Please take a look at my 5mth old's routine...EW's and short naps happening!

[~Lori~]

From 2mths-4.5mths, my LO was taking only 35 min naps...tweaked A time but  nothing changed so I say that it was developmental (my other 2 kids were exactly the same way).  3 weeks ago, LO started getting past 35 min naps and we were having 1hr10 min naps and 1hr25min naps consistently for 2 weeks.  He'd wake up happy and our routine seemed to be going well.  1 week ago, we started having lots of short naps and EW's (and plenty of NW's too, but we always have had those).  Wondering if you could take a look at my routine and see what stands out?  I know 1hr10min naps aren't very long...but it seems that if I shortened A time or added A time for a few days, the naps still stay at 1hr10 min.  He had been able to do close a full A time after 1 of those naps.  Not sure if he was getting OT and that finally caught up with him b/c now he is doing a lot of 35min naps again.  Here is our routine from yesterday and today.

5:15 Wake up---tried to settle in crib with shh/pat.  Ended up feeding him.
6:15-7:15 Sleep in swing
7:15 Fed him but not a full feed due to a feeding in the early morning
9:30-10:35 Sleep
10:35 Eat
12:40-1:15 Sleep...couldn't extend in crib, but extended in swing 1:25-2:20
2:25 Eat
4:40-5:15 Sleep
5:25 Eat
7:00 Eat (Always seem to cluster feed in the evening.  That has worked well for him in the past.  He is ready to eat whenever he wakes up from a nap)
However, he would NOT settle to sleep last night.  I had to do shhh-pat in his bed for a long time.  Finally asleep by 7:50 (OT!!0
8:25 Wake up..had to shhh pat in his bed.  Took awhile but asleep by 8:50
1:30 NW/feed
5:15 NW---tried to settle, but wouldn't
5:30 Feed (wouldn't go down...wide awake and talking)
6:15-7:50 Sleep
7:50 Eat (hardly ate any)
9:35 Eat (took a full feed)
10:10-11:15 Sleep
12:40 Eat (he was inconsolable by this time...he is so routine that he wants to eat as soon as he wakes up and when he doesn't he gets fussy)
1:25-2:00 Sleep...did shhh pat, sleep 2:05---(still sleeping)

Anything standing out to you?  I know after a shorter nap A times typically are less.  But I have been finding he won't go down easily with less A time.  But now the short naps are starting again so I'm thinking that he does need less A time after naps.
Thanks!

[~Lori~]

Anyone?

[jessmum46]

((Hugs)) and sorry you're having a difficult time with the routine at the moment.

1h10-20 min naps are likely UT - I wonder if you're getting into an UT/OT loop where he is UT at the beginning of the day but then OT by the end as no proper restorative naps in there?  There can be HUGE leaps in A time at this age - we went from just over 2h to 3h in a month!  Could you try pushing out your first A time a bit further and holding for 3-4 days to give him chance to get used to it?  FWIW we frequently got 35 min UT naps too which confused me for ages.....

Also, any teething going on?  We always get weird length naps when teething..........

[~Lori~]

See, I was thinking they were possibly UT, but really, to get him to stay up for that full A time in the morning is hard.  I feel I put him down way too sleepy (eyes are nearly shut) as I try to extend his A time.  I can try that.  So if I extend the 1st A time for 3-4 days, I don't extend the other A times yet?

We do have teething...been using tylenol and hylands teething tablets and I feel like those help.

[jessmum46]

What I did when extending A time was keep it really low key but change the scenery so DD didn't get bored - so go for walk round garden to look at the plants (or try and eat them!), look at a book, play with a quiet toy.  I found I had to push past the tired signs to get anywhere, though obviously not in huge jumps at a time. 

Are his eyes closing as you're doing your winddown or is he just getting sleepy while you're doing normal A time?  What does your winddown involve?  Does he ever go down fully awake or is he always drowsy?

Up to you if you extend all the A times at once or just the first.  I'd probably say just work on the first one, and if you get a good nap 1h30+, then you could extend the second one a bit too.  Do you know your LOs personality?  Angel/textbook tend to handle the increases easier than touchy babies.

[~Lori~]

LO has always been very touchy but as he has gotten older he has gotten way more textbook like but still has touchy moments.

He always goes down to sleep fully awake.  As I've been trying to extend A time, that is when his eyes start closing during winddown.  Our winddown is very short.  It consists of swaddling, giving him his paci and walking around with my holding him for 2-3 min.  That's it. 

He had a harder night last night with more wake ups so he was tired this morning early, but I tried to be really calm with him before his nap so he could last a bit longer.  He was sleeping by 2hr22min.  We'll see how it goes...

[jessmum46]

Sounds like you're doing great   I'd take it slowly if he's a bit touchy - maybe just 5-10 minutes at a time and see how you go x

[~Lori~]

Thanks!!  Will let you know

[~Lori~]

So, he woke at 1hr15min after increasing A time to around 2hr20 min. Would you suggest upoint it a bit more tomorrow or still keep that for a few days to see if it will increase?

[jessmum46]

I'd hold it for a couple more days, then increase to 2h30 if it's still at 1h15 and he's waking relatively happy/not exhausted during next A time x

[~Lori~]

Ok, will try holding it.  AFter his 1hr15min nap, his next A time was 2hr5min.  He woke after almost 1 hr, crying.  I was able to reinsert pacifier and pat him and he is sleeping again.  We'll see for how long

[~Lori~]

Hmm, we aren't having much luck with the A time...We did 2hr25 min the 2nd day and he was awake at 30min.  Couldn't extend in his bed, so did my fallback APOP of the swing and he slept in total 1hr10 min.  The rest of the day we had short naps.
Today, he did not go to sleep until 2hr30 b/c he was not settling.  He then woke up at 35 min.  He had rolled over in his bed (another issue) and was happily on his back.  I tried to extend in his crib for a few minutes but when I could tell he was not going down, we did the swing again.

So instead of 1hr10-1hr20min naps, now we are waking at 30-35min again.  What do you think I should try?

[jessmum46]

I'd be tempted to try and hold it at the same for a couple more days if you can - if he's touchy it may take longer than 2-3 days for him to adjust and that 30 min wake-up could have just been him adjusting to the increased A time.  Sometimes just 5 mins longer can make quite a difference for touchy babies....that said, a 35 min nap with a fairly happy wake-up could have been UT   Give it a couple more days and if you're still getting first nap <1.5h with a happy wake-up, then I'd bump up the A time again by another 5-10 mins.

[~Lori~]

Ok....our 2nd nap got kind of shot as I had to go pick DD up from school early so he didn't get down until 2hr25 min after a 1hr10min nap... we'll see what he does!