I dread the afternoon naps help!!! what can i do with cat nap?

[nenee]

Hi there

My 9 week old DD is doing well at night, has no props to go to sleep, and sleeps most of the time in her cot, which means im sort of stuck in the house most of the day at the moment

she is only having a 45 min nap first thing recently and iv tried putting her earlier and later and nothing is working to extend that nap im maybe thinking its cause shes only got up once at 3 to 4 am for a feed that she's not tired enough for a long nap am i right?

the problem im getting is the afternoon at the cat nap time of 5 ish, iv found she likes to go to bed for 6.30 pm.

she is really fussy and hard to put for a cat nap sometimes she just cries and wont sleep or i have to go out in the car or for a walk and then she has a short one but then at bedtime shes terrible screams for up to 30   to 45 minutes before will go to sleep, and her feeds get messed up also.

she takes ages to eat still and iv found no matter how i try shes only taking about 3 oz each feed.

any advice would be very appreciated as bedtime is not a happy time. in fact its not good at all and we are going to a wedding on sunday our first night out in about 6 months, mother in law will be having her and my ds but we are going there to settle her and im dreading it, feel like its not worth going as just too much effort

nenee

[tippypippy]

Im going threw the same thing my my DD, we are out alot during the week, and she still does good with EASY in the beginning of the day, but when afternoon comes she doesn't want to sleep at all! and barley gets a catnap... Sorry I'm not much help, but I know what you are going threw!!!

[*Jo*]

Hi there Nenee, are you able to put up her routine? this will help us see the bigger picture

[Intransit]

I found when it was the early weeks was to help my lo get her cat nap anyway I could(until she got the hang of it) ie, sling, stroller, drive in the car ( I did that to get out of the house as well) until it became easier to get her down

[nenee]

Hiya

Thanks for the feedback feel lost at the moment I know its early days but i feel in control if i know shes following a routine i know whats coming next or know what she wants when it goes pear shaped i feel anxious

iv tried her in the sling she hates it screams more, she wont sleep in the pram her eyes pop open and she stares at everything i have been resorting to taking her in the car to get some sleep at the catnap time but it worries me that she will expect it all the time, but she wont settle very well when OT in the cot, shes fine the other times.

her routine yesterday as follows:

DREAMFEED:  10.30 PM

WOKE AND FED:  3.35 AM STRAIGHT BACK TO SLEEP

WOKE:  6.50 AM
EAT:  7.10 AM 3 OZ
PUT FOR NAP:  8.20 AM
ASLEEP:  8.30 AM   (here iv tried putting her for a nap after 1 hr then tried up to 1 hr 30 mins as she has no signs of tirdness but she still wakes up early)

WOKE:  9.20 AM (could not get her back to sleep)
EAT:  10.05 AM 4 OZ
PUT FOR NAP:  11 AM
OFF TO SLEEP:  11.05 AM

WOKE: 1.20 PM(HAD A GOOD 2HRS HERE)
EAT: 1.35 PM  3 OZ
PUT FOR NAP:  2.15 PM (I TRIED TO GET BACK TO PUT HER IN COT FOR NAP AFTER WE WENT OUT, BUT SHE FEEL ASLEEP FOR 10 MINUTES IN CAR SEAT, I PUT HER IN COT WHEN GOT HOME  BUT SHE WOKE UP AND WOULD NOT SLEEP AT ALL)

WOKE: 2.25 PM HERE IS WHEN IT ALL WENT PEAR SHAPED
EAT:  3.35 PM SHE WAS NOT HAPPY HERE, SO I FED HER SO I COULD PUT HER FOR A SLEEP OTHERWISE IF I DIDNT FEED HER SHE WOULD NOT NAP OR WAKE UP HUNGRY AFTER 20 MINUTES......2 1/2 OZ...SHE FELL ASLEEP WHEN FEEDING PUT DOWN FOR NAP AT 3.50 PM
WOKE:  4.05 PM

I THEN HAD TO SEE TO MY DS WAKE HIM UP FROM NAP GIVE HIM A DRINK ETC SIENNA NOT HAPPY RIGHT NOW, SO I TOOK HER IN THE CAR WITH DS SHE WENT TO SLEEP AT 4.50 PM TILL 5.20 PM......

EAT: 5.35 PM  3 OZ
BATH AND PUT FOR BED AT 5.55 PM AS EXHAUSTED....FELL ASLEEP AT 6.20 PM AFTER CRYING......

DREAMFEED:  10.40 PM 3 OZ
WOKE:  4 AM
EAT/BACK TO SLEEP:  4.20 AM  2 1/2 OZ

WOKE THIS MORNING: 7.15 AM.........................

As you can see the afternoon is a total mess her feeds our out of sink but i have to feed her earlier so i can try her for a sleep again, but shes soooo OT at this point i feel useless

she cries at every bedtime and iv found if i put her after 6.30 pm even if had a nap before she will scream till well past 7.30 pm shes worse, she seems to want to be in bed by early 6 pm ish.

cheers
nenee

[*Jo*]

ok so shes definately OT, her first A time of the day should be around 1 hour 10 mins long, A time is "eyes open to eyes closed" remember, at the moment its too long and you are getting an OT nap. also i think maybe her wind down could be too short?? not sure on that one yet. anyway, I see that after the first nap you keep the A time the same length and this then accumulates her OT, you need to shorten her A time after a short nap as she wont be able to handle the full normal A time, do this after every short nap.

She is so tired that shes crashing in the afternoon but shes a stressed out mess by bedtime, so cut back on that A time and see how you go

[nenee]

ok so shes definately OT, her first A time of the day should be around 1 hour 10 mins long, A time is "eyes open to eyes closed" remember, at the moment its too long and you are getting an OT nap. also i think maybe her wind down could be too short?? not sure on that one yet. anyway, I see that after the first nap you keep the A time the same length and this then accumulates her OT, you need to shorten her A time after a short nap as she wont be able to handle the full normal A time, do this after every short nap.

She is so tired that shes crashing in the afternoon but shes a stressed out mess by bedtime, so cut back on that A time and see how you go

Hi ya

Thank you for your advice hun.

how long should be awake for cause its so hard to tell if shes tired or not, thismorning we put her down after 1 hr awake time and she slept for 1 hr 30 mins then she was awake for 1 hr 30 mins and slept for over 2 hrs so if shes had a good previous nap of a few hrs would you do a 1hr  30 mins awake time that worked today for her cause she must be able to handle it, iv found as the day goes on she does want to nap sooner, 

if shes not had a good nap say weve been out etc when would you put her for a nap ? after 1 hr? its so hard to judge,

what happens when like the other day she had a nap for 15 minutes?

il defo give the shorter A time ago.

What does UT cause with naps? iv read somewhere that if awake time to short that can cause problems to?

cheers

nenee

nenee

[*Jo*]

well an UT nap is usually a 45 min nap where they wake up happy and you cannot get them back to sleep. If the awake time is too short then yes you get an UT nap but im not sure you would get one at this age right now anyway. if she naps for only 15 mins then I would put her down at 1 hour depending on tired signs. shes probably catching up on sleep today and tomorrow so dont go by nap lengths just yet as an indicator for A time. once shes had a few days of decent naps to catch up then we can look on the right A time for her.

Most babies have the first A time shorter than the rest, not sure why, but most babes are about 15-20mins shorter at the first A time and the rest are a bit longer.