45min 16 week old napper-how long to try and resettle?

[alicia+3]

My LO is 16 weeks old. He has started doing 30-50 minute naps since about a month ago. He has 3-4 of them a day. We are on a 3 hour EASY but sometimes it goes AEASASEASASEAS because of the short naps. I watch for his sleep cues and put him down for his naps awake in his bed with his lullaby music on after having a little cuddle. He has a paci, is swaddled and falls asleep very easily most of the time. But then he wakes 45 minutes later and either ok for half an hour and then gets OT or is OT from the start.

W2S doesn't seem to work and he wakes t 45 minutes anyways.
I am trying HTTJ at the moment.  I have noticed he starts stirring around 30 minutes. I hold him down and it seems to work at first but then he starts crying and looking around. My question is how long should I try and resettle him for and how long does it take to get back into deep sleep? I was in his room for about 40 minutes. He only cried for about 10 of them whilst I was doing shhhhh pat and stroking his forehead(this seems to help) I stood there for another 30 minutes and watched him he was still sucking all this time and every now and again moved his head to the other side so I am assuming this was light sleep? I stepped out of the room after the 30 minutes and he ended up sleeping for another 40 so in total slept for two hours. Is this good?

Second question, if I continue to do this will it eventually get easier?

Third question: Is it better to do this or just live with it and shorten the A times and hope it will fix itself?

Fourth Quesiton: So I attempt this with ALL naps or just the lunchtime nap? I am thinking that the morning one is ok to be around 45 mins or an hour. I would like to lengthen the lunchtime one is it ok to just do HTTJ for this one? and then let him have a catnap around 5ish.
Also wanted to add that at night he sleeps about 8 hours straight with a night feed at about 3 or 4 so I know he can enter the deeper cycle at night.

Thanks!

[tanyanz]

Hi

Do you think LO could be ready for 4hr EASY?  Does he wake up crying or happy after 45mins?  What are your A times?
At 16wks I think average A times can be 1.5hrs - to almost 2hrs.

Good on you for extending that nap, HTTJ can work really well, some babies don't need to be helped for long, but others can require help for up to couple of weeks or so. 

I think would be good to see your EASY in a time line, can help to see things clearly.

Cheers

[deb]

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=649.0

[alicia+3]

OUR EASY routine varies a bit but in general goes a bit like this:

E Wake at 6.30
Awake
S About 8.15

E Wakes around 9 and  I either feed him right away or half an hour later(as it's only been 2,30 hours since the last feed)
A
S 10.45

E Wakes around 11.30 and same thing feed him if he is hungry or wait till half an hour later
A
S 1.30

E Wakes around 2.45 and feed him about 3.30 after I get the kids from school
A
S 5.00 30 minute powernap and maybe a very quick feed.

A
6.30 bathtime
7 breastfeed in a quiet room with dim lights, soft music.
7.30 he is out like a light (falls asleep on his own)


He has a feed somewhere between 3-4 and then is up for the day at 6.30.



This is a rough routine obviously I look for his cues and the times may vary by 20 minutes here and there.

When he wakes after the 45 minutes mark I would say 70% of the time he is crying and upset 30% of the time he is happy but gets tired after about 20 minutes again and is grumpy.


Thanks for the link, I still have some questions though:
Do I need to extend ALL naps or is it ok to just focus on consolidating the 2nd and 3rd nap into one longer one? So basically he can have an hour in the morning, 2 hours at lunchtime and then a powernap in the late afternoon? Am I sending mixed signals if I am only attempting to extend one nap or will his body get used to this schedule?

How long do I try and resettle for? Half an hour? When is it time to give up?

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it!


E 

[deb]

I would probably go ahead and try to extend them all. At this age, 90 minutes is two sleep cycles so that to me would constitute enough of a nap to be worthy of the name. LOL You might get 3 of those naps for a while, then 2 big ones and a catnap as his sleep needs change.

[alicia+3]

Thank v much! Will try this today and keep you posted
x

[alicia+3]

Well this morning he did a 2 hour nap all on his own, I didn't even go in there at all! His A time was 2 hours and I gave him a tiny feed to make sure he wouldn't wake up hungry. The rest of the day was a bit messy as we were out today(the problem with having 2 other kids too!) Hopefully he repeats it tomorrow.

[alicia+3]

Ok it's been a few days now and we have moved to a 4 hour EASY. He seems to be doing well with it and we have had success resettling him at the lunchtime nap(stroking his forehead and holding his legs down for about 10 mins) So he sleeps for about 45 minutes and then another 45-60 after the resettle.
However the morning nap he wakes and does not resettle even after 30 minutes at which point he gives up. He seems happy enough to be awake till the next sleep. Could he not need as long for the morning one? Could an hour be enough? Also the 3rd is pretty impossible to work on as I am taking my older 2 to all their activities in the afternoon so he just sleeps in the car or wherever we are.

Any thoughts?

[alicia+3]

anyone?? Pretty please?

[Colin Macs Mom]

This is just me but I would say that if he's doing fine with a shortner morning nap then don't worry too much about it. An hour is really not a bad nap in my book - it just all depends on the LO. So, if yours is fine with it, don't fix what isn't broken.

The catnap is really a freebie, so to speak, so if he sleeps in the car or what not there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[alicia+3]

Thank you! I'll focus on the lunchttime nap then and let the other be.

[alicia+3]

Today he had a 1 1/2 hour one in the morning and now he is 1 1/2 hour into his lunchtime one and he is STILL asleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!! I haven't even gone in there at all!!! please let this be it!!

[Colin Macs Mom]

WAY TO GO!!!