Not sure where to start need advice on 45 min naps, or is it all developmental

[Jenncap]

I've read everything on these boards about naps, EASY, etc......

We've done EASY since birth and it was great the first few weeks.  He was like a clock.  Slept 6 hour stretches by 3 weeks, etc...

8 weeks hits and everything went all wrong.  I've tried everything!!!!  Extending awake times, lessening awake times, feeding more, etc....  Always got 45 minute naps, nothing more or less....

Then I tried httj, sometimes I would get a up to a 3 hour nap, but that was few and far between.

He'll be 15 weeks tomorrow.  He took great naps on Saturday and Sunday, I was able to extend the three of them to 1hr 15 min to 3 hrs and then a cat nap.  Monday sucked, nothing extended, only got 4 45minute naps and Tuesday my in laws watch him and he hardly napped and had a crappy night sleep.  He usually gives me a 9hr stretch eat and then asleep for another 3 hrs.

When will this all end.  Is there an end in sight?  I thought he just didn't need that much sleep, but when I can extend them, he is a whole different baby.

I guess I just need some reassurance I'm not a lone.

[Mjaz]

You are certainly not alone.  I try to tweak something every single day to see if I can get a longer nap out of my little one.  Like you said, I feel like I've tried everything.  I've also wondered aloud here about his age (he'll be 14 weeks Friday) and whether or not the short naps (that came out of nowhere) and the NW were to blame on a growth spurt.  Since this has been going on for 5 days for us, I'm thinking it may not be ;( 

I don't have much to say to help.  Keep trying to tweak.  Do you want to share your EASY with me since our LOs are about the same age and are having the same issues?  I'll try and help if I can

Hang in.

[suzannebowie]

Me too - you are well and truly not alone! My LO is 12 weeks and 45 min naps/fighting naps altogether have crept up on us over the past week or so and have hit us hard. She was such a good napper up until this point. Im starting to think that perhaps she doesnt need that much sleep anymore? She is a bit more grumpy it has to be said but refuses to extend her naps! I also thought it might be a growth spurt but like MJaz, it seems to be going on for too long for that! 

We can commiserate together...

Suzy x

[Jenncap]

Thanks, I feel better.  My husband thinks I'm analyzing things too much.  He keeps telling me, he'll get it eventually.  It's just so hard since my first born daughter, slept like a dream.  She was hardly ever awake and I thought there was something wrong with her.  She took to EASY like a dream and never had too many issues.  She was easy to tweak and always made up for missed sleep.

This guy, I have no clue...
As far as his EASY....

6:40 - 7:15 am wake, eat (sometimes he's not that hungry, but will finish the bottle before the nap)
8:00 -8:20 asleep, sleeps for 45 minutes on the dot, he wakes up cranky, so yesterday I picked him up after trying HTTJ and everything else, rocked him and he went back to sleep for another 45min-1hr, after 45min of trying everything
11am -  eat
12:15 - put in crib, slept, up at 1:05, I picked him up rocked him back to sleep and he slept until 3pm
3pm - ate
4:00pm - must've been exhausted, fell asleep while holding him, put in crib, slept until 4:50pm, tried rocking but fought me, he did fall asleep for another 15-20min
5:05pm - dropped daughter off at church with daddy
6:15pm - pjs, bottle bed asleep by 6:35pm

He went to sleep, no crying, just cooing
He usually gets up between 3:30 and 4:15am to eat, but out of nowhere, 11:37pm screams to eat, has never done that!  We feed him, goes back to bed
3am screams to eat, feed him, has a hard time falling asleep
Up at 5:30, 6, 6:30 and finally for the day by 7am!

Hopefully, it's a growth spurt.  Who knows, I'm just at my wits end and don't want to end up in an overtired cycle I can't get out of!

[Mjaz]

Your EASY looks very familiar!  Except that I never got a two hour nap out of him yesterday.  I got 3 1.5 hour naps, each with me having to go in, pick him up, put him back to sleep.  So I guess maybe I got 6 45 min. naps...?

It doesn't really seem to matter what his day looks like, though.  Yesterday I stayed home all day and worked on his naps.  Two days before I was running errands, having lunch with friends, etc...and he got lots of catnaps in the car.  Every night for the past week has been awful.  Up in the 11/12 hour, up again in the 3/4 hour and then up for good at 5:30am.  I don't know if I'm making a mistake by feeding him, but each time he seems ravenous.  If this is not a growth spurt, than I guess he's now habitually waking?

I don't know, but I really miss my little boy who STTN for nearly a month.   

I'm having trouble concentrating on EASY today since I am dead, dead tired and so, so frustrated.  I'm not sure where to go from here.

Melinda

[christiansmommy]

I have the EXACT same problem! Starting around 7 weeks my son started doing the 45 minute nap thing. He even does it during the night. He goes down around 9 and sleeps peacefully until around 12 or 1, when he starts fidgeting a lot (usually has to be burped). Most of the time the earliest he cries for a bottle is around 3:30 and when I put him back down after that...he is up 45 minutes later. He sleeps in a snuggle nest in the bed with me--he spits up in the night and it freaks me out so badly that I want to be right next to him should it happen. If I pull him out of the snuggle nest after the burping, then I can hold off the bottle until around 5.

Its pretty clear to me now that he needs me to help him get past the 45 minute mark but I'm so afraid I'm creating bad habits that I'll have a hard time getting him out of. He also doesn't know how to fall asleep on his own. I plan to move him into his crib within the next month or so so I'm trying to have him nap in there. I can't just lay him down drowsy. He wakes right up. I've got to completely rock him to sleep. I'm getting so frustrated. 

[huby]

I have a 12 weeks old baby who is a catnapper too - 45 mins on the dot. She can fall asleep on her own if she's very tired at bedtime and sleeps through. BUT still wakes for all naps at 45 mins and I can rarely get her back to sleep again - if she does its only for minutes
As she can resettle at night otherwise she'd be up all the time - I assumed she should be able to do the same for naps. My health visitor said a lot of it is developmental - and they start being able to take longer naps by 6, 7 or 8 months usually.
It is really hard work especially when babies get grumpy and stressed when they're tired from not having a long enough nap, but please don't worry too much....they'll get the hang of it eventually.
My mum rocked me to sleep and I don't still wake up every 45 mins, so it'll pass.
As for weaning LO out of bed and into crib, I did the same. My advice would be to take it very slowly.
Make the cot a welcome place to be - cosy - get her used to playing in it so it's a nice place to be associated with.
When you put her down drowsy into the cot, but still awake - you can hug her while in the cot. Hard on your back, but gradually you can lessen your hug and it could be more of a laying on hands, shhh patting and so on.
Hope this helps...it takes a while but he'll get used to it eventually.
x

[Mjaz]

He slept 10 hours through the night!!!!!!!

Wanted to share what happened yesterday.  I had meetings and a lunch date, so I knew the day was going to be off of our routine anyway.  I was so exhausted, I said to myself, "Well, tomorrow is what it is."  I just followed his cues - when he was hungry I fed him, when he was sleepy, I tried to help him to sleep.  It didn't go very well.  He ate pretty much on cue, every 3 hours, but his sleep was erratic b/c we were in and out of the car, etc.  When we got home at 4 he was OT, so I got him down and he slept till 5:15.  I knew there was no getting in a CN at that point, so I decided to just continue going with his cues and let our routine sort fall to the wayside.  So, he had a bath at 5:30.  He ate at 6 and then he was up till 7:15 just sort of hanging out with us - cuddling, cooing, talking to me - at the first yawn I took him upstairs.  I offered him 2 more oz. and he took it.  I started our wind down and before I could finish our book he was shutting his eyes.  I put him in the crib and voila - out.  I couldn't believe he was up for nearly 2 and a half hours - but I figured if he was happy and content, then I should just roll with it and see.

I read somewhere yesterday that when a LO is going through a growth spurt you have to give them more food.  If you don't, the growth spurt lingers.  I didn't really have anything to lose, so I figured I'd give him a little bit more food before bedtime - even though it wan't on his EASY.  He slept for 10 hours.  Woke up happy as can be.

I have a glimmer of hope.  I am going to try to feed him more today and see how he does with his naps.

Melinda