Eh, I just can't seem to tweak this right

[LCandB]

I am working really hard with DS to not get into the quagmire I got myself into with DD but I cannot seem to get A times right for him.     He's 11 weeks on Saturday and he always yawns for the first time at the 45 min mark of being awake.  He's on a 3 hour easy.  Today looked something like this:

E 7am - I woke him after a fitful stretch in the latter part of the night
A
S 8:06 - swaddle, in bed and eyes closed, cried out at 9:13, put paci back in - woke 9:54

E 10 am
A
S Was getting fussy by 10:46 so headed upstairs at 10:52 to swaddle begin routine etc.  Laid him down at 11.  11:35 cried out and eyes were open, gave paci again.  Same thing at 12:15

E 1:05 I woke him (first time I have ever woken a sleeping baby other than to start the day and boy did I regret it this afternoon!)
A
S 2:10 Laid down with paci, woke up over and over and repaci etc


So basically at this point you can see what's going on - to me it looks like he's OT, but here's my problem: up till today I have always gone by watching his cues and have still be getting a wakeup at 45 minutes and mostly he was smiley and happy so I figured UT  - thus the trying to push him just a tad to perhaps get longer naps without the waking. 

Help please!   

[sherry lynn]

You're right, it might be an OT problem, but I'm thinking at this age he should be able to handle a little over an hour A time like you are giving him.

He got a good amount of sleep for the first half of the day, that might be why he was fighting you at 2.

I think when they are on 3 solid naps they shouldn't have more than 1.5? By 2 he had already had 4 hours in his day instead of 3. Having said that with having the naps broken I don't know if I would have been brave enough to wake him either.

Does your son usually sleep straight through a nap, or do you usually have to help him through the transitions?
Are you sure it's an OT problem and not a paci problem?
Having said that, some LO just take longer to sort out naps. They say 0-3 months they sort out night sleep 3-6 they sort out naps, but some it really just takes longer. So don't beat yourself up too much about it. I think your routine looks decent and you are trying your best. Just try not to AP too much, and keep an eye on the paci. How is he sleeping at night?

[LCandB]

I'm afraid the paci might be a problem.  I never gave one to dd and she was never an independent sleeper until around 8 months.  I had never planned to give one to ds either but in a moment of desperation I did.  Darn it!  It seems we have to "re-paci" with almost every nap - hmm guess we've worked ourselves into a prop issue.  I feel like giving up now.  I didn't get it right with dd and now I seem to be messing up with DS too.  Sigh.

[sherry lynn]

Don't feel like giving up. My DS has a paci too. But he didn't start taking it until much later , around 4 months, and it was a desperate 2 am fix

Even without the paci, he might still have trouble sleeping independently. Some LO just do. Like I said DS didn't take a paci until 4 months, and I had to extend EVERY nap as well.

They say that LOs sort their nighttime sleep 0-3 months and daytime sleep 3-6 months, but like your DD some take a little longer, around 8-9 months. It was 9 months for us. All of a sudden at 9 months he just started taking solid naps. I didn't do anything differently.

Is he waking repeatedly at night? If the answer is no, then you might not have a paci problem. Maybe pop on the props board and talk to them about it. He might just be sorting out how to nap straight through. Don't lose hope, it does get better.

How have the last couple of days gone?

[LCandB]

Thanks Sherry Lynn. 

Well the paci was definitely a prop problem - I ditched it on Thursday and night time sleep is better.  Back to where we were with only 2 wakeups rather than the 4-5 times a night it was becoming for a replug.  So we really have gotten dedicated to shush pat and its slow going but we're committed.  (The 2.5 year old is making it challenging though) 

Now the problem is we seem to be OT and I don't know how to fix it.  He can't seem to make it past a single sleep cycle now when it had been doing some longer naps. 

Today for instance he has taken two 45 min naps and we haven't gotten in to him to extend in time or something.  Also we are not having the best of success with the dream feed so we're just a mess here.  I'll keep plugging along I suppose and this will eventually sort out. 

[sherry lynn]

That's great news about the paci.

Give shh/pat a few more days to see if that helps out, and then maybe start a post over on the nap boards to see if those ladies can help you with the naps at all. Glad the night sleep is better though. Like I said he might just be working on learning how to nap. Or he might need more A time. Only time will tell

Good luck. Again great job on the paci removal. I hope he didn't give you too hard of a time.

[LCandB]

Just wanted to update you Sherry Lynn and thank you for the support. 

DS is now a wholly independent sleeper and things have been going great until the NW started but at least I know from struggling with  DD to start moving along to a 3.5 easy.  Thanks for mentioning the A times earlier - he is textbook and I forgot that they tend to act tired at their old sleep times even when they can handle more A time.  That was the ticket and we are hopefully going to have everything resorted quickly.

[sherry lynn]

That's great news. Thanks for coming back and giving an update   I hope that moving the A times out starts to help a little bit. Good job on getting him to be an independent sleeper.   You must feel great.

I hope things keep improving with you. Good thought on moving towards a 3.5 EASY. I'll try to remember that when the next LO is around this age. You know how the mommy brain can get.