Help required!!!

[sonia1234]

My 3 months DS started waking up at nights every 2 hrs. I think its bcoz he is OT . He is a terrible napper. Never slept more than 40 min. My question is when shud i put him down again after a 40 min nap to avoid OT. Things r getting really messed up. Plzzz help...

P.S his current A time is 1.30 hrs.

[Layla]

Hi Sonia,

Sorry it's taken so long to reply to your post.

Your A times are about the average for his age... how is he when he wakes from a 40min nap (happy or crying)? Does he know how to put himself to sleep independently?

My question is when shud i put him down again after a 40 min nap to avoid OT.

If he wakes up and is quiet, I would just leave him in the cot for another 15-20mins or so to see if he will put himself back to sleep. He is probably still learning how to transition in between sleep cycles and this is something that takes time. For some babies, short naps are developmental.

Could you please post what your day looks like and include feeds, etc... When he wakes at night, how do you respond to him?

[sonia1234]

Hi layla,

Thnx for replying. Here is what his day looks like ( we r not on EASY bcoz of nap issues)
Wake up usually at 9 and taking naps of 40 or 50 minutes every 1.30hr. Feeding is almost every 3 hrs more or less. Bedtime is 8.30pm. Mostly asleep by 9pm.

About after waking up from naps, sometimes he is happy sometimes not.  He is not sleeping on his own. M using pat technique for sleep. Shhing is not working for him. I tries leaving him in crib for a while. But it never worked. 

When he wakes up at nights other than feeding time, i used to respond him right away to avoid waking of my toddler daughter. But now i started giving him some time to settle on his own. If he is not settled in 5-7 minutes and starts crying then i use patting to make him sleep.

[Layla]

If he relies on patting to sleep, he may also be waking up at night because he doesn't know how to put himself to sleep. I would try and slowly wean the patting to sleep. Try patting less and less (so pat a few days until he's sleepy but not asleep) until you are able to put him down without any patting. Does he share a room with his sibling? It is quiet common for them to take short naps around this age. Generally if they are happy when they wake, it could mean that they've had enough sleep and were not tired enough to want to sleep more. You could try and gently increase his A's to see if it will be easier to extend the nap. Again, with the patting, try not to pat him to sleep but rather resettle until he's sleepy and then leave him to do the rest (fall asleep) on his own.

Hth

[sonia1234]

Its been only a week since i started shh/pat for sleeping. For now he is dependent on patting to go to sleep in crib. I ll gradually wean him off patting. He is a  high spirited baby and takes effort to sleep. Any suggestion for settling him in crib. Suppose i stop pat once he is settled and when i stop patting he is getting upset again what should i do then?