3 month old taking very long time to fall asleep

[donvitol]

3 month old has recently been taking a long time.  He use to cry a lot going down for naps, but now goes down pretty independently since he has better control on sucking his fingers.  But he will be in there for at least an hour, not crying just sucking on his fingers before he goes to sleep.  If he takes a longer nap, I put him down at about 1hr 15.  If he takes a short nap I will put him down after about 45 min.  I have a hard time telling when he is tired.  So I don't know if I am putting him down OT or UT?  Or is he now learning how to go to sleep without crying?

[arook]

I swaddle my 3mon. old son and that helps with naps during the day.  At night he breaks out by 4 or 5 Am or so I think.  By the time I wake up I don't know how long he has been there b/c he is slurping away on his fingers happy as a clam. 

[Shiv52]

There can be a pretty big growth spurt at 3 months after which a lot of LOs need a bit more A time.  Sounds like he is UT from the way he's just lying there content for an hour.   

Or is he now learning how to go to sleep without crying?

I think he has learned to self soothe (way to go!!!!) but it shouldn't take that long to go to sleep.  If he were OT I'd say he'd be crying and need help settling.  As it is it sounds like he is just content to lie there but not tired enough to sleep.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652

2 months 1 hour and 15 - 20 mins
3 months 1 hour and 20 - 30 mins
4 months 1 hour and 45 - 2 hours


Typically at 3 months A time is 1.20-1.30 so it could be your LO is ready for more than 1.15 IYSWIM?  Even just add 10 minutes and see does that help him settle quicker?

[donvitol]

I don't think he is UT, if anything he is OT during the day.   When I put him down in the AM, he is fussy for a little while, but calms himself down and will just stay in there.  Yesterday I finally got him at 10 and let him suck on my finger to sleep to get him a quick nap, we needed to be somewhere at 10:30.  This is after him being awake since 7:30.  All of is naps were short yesterday, but he will still just be in his crib for a long time before falling asleep.  Even if I did put him down UT, wouldn't he eventually get tired enough to go to sleep?  Driving me crazy, him not sleeping.  Finding myself sabatoging his self soothing progress by going in and putting him to sleep just because I feel like "this kid needs to go to sleep!"  he has recently started sleeping more at night, 12 hrs. now.  Could this be too much sleep for him at night?

[Shiv52]

There is a fine line between UT and OT.  If you think he is OT and he has a short time try reducing your next A time a bit and see does that help him settle easier.

Even if I did put him down UT, wouldn't he eventually get tired enough to go to sleep?

What you may find is if he goes down UT you miss that window for sleep and then he ends up OT. 

12 hours at night is great!  Not too much.  Is he taking a DF or having any feeds during the night?

There is a pretty big growth spurt at 3 months?  Any chance he's hit that and he's hungrier during the day so thats affecting him and leading to the short naps as he's wakening hungry.

I helped my LO soothe to sleep at this age too if she was having a hard time.  If was more important to me that she got to sleep and had a good sleep and not get OT so don't beat yourself up for that.  He's still very little xx