4.5 mo 30 min naps reduced to 20-25 mins after starting to put baby down drowsy

[rosies]

Hi, our daughter has consistently had 4-5 x 30 min naps a day (depending on when she wakes), with 11 hours overnight (2 feeds at 12am and 3.30am). At the 4 month mark, we started putting her in her bassinet drowsy/more awake and shh-patting her in her bassinet until she sleeps. Since we started doing this, her daytime naps have shortened from the already short 30mins to 20-25mins. Her night sleep remains unaffected. Normally, she is awake for 2 hours, sleeps for 30 mins, feeds every 2.5 hours. Her bedtime is between 5:30pm - 6:30pm, with 3 brief wake ups/resettles until 7pm, then she is down for the night. She has all her naps/sleeps in her bassinet in a darkened room. After 1.5 hour awake time, we wind down reading stories, walking around, then rocking in arms with white noise till she starts to get drowsy. We have tried to resettle her from her short naps (20min and 30 min),but she only sleeps for an extra 5 - 10 mins. Do you have any suggestions on what we can change to improve this or do we just wait until it sorts itself out. Thanks.

[Emami]

Hi rosies! Does she wake up happy or is she crying and upset?  2hrs A seems reasonable for her age so I'm not sure that she's OT (this is often the case with 30min naps), but her mood when she wakes could also be an indication of whether she's OT or not.  Have you tried just leaving her and not intervening (unless she is upset of course) to see if she starts to self-settle?

[rosies]

Hi Emami,

Thank you for your reply.

For her morning naps, she wakes up, looks around her bed for a little while, sometimes babbles too, then she lets out a few yells. In the afternoon she is crankier. She'll wake up and let out a few yells, or sometimes wake up crying. If we don't intervene after she calls out, she cries. We look for her tired signs or try to get her sleepy with the wind down routine after 1.5 hrs A time - whichever comes first.

[rosies]

Hi,

For those that are interested, on top of this, our LO has had frequent night wakings (every 1.5-2.5 hours) for the past two nights. After advice from Tresillian, I am limiting the night feeds to only 2 feeds (she wanted to be nursed every wake up!), am feeding her every 3 hours instead of 2.5 hours, and am increasing the amount I breastfeed her at each feed during the day - I used to offer only one breast per feed, now I offer both. I am swaddling her again (she was arms free in a sleeping bag before) and I also spend up to 30mins resettling her after each nap for another sleep cycle.

Today, after a day of increased feeding, her naps are back to 30mins, sometimes 40mins, and I was able to resettle her into another cycle for two of her naps so far. Her second sleep cycles have been 40mins too. I'm at a 50% success rate of getting her into her bed drowsy.. with hope this improves ..

We'll see what happens tonight when I don't feed her for every wake up ..

I'm hoping, with time & persistence, she'll be able to manage 2 sleep cycles per nap on her own .. and for her night sleep to revert to what it was.

[Emami]

Do you think she needs to be at the lower end of A time for her age?  Like I said before, I'd be surprised if she was OT off 2hrs A but maybe she has been since shes not happy when she wakes up and you can often resettle her.  Frequent NWs can be OT too, or does she seem uncomfortable at all?  Just want to rule out any pain eg. reflux.

It's good that you're able to extend her naps though, and LO learning to get to the next sleep cycle by herself is a developmental thing and will come with time.  Fingers crossed for tonight for you!

[rosies]

Thanks Emami,

I have been timing her E-A-S times, and I may have discovered her ideal A time: 2 hours and 10 mins. After that I rock her, she has a slight grizzle, I put her into her bed drowsy, and she falls asleep - all in 5 mins. When she goes down eas(ier) like this, she can sleep 2 cycles by herself too. I'm starting to see some success in the past few days with resettling required for only one of her 2 "long" naps; she also has a catnap either in the morning or in the afternoon. Her days are getting better Unfortunately, nights she's waking every 2.5 hours and doesn't wake up hungry in the morning having had 3-4 night feeds. Perhaps with the longer sleeps, and thus less A sessions, she's not eating as much as she used to? We're hoping is growth spurt related..

[Emami]

Yay for better days!  That sounds like great progress

The NWs could be hunger but 2.5hrs is pretty frequent.  I don't think I would feed at all of them.  Does she have a DF and is there another way you can settle her?  How much/often is she eating during the day?  It could be that she's getting the extra calories at night and they need shifting to the day.  There's also a sleep regression around 4 months, I remember my daughter waking for an extra feed around this age and she went back to normal after 3 weeks or so.  If the NWs persist it could be worth posting here
Night Wakings

[Lilo's mom]

Rosies,
Ihave been following your post because I am in a similar situation with a 4 mo and 30 min naps. You say you found his window at 2h10 min, I have three questions:
1. Do you time 2h10 after the end of the previous nap, regardless of how much it lasted?
2. At 2h10, which are the signs you see that indicate lo is readyto sleep?
3. What is your wind down ritual?
Trying to benchmark...
Thanks

[rosies]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for following my post. First an update: LO is sleeping 2 x 1.5hr sleeps (some with resettles), usually 2 hours in the bedroom if you include resettling time, and one catnap during the day. She wakes 3 times in the night 9.30pm, 1am, 4.30am for feeds. She starts her day sometimes after the 4.30am feed because she does big poos and we can't resettle her after the nappy change. Her and her dad watch the sunrise together .. She is often due to go to sleep for the night at 5.30pm, but more often she is asleep at 6pm. We are working on pushing the BT back an hour so she is up at 6am instead of 5am.

Resettles for the naps is a lot easier than a wind down and settle for each of the 4-5 naps daily, so days are getting easier (for me). She is also resettling herself for some of the naps and often going into the bed awake/drowsy during the day. Bed time her dad does that settle and it is more challenging to tick all boxes.

Lilo's mum, in response to your questions:
1. I go by the earliest of 2h10m or tired signs. Towards the end of the day tired signs can present earlier, especially if I am unsuccessful with extending her nap.
2. LO is calm and staring out into space or, if I've missed that window, she starts to get cranky.
3. Prior to each nap, at around the 2hr mark, we read books if she's still quite active just to calm her, or if she is already calm, I may carry her and walk around the house - a 'scenic route' to the bedroom - then I put her in her wrap (Love to dream swaddle up) then rock her in my arms till she rests her head on my chest her eyes are still open (or in the afternoons sucks on my chest) - usually 5-10mins.

Emami, at the time, my husband tried to resettle first, but when she didn't respond I just fed her. A few possible problems were: 1. Fed only one boob at night, 2. Didn't feed enough during the day.
Going forward, I am trying to feed from both sides for both day and night feeds if she takes it. If she only takes one side for a feed, then I'll offer the other side an hour later. This is to ensure she gets full feeds from both sides between each sleep.
She used to be fine to take one side for 5 mins between each catnap. Now that she is growing more she needs more. We've gone the other end of the spectrum where she can feed between 7mins - 30mins on one side! This is making the night feeds tough at the moment and am very much looking forward to when she drops her night feeds. We are going to start introducing solids this week too.

[Emami]

Fx the longer feedings and starting solids will make a difference to the nights.  Full and sleepy vibes coming your way!