Happy Baby, but SUPER short naps and NW. HELP

[PRMom]

Our babe is 5 1\2 months old.  He is always in a good mood - not an exaggeration!.  Has adjusted really well to 4 hr EASY, he is only BF, he has a soother, but will stay asleep when it falls out.

We have a pre nap routine that works well and now, after a few weeks of working at it, he goes down easily for his naps.  However, for the past 2 weeks I have stayed in his room with him to get him past that 45 min mark when he usually wakes up.  For the most part, I can shushpat him back to sleep, but these past few days his little head pops up and he is wide awake after 30-35 min!  It is quite frustrating.  We leave him in his crib, and he just lies there, and looks around, but doesn't go back to sleep.

Re:  night sleep.  We have a bedtime routine that works, with bedtime of 7pm  Routine: bath, nurse\story, sleep.  He is in his own bed, but in our room.  He has a soother.  I do a dream feed around 10:30-11:00pm.  He stirs a few times, but will ususally stay "asleep" until around 3:30am.  At which time he is again restless, and usually awake!  We leave him in his bed, shushpat and he will fall asleep but wakes again after 5-10 min.  This happens until 7am, when we get him up, feed and start the day.

PU\PD doesn't reallly work with him as he pushes away with his legs and head.  And, he usually doesn't cry a lot.

So...2 questions:  how to extend these naps and what to do about this ridiculous waking time at night?

Any suggestions welcomed!

[trimbler]

Lots of hugs! Your DS sounds sooo much like mine at that age, so I wonder if what worked for us might work for you? I'd always thought that 30-35min naps were OT, but it seems not necessarily. Is it possible that he might be ready for an increase in A time? This really worked for us. I would try and keep him up a little bit longer before the first nap, even if he'd had an unsettled night and EW. Usually this would backfire in that he'd wake OT after 30mins, but at least I knew for sure that this was OT rather than UT, and he'd be easier to resettle because he was actually tired. Previously, I think I'd spent way too long trying to resettle him when actually he wasn't tired, as the A time needed stretching. I do think that your LO sounds like he's not tired enough to go back to sleep after his short naps, and if he's not getting enough A time during the day that can certainly affect the nights. The other reason nights might be affected is if the first A time is too short, and then he does a short nap, then he could be getting OT throughout the day.

So, maybe try stretching the first A time, keep him up longer, but then if he doesn't resettle after a short first nap, then try to keep subsequent A times short, and you may find he ends up with an early bedtime but that's ok and may help. Longer 1st A times and earlier bedtimes certainly helped our DS's short naps and NW/EWs!

As for resettling, our 'shh-pat' changed over time to be just a hand on his chest and as little noise or interaction as possible, as this seemed to wake him up more. But each LO is different so yours may still like the shh-ing, I don't know. If it's any consolation, our DS's naps are only just now getting better!

One more thought - when he goes to sleep, are you in the room with him, or do you leave the room with him still awake? We started leaving the room when he was still awake at around 5mo I think, and that may have helped him to resettle himself when he wakes - since he's used to going to sleep without anyone else in the room. Just something to think about, yours may not be ready for this yet, you know best!