Could you help me with A time/routine for 16 week old

[*Liz*]

There is some info on W2S on the Naps FAQ.

Well done on your sucess with HTTJ  .

I never had any success with W2S so I am the worst person to ask. And I'm embarrassed to say that I never had the patience for HTTJ. The jolts are lessened by the right A time, and they kind of get less with time and your LO just learns how to 'ignore' them and start sleeping.

Some babies are just much lighter sleepers.

My DS short napped until 5mths old. At 15 weeks he took 1 2hr nap in his cot. 3 weeks later I was getting 1 nap a day. By 6 mths it was all gone and apart from routine issues short naps were completely a thing of the past.

[Tweakster]

Same here, W2S never worked for me because by the time I would start to try it, Finn would be fully awake on his own and I missed the chance to send him back into a sleep cycle.  He was never a regular 35-min kind of guy...his short naps ranged from about 28 mins all the way to 40 mins.  I was reading back and realized that we never talked about development...I would say at 16 weeks for us it was 80% development, 20% routine.  It changes as your LO learns to transition and deal with the Moro reflex and all the jolts.  I had great success with HTTJ and shush/pat when I messed up or missed a HTTJ.  But honestly from about week 12 - week 16 or more I was in Finn's room for almost every nap.  When I didn't sit in for some reason, we always got a short nap and that led to OT.  The first time I ever got a 1.5 hour nap was the same way you did :-)

It gets better :-)  Now for us at 6 months it is 80% routine and 20% regression due to milestones and other fine disturbances lol. 

[~Lori~]

Yes, DS has ALWAYS been a light sleeper, from week 1!!

Instead of shhh/patting, I've been giving a paci, and that seems to work.  The reason I have NEVER been able to do shhh/patt or shhh/hold/rub is because my little guy is so distracted/touchy with sleep that even when I would shhh/pat for 40 minutes it wouldn't get him back to sleep.  I'm hoping the paci won't be a prop, and will just try to do more HTTJ for the time being...and PRAY that my 3 year old can keep quiet for that long (need to go get some more movies from the library for her to watch as I'll be in DS's room all the time!

Thanks!

[*Liz*]

There are sometimes compromises to be made with EASY when you have a toddler to care for as well. If the paci helps all of you get along it isn't necessarily a bad thing. You are right that it can become a prop though.

I have heard of mums with 2 doing a week of sleep training when they have help around so they are not trying to juggle too many balls.

[~Lori~]

I'm not sure how I'd do sleep training any differently than I'm doing now...I guess I consider what I am doing as sleep training, lol!   I wish I had people to help out around me, but don't really have anyone.

Yesterday was a good day...took 1 good nap in the morning (I did HTTJ) took a 2nd good nap, took a 3rd nap, up at 35 min, extended it another hour.

Today, a DIFFERENT story.  Did everything the same in the morning (watching for cues/awake time/wind down) and he would NOT go to sleep...finally asleep by 2hrs awake (laid him down at 1hr22min awake).  Then all day it was 35 min naps and NOT wanting to go down.  Horrible!

[~Lori~]

And, is there any way to avoid OT with only 35 min naps??  I feel like there is no hope here, b/c no matter what the A time is, EVERY nap is 35 min.  SOMETIMES I can extend, but often not, or often he is awake for 25 min as I'm trying to extend, and then another short nap.  I understand that it is developmental, but EVERY nap??  Everyone I talk to here about this is "floored" by how he wakes up consistently at 35 min, none of their kids every did it, so it's just frustrating.

After a short nap, we reduce Awake time, but that NEVER gives us a longer nap after, just another 35 min one.  Our awake time is getting so short b/c of this that it feels like it's back to newborn days with not being able to leave

[*Liz*]

My lo was a 35 min nap man. Every single nap all day long. Very frustrating.

He packed it in at about 5 mths old.

I think when they start this the best thing to do is follow tired cues. I often used to AP a longer pm nap in the afternoon in the sling or the buggy or something. I don't know if you could perhaps fit this in around an activity for your toddler.

I eventually worked out my first nap was UT and he slowly got OT as the day wore on. I don't think I EVER got a 45 min nap.

Could you perhaps post what happened today so we can have a look.

What I meant about sleep training was 3 days of PU/PD to wean the paci later when you can find some short term help. I think some mums find this easier than trying to do lots of HTTJ and things like that. HTTJ is certainly sleep training but it is very time consuming.

[~Lori~]

Today is just a write off day since I had to take DD to preschool this morning and that lead to DS getting down late.  So our whole day has been a mess.

I have just gotten to 1.5Awake time.  My little guy seems/seemed to do better on the lower end of A time, but we have moved it to 1.5hr awake time. 

He has started to give more "sleep cues"...rubs his ear, rests his head on my shoulder, usually at around 1h20minutes.  Put him down (swaddled or unswaddled) and up at 35 min.  Occasionally he goes back down.  Would you "suggest" I keep with the paci use to help extend naps, since shhh-pat is not successful for DS?  And then later do PU/PD for getting rid of the paci?  HTTJ IS super time consuming.  Has worked 1x out of 5.  May keep trying it for a bit.

I just worry b/c I go back to work (2 days/3days a week) in November and he will be at a baby-sitters.  She is GREAT, but has other kids to watch too and I feel like it will just be a huge mess...

[*Liz*]

TBH I would be tempted to keep the paci for now and worry about weaning it if and when it becomes as issue. Remember loads of people use a paci like this without getting major issues.

I never had any luck with HTTJ, and certainly won't be worrying about that when I have baby 2 and a toddler under foot. For me it is case of picking your battles.

J never took a paci though, but I did walk him to sleep for 5 mths. Took me 2 days to teach him to crib sleep when he started fighting me. Might be worth a post on the general sleep board to see what others experiences have been though - especially those who decided to keep the paci.

Don't worry too much about daycare - you LO will adapt to it - and lots of LO's just end up having a super sleepy day at home afterwrads to catch up.

(((hugs)))