it through into the next sleep cycle.  It worked yesterday and he had a good couple of hours sleep.  He was less grumpy between feeds and more like himself.  Today he had a good couple of hours sleep this morning.  Then about half an hour after he woke up he started rubbing his eyes and as though he was tired again.  He was like this through his feed and so I put him to bed about an hour after he woke up.  I'm now listening to him cry as he's woken up 45 mins into his last sleep (that was about an hour ago) and I have tried everything to get him back to sleep (I also did the w2S with this sleep but obviously didn't work).

Ahhh where am I going wrong?

[lilac83]

Was he just playing in his crib for an hour after he woke? If he woke happy and just got upset once he was in there alone for awhile or you tried to get him back to sleep, that was probably a UT nap. Sleepy cues can get sort of tricky around the 6th month. What once was a sleep cue could also mean boredom, etc.

I don't think you're going wrong anywhere. If you think he's tired too soon, try moving him to a new activity and see what happens. W2S works about half the time, so if you're seeing some success keep it up! After a few days though you should stop and see if he'll start transitioning on his own.