My 15 week old sleeps pretty well most nights, but naps are a disaster - At night he goes down between 6:30 and 7:30 relatively easily. Wakes around 11:30 or 12:00 - I used to feed at this time, but realised that if I give him a pacifier and about 10 minutes of patting, he sleeps for another 2 or 3 hours most nights. Then I feed (so usually somewhere between 1:30 and 3:00) and he goes back to sleep with no paci and about 15 minutes of patting. Then he may wake every 45 minutes or he may sleep until about 5:30. I feed again at 5:30 and rarely get him back to sleep after that.
At that point I usually put him down for a nap every 1.5 hours since that seems to be the amount of awake time he can handle. If I go too much beyond that he gets crabby. If I go to much less he doesn't fall asleep easily. I've been using the clock because he doesn't have any obvious sleep cues until he's OT.
Nap wind down routine is that I change his diaper, sing to him for a few minutes, swaddle and give him a paci. Then I rub his belly and sing a song (always the same one) until I see him start to blink (usually about 2 minutes). I then pick him up and start patting his bum and shushing until his eyes close (about 5 minutes). I try not to sway or walk so that I'm not using motion to get him to sleep. Then I put him down in his crib or more recently next to me in bed because I'm too tired to stand by his crib. I usually pat for another couple minutes and he's out. When I put him down though he's pretty well out anyways.
At about 30 minutes he starts to stir and around 40 the paci may fall out and his eyes open. Then he starts to move his head side to side (he's a tummy sleeper). So I start patting and sometimes pop the paci in (if he cries for it) and I can sometimes extend the naps that way - It works probably 30% of the time.
I'm just getting concerned that since I'm helping him past the 45 minute mark, he's not going to learn to do it for himself. I know other people mentioned some success extending naps with sh pat - did those babies eventually take longer naps on their own?
I just so worried about getting him the sleep he needs that I'm willing to spend all of his naps by his side. If he doesn't get good naps, he screams uncontrollably in the evening and it breaks my heart. At the same time, I know he needs to learn to take longer naps without me.
Is the patting a prop?
