35 Minute Napper

[Amy-J]

Hi All

We've had success over the last month or so getting rid of some of my AP props.  We've ditched the dummy, stopped sleeping on Mummy (DD is having naps in the cot instead) and almost there with self settling.  However I'm really struggling to extend nap times.  We've achieved all of the above using PU/PD and the ladies on the PU/PD board have been fantastic in helping us get this far.  DD is 7mo on 6th Jan and is complimentary fed to prepare her for me returning to work in 2 weeks.  Today's EASY looks like this so far:

E 05:00 BF and straight back to sleep
A 07:10 Awake for the day
A 08:00 Breakfast (solids)
S 09:20 - 09:55
E 10:00 5oz formula from sippy cup
A Playtime
S 12:10 - 13:00
A 13:10 Lunch
E 15:00 4oz formula from sippy cup
A Quiet playtime as getting tired
S 15:45 - 16:05 Catnap

The rest of the day will be pretty standard...

17:00 Solids
18:00 Bath & bedtime routine (incl. BF)
18:30 Bed
18:40 sleep
23:00 ish DF

As you can see, because she is having very short naps she gets tired again before the next EAS cycle and then falls asleep when really she should be doing something else i.e. having lunch.

I have tried tweaking the A time but it seems to have little or no effect.  Today's 50 min nap was out in the buggy and this never normally happens, you can usually set your watch by her - 35 minutes, wherever she is.  I know 30 mins usually indicates OT and 40 mins OT or UT but no idea about 35 min!  I have also tried PU/PD to extend naps but not been successful with that either.

The only day she had a 1 hour nap was when I accidentally woke her after 20 mins but then resettled her.  Which did make me wonder if you can use W2S to extend naps?

She has starting sleeping better at night (I've recently weaned her from night feeds), however wakes a lot in the evenings and it was suggested that this may be because she is OT.  She is sleeping about 12.5 hours at night though, could that be why naps are so short and if I extend them will that impact the night?

Thanks as always.

[anna*]

You can totally use W2S to extend naps, and it definitely sounds like it might be worth a try!

[melanndee]

My DD will be 7 months on the 15th of Jan, and I am having the same problem. 

At night you would do the W2S an hour before the normal time that she wakes up. And in the book it seems like for naps that the W2S is used to get them back to sleep once they start to wake up. 

How do you plan to do the W2S for a nap?  I'm willing to try anything.  Nothing seems to be working.

[Amy-J]

Hi, we're having a break as DD has a nasty virus so is sleeping with me at the moment.  I was just going to follow my accidental W2S time since that seemed to work.  I woke her at 20 mins so think I will give that a try but that's only because she sleeps for 35 min. I think that if she was sleeping for an hour I might try it at the 45 min mark.  We don't really have the same problem at night, she does still wake but not at the same time each night.  If you're starting straight away would love to hear how you get on.  Hope you get it sorted.