30-45 minute naps...any chance normal?

[smahalik]

My LO is 12 weeks (adjusted for 3 weeks early) and has just recently started taking 30-45 minute naps (whereas they were 1 hour to 1 1/2 before).  He has also just recently started on Zantac for reflux and I'm waiting for that to start working.  In the meantime, I decided to stop trying to extend his naps so I can see what effect the Zantac may be having.  So, for the past 2 days, I've just been letting him sleep as long as he wants, which is typically 30-45 minutes.  I feed him every 3 hours (30 minutes of E) and then 1 hour of A with a 30 minute wind down (so total of 1 1/2 hours between naps).  He typically goes down for naps with no problem (just a few minutes of fuss)and wakes up in a pretty good mood. 
So I guess my question is, before I start an intense shush/pat or w2s regimen, is catnapping through the day normal and OK for some babies?  I noticed another post mentions that some babies just have different biorhythms and I'm just wondering if I really need to put alot of time and effort into extending his naps if it's just natural for him.  If not, I have no issue with committing to this effort, but was just curious since he seems to be doing OK with the short naps for now.  I also wonder if I just give him another month or so if this may work itself out since he's in the stage right now of self-organizing his daytime sleep.  No problem with his nighttime sleep right now.  Any input would be appreciated!!

[marensmama]

Hi there.  I'm not really sure what the answer is for you, since reflux that is not really under control precludes any form of sleep training, including extending naps.  That being said, 12 weeks is usually about the time that the LOs have developmental short naps and start waking at the jolts.  Swaddling helps both reflux and getting baby through the jolts, so if you don't swaddle yet, I strongly recommend it.

If you are going to try letting him sort this out on his own (and really with reflux that's all that you can do), the only thing you MUST remember is to shorten his A time so that he doesn't end up getting OT.  Babies his age can usually handle 80-90 minutes of A time, but since a short nap is not restorative, you need to shorten his A time to an hour or so including wind-down.

HTH!