6 months old and STILL having short naps

[malibu_nikkus]

This is driving me absolutely bonkers.  I asked for help a few months ago but still haven't managed to fix the problem.  My bub is almost 6mths, on Losec for reflux (lots of burping and seemed to be waking in pain, not anymore).  Today, he has had a 20min nap and then a 30min nap.  He was rubbing his eyes and grizzling when I put him down.  In the past 6 weeks since beginning losec, I have had about 4 day naps longer than 1hr, and they seem to be happening when we are away (very odd I think!).  He is sleeping on the same cot mattress as when away, has a heater on in his room.  Below is how today and yesterday panned out..can you see what you think is happening.

Today
6.55am - wake
9.15am - rubbing eyes and grizzly.  Put to bed
9.20 - asleep
9.45 - woke happily, chatting away to himself, no sign of going back to sleep (he will at least normally nap 30-45mins in the morning).
12.05 - rubbing his eyes, put to bed
12.10 - asleep
12.40pm - woke happily chatting away, continued chatting till now (1hr later).

Yesterday
6.25am - woke
8.50am grizzling, put to bed
9.00 - asleep
9.30 - woke happily
12pm - asleep
12.40 - woke happily.
1pm  - put himself back to sleep
1.30 - woke happily
3.45 - grizzling, put to bed
4pm - asleep
4.30pm - wake
6.45   - bed

Any ideas??

[*Jo*]

Hi there,

hmmm well it looks like by the time you are seeing tired signs hes already ready for sleep? have you tried putting him down slightly earlier? so for example yesterday he started grizzling at 8.50am, perhaps it wouldve been best to have him in his cot at 8.50am?? the 30min nap is usually indicative of OT, but then he did wake happily so not 100% sure of that one, its best to try to reduce A times before trying to increase them to avoid OT, however at the second nap he did put himself back to sleep so if he was UT he wouldnt do that.

after such a short nap I would be cutting the following A time down quite a bit, maybe to 1.5 hours otherwise it all spirals out into OT territory.

does that help?

[Alison_3]

Do you think the reflux is causing him problems?  Do you think the Losec is doing the trick?  You have to remember that sleep for refluxers is very difficult at times.  Imagine lying down while all that junk is coming up in your throat.      Are you BF or formula feeding? 

My refluxers really struggled with naps at times and it usually meant something else was going on.  (reflux flare-up or not under control, other illness, teething, or a combo of all of them!   )

[*Jo*]

just wondering how you are getting on? have you tried lowering A times a little to see what happens?

[malibu_nikkus]

Thanks heaps guys.  I have tried lowering the wake time with no love, I tried increasing the wake time with no love too.  I'm at all.  He has now started sleeping 15-20min naps, it is getting worse.  This is no fun.

Teething is happening at the moment, he has the lovely red cheeks today.  I don't know.  Even in the car today, he only managed a 30min nap.  Blah, this aint cool.  He is doing a lot of high pitched squealing at the moment which seemed to calm down when he started on Losec.  The doc and I only decided to trial him on it assuming that silent reflux may be causing he difficulties.  He is also on Neocate fulltime to food intolerances that were bothering him through my breast milk (his older brother had the same issues with food and reflux but the problem was fixed with Losec and Neocate).  Don't know what to do at all.  Here is what happened yesterday with naps (and high pitch squealing which has been happening for 3 days non-stop now).

Tried to go with the flow and use squeals as a tired sign.
6.30am - wake
8.15 - squeal, wind down in bed by 8.30am
8.50 - asleep
9.10 - wake (happy, chatting away)
11.30 - squealing, bed
11.45 - sleep
12.05 - wake. left to resettle.  Went quiet at about 12.45, made noises again at about 1.10.
2.30 - bed, would not sleep, got back up
3.30 - bed, would not sleep
5.45 - eventually fell asleep in the car.
6pm - fed and back to bed by 6.30am

Today - tried pushing for a longer wake time (going off suggested wake times for this age group)
6:30am - wake
8:45 - in car, asleep by 9am
9.30am - wake
12.00 - wind down
12.20  - sleep
12.30 - wake, chatting, squealing, crying

I am SO lost!!!

[*Jo*]

Ok, what i think is going on here is that the Reflux is NOT under control, everything you ahve described, right down to not being able to have an A time as a guideline tells me this. We went through this a few times and until the reflux was under control then we were having days like what you just described and I began to lose..... my..... mind. seriously.

Teething also aggravates reflux alot! the saliva is more acidic so when it goes down to the tummy it hurts.
Go back to your dr, tell him that even though you saw some improvements initially, things have gone backwards again which tells you the medicine is either not working or something else is going on. and dont let them tell you that "all babies cry, have an unsettled time, dont follow a routine blah blah blah" because weve all heard that and can testify that once the right meds were given that our babies settled.

[Alison_3]

I agree 100% that his reflux isn't under control.  Call the doctor...maybe time for a meds increase or a different med.  I have three refluxers and they were all quite different. 

Big {{{{hugs}}}} and keep us posted!

[malibu_nikkus]

Thanks guys
My guy has only been on them for about 1 month.  It was supposed to be a trial to see whether naps would improve. From about days 4-7, he started having long naps during the day, but then after that, he has gone back to short naps.  You are right though, maybe the teething is making the reflux worse....gggggrrrr!

[malibu_nikkus]

Hey everyone.
We have finally had some improvement.  I have started giving him his Losec in his pear which is guaranteed that it ALL will be eaten, because sometimes there would be a bit left in the bottom of his bottle.

Secondly, I decided to increase his wake time because the short naps were getting shorter with each decrease in wake time that I made. 

When he has a 2hr40min wake time, he started napping about 1 hr.  Any shorter and he will only nap 30-45mins.  I put him down after 2hr 45mins today and he is still asleep (1 hr later).  Guess I'll just keep increasing that wake time each morning to see if it makes his nap better.  So interestingly 30-40min naps for my guy mostly mean undertired.  I used the suggested wake times on this website for a base line and went from there.

Thanks to every one for helping me.  I"ll no doubt be back soon for more advise, especially on constant high pitched squealing.  It is driving me insane!

[Alison_3]

So happy that things have improved!   

I'm not too familiar with Losec, but with Prevacid I give it 30 minutes prior to a feed for it to work best.  What did your doctor say?