First nap a short one

[thawley]

My son is just over 3 month corrected (5 months actual) and his naps are always short.
I have had success with patt/shh extending the two afternoon naps but his morning one is alway short and I can't get him back down.
I end up putting him in a carrier and bouncing him back to sleep for this nap.

[magdalenapl]

hi
how sweet he is !
can you post your EASY day ?

[thawley]

Thanks.  He's my oldest who is a great sleeper thanks to BW!

Here's my basic schedule although it's not always the same yet.

8 - Eat
9:30 - short nap followed by 45 minutes in the ERGO
11 - Eat
12:30 - Nap - have been able to extend 1/2 way to 1.5 hours
2 - Eat
3:30 - Nap - same as above wakes after 45 but extends to 1.5 hours
5 - Eat
7- Bath and Eat
7:30ish bed
10:30 - dreamfeed
between 5 and 6am - Eat

[brenda2]

Is his first A time only 1.5 hours?  I would extend to 2 hours A time and see if this helps. He should be on a 4 hour EASY at this age. 2 hours A followed by 2 hours nap. Two long naps and a catnap.

[blessedbear]

Hi,
I have a quick question.  Are the concepts Tracy talks about based on actual/chronological age OR adjusted/corrected age?  If so her baby is developmentally 3 months.  I ask because I was doing the charts for A time and total sleep requirements based on a 7 month old when in fact my DD was a preemie born 1 month early so I should stick with suggestions based on a 6 month old.  I have been fortunate to have BW so I was told that I should base them on her adjusted age. Yes 2 naps and a CN are def required.
Thanks!

[brenda2]

I think every baby is a bit different and you have to deCide what's best for them. Some preemies catch up fairly quickly and if you look at what else they're doing in terms of smiling , rolling and other developmental milestones theyre probably not their chronological or adjusted age but rather somewhere in the middle. That's why it's better to go by sleepy cues when dealing with naps. This is true for all babies not just preemies. Some 3 mo can do 1 hour A time and some can do closer to 2 hours. There is a range.

My first dd was on the high end of sleep needs and wasn't on a 4 hour EASY until 5 mo and my second dd was on a 4 hour EASY at 3.5 mo.

Even though your ds is 3 mo adjusted with that first nap being short  I think this means he could handleyou stretching out his first A time towards 2 hours. Do it slowly, watch his cues and if you get a 30 min nap it probably means you pushed him too long.

[thawley]

Thanks I'll try that.  He's right on target for his corrected age (3 months) so I thought 2 hours was a bit long for him.  I'll try something more like 1.75 hours tomorrow and see if that helps. 

[brenda2]

You may want to increase his A time by a small amount if you think he will have a hard time with it then. Maybe only stretch by 5 to 10 min and increase by another 5 to 10 min every 3 days. Watch his cues too.
Good luck.

[blessedbear]

Good luck, and let us know how he does

[thawley]

I increased his A time to 1 3/4 hours and it was a DISASTER!!!  He woke after 30 minutes, I tried for 30 minutes to extend with no success.  Now he is screaming at the top of his lungs in the carrier and I can not settle him!!! 

[brenda2]

He's really sensitive to A times then. Make sure you put him back down for another nap sooner than usual or try some AP to get him back to sleep. If you are going to try again to extend only do it by 5 min at a time. Hope the rest of your day isn't too mixed up!

[magdalenapl]

Hi
I hope you managed yesterday somehow I had also terrible day due to my LO refusing to nap.
It seems your LO just turned around his naps, he takes catnap first and then he ends the day with the 1,5 hour nap
Do you BF him every day in the early morning? Is he really so hungry? I am just asking since I can see your last A time before he goes to bed is around 2,5 hours, so it can be too long for him, he can be OT and it can cause EW. When he eats between 5 and 6 and then sleeps a little bit again he might be not rested enough to manage more A time in the morning. He has a break in his deep night sleep and then in fact he just takes a nap until 8.00. I hope YKWIM.
Maybe you can play a bit with his feedings - increase last feed and DF a bit or also postpone a DF about 30 minutes. If hunger wakes him up so early in the morning he should be able to sleep longer then. If he sleeps longer you can just start your day at 7.00 or even 6.30 and he should be able to manage longer A time in the morning then and take longer nap. If this EW is caused by him being OT in the evening he will wake up anyway. I think you should put him to bed around 30 minutes earlier. If he starts to take longer nap in the morning he will anyway take only a catnap in the evening, so should be earlier in bed. Also this will help you later on when he will drop the catnap completely.
Also it might take a few days before you will see the difference. But I have a feeling he is just not rested enough due to EW and feeding.
This are just my thoughts after looking at your routine and your yesterday trial with extending his A time. I really hope this helps.
I cross my fingers.

[thawley]

Thanks!  I was thinking the same thing.  In an ideal world I'd extend his night sleep to 6:30 or 7am and then start his day then.  I'll work on his bedtime and see if I can't get him to sleep a little longer in the morning. 

[magdalenapl]

i cross my fingers
let us know how it works
hugs

[thawley]

The last two days have been bad.  My mom is here for a visit and she is freelancing his routine/schedule.  I figure why fight her on it. I'll try tomorrow to get him back on track.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.  Thanks for your support!

On a positive note my husband and I did get out for dinner.