Please tell me the switch flips at 6 months!

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

A's naps have been pretty short lately (30-45 minutes most days) and she will not put herself back to sleep. I know she can do it because she only wakes once at night for a feed so I know she settles herself other times. I'm trying to still keep her BFs as close to 4 hours apart as possible but if she only naps 30 minutes it can be tough. I've played with A times, tried extending naps etc. but it's just not working out. I remember having a rough week with DD1 & naps at this age but can't remember when things got better (DD1 was/is LSN). Her nights have been 12-14 hours because if the previous day was short naps, I'll let her catch up if she needs to. I wouldn't mind a short nap if I knew I could count on the next one being long. Thankfully she's super happy so if she's OT, you'd never know it (maybe that's the problem!) Give me some light at the end of the tunnel, will she just sort herself out with age?

[clazzat]

Going to follow along looking for hope, as we seem to be in exactly the same boat. Wish mine coped well with ot, though!

[*Becky*]

following along - same here.

[ZacsMumme]

For a lot of LOs short napping is in part developmental and they do outgrow the inability to transition between sleep cycles around 6-7 months.

[Erin M]

LOL, us too
We've had the occasional nap here longer than 45, but not many.

[Sam2805]

Following along too, even one decent nap a day would be lovely.  It is now 1pm here and so far today since getting up at 6.45am my LO has only  managed 2 x 20 min naps!  He is now well into OT territory . 

J has only just turned 4 months so 6-7 months seems like a very long time away.

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Hopefully things will get better for all of us soon. I'm *trying* so hard to just go with it because I feel like with DD1, I worried so much & I told myself to relax more with DD2.

[~Sara~]

I definitely saw a flip switch with DS at about 6 months.  He was one of those 45 minute nappers, and *thankfully* I was in a position to extend his naps nearly every time.  But, if left to his own devices, i.e. no httj, shh/pat, or eye-shielding from me, he would have done 45 minute naps from ~3-6 months (yes, that means that I extended EVERY stinkin' nap for 3 months ).

I remember one day, just hanging out with DH on the couch while DS was asleep.  Suddenly, I looked at him and said, "Oh my gosh!  He's 1h into his nap and he's STILL SLEEPING!"  I couldn't believe it!

As long as there aren't any props for when she's going to sleep (some shh/pat at this age is still okay), then I think that sometime in the next couple months, she'll start extending/transitioning on her own.  I thanked Tracy everyday for a long time after we got long naps that I was able to put DS down so easily, thanks to her techniques.

HTH a bit.

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

Sara, I guess Avery heard us talking about her because she did a 1.5 hour nap on her own today! I'm already calling today a success. I went out for a run & figured she'd be up when I got back but DH happily reported she was still asleep, I even got to shower
She doesn't really have props IMO, she has a paci which she spits out right away (and doesn't need it to resettle at night), a lovey & wears a sleep sack. I put her down on her side and hold her still for a minute and off she goes. Our nights have been good, one NF anywhere between 2-5. How are everyone else's nights?

[~Sara~]

It sounds like you are on the right track, hon!  Just keep doing what you're doing and things will even out

[clazzat]

Quick question, Sara (hope you don't mind me hijacking!) - ds doesn't have any props in that he goes to sleep totally independently (I put him down and leave the room, sometimes have to stroke his head a bit but that's all) but it is impossible to extend naps once he wakes up. Today I decided that he really needed sleep after a rubbish night and a very early start, so after he had slept his 45 minutes on his own in his cot I brought him down to sleep on me - is that going to stop him learning to transition, or is it enough that he goes to sleep independently in the first place and one day I will find that he doesn't wake up needing that extra help?  He can sleep 8-9 hours at night without any help.

[~Sara~]

is that going to stop him learning to transition, or is it enough that he goes to sleep independently in the first place and one day I will find that he doesn't wake up needing that extra help?

I think that APOPing eery now and then is okay, but I personally wouldn't let him sleep on you to extend every nap...then it will probably become a prop to at least extend naps, if not make him request falling asleep on you at the start of his naps, too.

If his routine is right for him, A times are good, and you're not suddenly introducing props that hadn't been there before, things will get better in time.

I did httj for nap extention bc DS wouldn't go back to sleep if he woke up.  I *did* use a swaddle, which helped me do httj more effectively (kept him from squirming so much as my hands were on him), but he'd had the swaddle since he was really, really little--before he started short napping.  Seems rather against my own advice to have used that prop, but it was weaned when it became obvious he was waking only to be reswaddled, i.e. when it was no longer a tool but a prop. 

HTH...clear as mud, eh?

[clazzat]

Thanks. The problem is that his routine isn't right - too many other demands on our time - but I'm hoping that one day he will grow into the routine he can have! Fortunately for me, I can actually very rarely apop a nap because of running after the girls, so hopefully it won't become a big issue.

[~Sara~]

Then you really have to do the best you can with balancing life out for everyone.  I'm sure I will be in the same boat in a couple of months   I know now how lucky I was to be able to extend all of DS's naps when he was little bc he was my only one to look after.

[Riley&Avery'sMommy]

So after the 1.5 hour nap yesterday, we got a 45 minute 2nd nap.  It's what I expected but the problem was that she was up at 2:45 which made me figure she needed a CN but I actually had plans to go to see the So You Think You Can Dance tour with a friend.  So DH took DD1 to dance class and my mom stayed with Avery.  My mom said she didn't seem ready for the CN and she had to AP her to get her to sleep for about 20 minutes.  Should I have told her to just skip it and had DH put her down early for BT or is a 45 minute nap too short to get to an early BT?  I know yesterday is over but this does happen and sometimes it just feels like it would be easier to skip the CN.
Last night wasn't great, she woke earlier than usual and then woke for the day earlier than usual.  And we've already had a short first nap.  I'm hoping this second nap is better . . . .