Hello,
This is my first post on the BW forum (I hope I am doing this correctly) and I need some help with W2S. My 4.5 month DS sleeps well at night (11.5 hours: 7:30 pm bedtime with DF at 11 pm & 7 am wake up), but is victim to the 45-minute naps during the day. He is on a 4 hour EASY and is breastfed exclusively. I have been working on these 45 minute naps for about a month now. He has no problem initially falling asleep - as long as I swaddle him, he is drifting off within 5 min of me putting him in his crib. He rarely needs any help falling asleep.
The problem is STAYING ASLEEP. He wakes up anywhere from 35 - 55 min after falling asleep (usually at 45 min mark) and he is usually crying and obviously frustrated that he couldn't get himself into the next sleep cycle. I go in and use PU/PD to settle him, then I pat/shush him in crib and stay with him the full 20 min to be sure he is back asleep. Sometimes I find that my presence actually disturbs him and he cries again at the 20 min jolt if he sees I am there, so sometimes I sneak out after the 10 min jolts if he is managing it on his own. So I can usually get him to have two 40 minute naps back to back with about 20 min of awake time trying to get back to sleep. I know he really wants to sleep for an hour and a half or at least an hour, because he wakes up cooing and happy in his crib after the second nap. Then it is usually feed time, so we are able to keep on a good 4 hour EASY.
I would like to teach him how to get past the 45 min jolt into REM sleep/wakefulness, but I just don't know if W2S will work for us. I have tried it once or twice (I know - not enough to really know if it will work - will keep trying). Today for his morning nap I tried W2S and I thought it was working. I stroked his cheek and I could see him coming into a lighter sleep. I patted him as I normally do, but I did not shush (thought it might wake him), and he seemed to be resting well enough, but at the 40 min mark, his eyes fluttered open, and he started talking and cooing, and then he just got more and more awake, and then he got upset. I started pat/shush and he got really upset and I had to use PU/PD and pat/shush for a good 45 min more to get him finally settled back down. He didn't actually go back to sleep. He slept from 9 to 9:45ish and then was crying and fussing with me at his side until 11 am and the next feed. This was worse than when I just wait for him to cry and go in and start PU/PD. I can usually get him back to sleep in 30 min or so, but today he was awake for a full hour or so and wouldn't resettle.
Does anyone have any advice on how to do W2S effectively? I need details. I try it and I feel I make things worse, though I think the principle of it makes sense.