2x45min naps a day

[*Jo*]

well i think you are right, something more is going on, at his nighttime bottle he passed wind in copious amounts, then woke at 10pm so i gave him some Brauers Stomach calm, he passed more wind and wouldnt go back to sleep, he was almost inconsolable (i think giving him the meds woke him up completely) nothing would help him go back to sleep, we drove in the car for 30mins to calm him down and hope that he would go back to sleep, nope, he cried as soon as we got hom and put him to bed, i tried feeding him a bottle as that worked once or twice before, nope, he cried and cried and cried, for an hour and a half, then when he finally fell asleep he woke up 2 more times every 20mins, again it was wind and i had to rub his back to help him sleep, then he woke up at 3.30am but put himself back to sleep and was up at 6.30am for the day, hes right miserable still and i think i know what it is, i gave him soy milk in his morning bottle for the past two days and it looks like he just cant tolerate it in such large amounts yet, ive been giving him soy milk in his breakfast cereal since he was about 8 months old and hes been fine so i thought it would be ok to do, even his Ped said to try it so looks like it has certainly made the situation worse, i know he was having the short naps before i gave him the soy milk but i think this has worsened it all.

[*Jo*]

well today i woke him at 30mins for his AM nap, then instead of only 3 hours A time i went 3 hours 15mins, i watched him and he was ready for bed, fell asleep easily..... woke up at 45mins!!!! this is doing my head in!!! if i let him have a long morning nap he only does about an hour and then a short PM nap, if i risk it and do a short AM nap i STILL get a short PM nap! aaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhh its been near 2 weeks with no really decent naps! so once again we will be back to an early bedtime tonight of 6.15pm! and after this mornings early wakeup i wouldnt be surprised if we get another early one tomorrow morning too!

[londonmama]

Argh.  He is really stuck on that 45 minute point, isn't he??  Could you try a radical approach and cut the AM right back to 20 mins, and then maybe 2-2.5 hours A time and then a PM nap?

This sounds really similar to what Henry1 was going through a couple of months ago and I think it was the 20 min AM that worked for her.  Maybe look for her thread or maybe she will pop on here and offer thoughts?

Really, he is either uncomfortable (though it's been going on for so long, this doesn't really make sense), OT, or UT.  It seems you have tried to help him get over OT, with drives in the car, etc.  So maybe err on the side of UT and try the 20 min nap?

There is nothing more frustrating than the persistent short naps, especially when you know they are still tired.  I've been there!

[*Jo*]

I just feel so mean waking him at 20mins, he has a full 4 hour A time in the morning, he refuses to go down any earlier. and then after his 45min nap he was a miserable mess for the rest of the day, it was so hard to keep him happy, he wanted me but when i picked him up he didnt want me, he didnt know what he wanted!

I will aim for a 20min AM nap tomorrow, it just worries me, i figure if i let him sleep as much as he wants in the morning (even if it is only a max of an hour) its gotta be better than an hour 15mins all day! but we just arent getting anywhere.

I have checked his gums, i saw on the upper left side molar area it looked swollen and purple, but he didnt even need any pain meds today, he was blissfully happy until after that short PM nap. nothing i do extends those naps either...

[*Jo*]

well so far its not going well at all... he had his 20min nap this morning, then i had him in bed by 2hours 50mins A time (as he can usually only handle 3 hours after a short nap) he cried, talked, played, banged his cot, cried (whiney cry) and after half an hour we decided to start WI/WO, then DH comes out and says "the cat is in his bedroom" so im not sure if he didnt sleep because he was refusing the nap or becuase the stupid cat was in there! so we took him for a quick drive in the car because he was hysterical at this point and he fell asleep, ive just transferred him to his bed... phew, what a mission that was!

[~*Nicole*~]

Awww Jo, so sorry Caleb is not napping well. It's SO frustrating when they do this!

I bet the walking, swimming, teething, UT/OT loop are ALL taking their toll. Major stuff

I like the 20 min. am nap plan though. I'd try slightly less A time after it if you do it again...2 hr. 40 ish maybe. Since he's sort of perpetually OT right now anyway, ykwim? and then do that for a good 3 or so days so his body gets used to that plan to see if it has any effect.  You'll probably have to extend the A time more and more after he's used to this routine.... if this works until he can do the one nap.

*hugs* to you!

[*Jo*]

so he slept 1 hour 10 mins after all that. he either does a 40min nap or an hour 10 lately. i did a 20min AM nap again this morning, we were on the way to mothers group so he slept in the car, ive just put him down now for his pm nap. also he was up at 5.30am this morning. we havent had an EW like that in a long time, he cried hard so i went to him, it took 20mins to get him back to sleep, then he slept 20mins and woke up again, moaned and grizzled constantly for 20mins before we tried to help him back to sleep again but no he was up for the day....

Oh dear hes banging his cot rail... which means hes standing up! which also means the crying will start soon. PLEASE go to sleep Caleb!

[*Jo*]

he took an hour to fall asleep and then only slept an hour 10mins again!

[*Jo*]

still not good, weve gone from 45min naps to 1 hour 10min naps.... when adn if he falls asleep, which is now taking 30-60mins to happen of WI/WO. waaaaaah i dont know where we have gione wrong!

[londonmama]

1 hour 10 minute naps are a specialty here too.  So annoying.

Do you have a sense for what his total sleep needs are, i.e. night sleep plus day sleep?  And what are his nights like lately?

So he is doing 20 mins AM nap and then 1 hr 10 mins PM nap after lots of WIWO?  Hmmmm....

[*Jo*]

yesterday i tried the morning nap and had 30mins of Wi/Wo then I decided to let him sleep as much as he wanted after all that and it was a 1 hr 10min nap, then in the afternoon he started showing tired signs 45mins earlier than normal, so i quickly went to his room and did wind down and popped him into bed, he cried for about a minute and then fell asleep! DH woke him at 1 hour to preserve bedtime so i think his A times sseemed to have dropped dramatically!

DH is watching him this morning while i go to music rehearsal but i think i will tell him to watch his tired signs alot earlier, usually Caleb doesnt give tired signs at all thats why it was so unusual to see them yesterday. we also got an 11 hour night last night, he woke up happy, talking in his cot for about 20mins before i went and got him up, usually he wakes up crying so thats an improvement

[babybarr]

Great!!  Glad some progress for you.   

[londonmama]

Definitely could be shortened A times, if that molar is swollen especially.  Or maybe he has a bit of a bug.  Great if you can watch his cues and see how he goes!

Good luck!!

[*Jo*]

we tried the same thing today, got a 40min morning nap which really sucks because he needs a long morning nap on Saturdays as he has swimming classes in the afternoon, now that hes had a short nap his next nap falls right on swimming time, what am i doing wrong! I feel like im going insane trying to work this out!!!!

[babybarr]

what am i doing wrong! I feel like im going insane trying to work this out!!!!

I can definitely relate to this.  I can have the same routine 2 days in a row with completely different naps!  I guess they *know* when you need them to do a long nap!!

Have you tried WIWO to extend a nap?  Just a thought - I did do this and it did help, for a while anyway!

Hopefully he'll do a long nap as he'll be knackered after swimming.