Right, HTTJ, I had heard of it when I read the baby whisperer books/forum but I had never put it into practice...but we did and it worked a treat! The first 35min nap turned into a one hour nap!
Yay! Great news!
So pleased you had success with this. The third day where he saw himself through the transition could indeed be that he has now learned to continue to sleep, to transition instead of waking up. If a LO wakes at the same time from a nap each day they get into the habit and think they should wake then, so by helping him to transition this is teaching him to sleep longer. Generally you'd HTTJ (or W2S for another method) for 3 days then don't do it day 4 to see what happens and if it's not successful do another 3 days then stop for day 4 again. It can take 1 cycle (of the 3 days) or several cycles to have effect. If you find he starts to wake early again you can try it again otherwise just kick back and get yourself a cuppa now you know he's doing an hour
That first A time, well, some LOs do like a short first A, that's another reason why EASY is a routine based on individual needs. Really a 1hr nap is not ideal, it needs to be 1.5 to 2hrs long to be restorative (but 1hr is better than 35 min!) and you may not achieve a longer nap on a shorter A time - or you might. Sorry it sounds vague but some LOs do just like a short first A time (mine liked super long first A then shorter the rest of the day). Fussiness can well be that he really needs to sleep at that time, or could be boredom. At this age they are more aware and can now yawn and show other sleepy signs due to boredom, not helpful to us mummies hey? If you have already tried a change of scene, moving from one room to another or looking out of the window together and he is still fussing for his bed then I would accept that he either needs a shorter first A or is tired from missing night sleep like you described. It's also possible the 35 min nap was an OT nap which would indicate not increasing the A again just yet.
I'm actually finding your LO's sleep cycle length a bit tricky to figure out. some are 40 mins, some 45, there are even LOs with a confusing 30 min cycle, but I can't work out your DSs yet (for instance a 40 min cycle would see a 1hr 20 nap on 2 cycles. I haven't seen a 1hr 15 nap at this age and then then it doesn't totally fit with his other nap at 1hr iyswim). Is it possible for you to observe him through a nap to see if you can spot the transition?
For his second nap, now he is usually sleeping 1hour and 15 mins, but sometimes longer. But the 1hour 15mins seems quite common, can I do a HTTJ then or is there no jolt then?
If you are not yet up to a guidance A time on this second A it may help to increase again to encourage a longer nap. 10 or 15 mins and leave it there for several days to see if he can sleep longer on it. Yes you can HTTJ at this time, he may not jolt but just need some assistance to transition, this would be a W2S (wake to sleep) holding him still or using shush/pat, whichever you find helpful. The W2S I recommend at this point is the 2nd option on the FAQ where you see him through transition (up to 20 mins to get him into deep sleep, much the same as HTTJ) but if we can figure out his sleep cycle length you might have success with the other method which is to disturb him a little during his sleep (not to fully waken) which starts a new sleep cycle and helps break habitual waking.
I have a question out of curiosity...if his second nap is over an hour, how come the jolt doesnt wake him up then but it does on his first nap?
lol that's just to make it harder for us
Seriously though, LOs seem to work out each nap separately. They can be habitually waking during nap 1 and not during nap 2. As example mine learned the habit of sleeping 2hrs at home in his bed in the morning then 40 mins in the car in the afternoon. If I didn't take him out in the car in the afternoon it was a real challenge to get him to take nap 2 in his bed despite him sleeping there every single morning without fail, without struggle, self settling, everything - just pure habit. There may or may not be other things at play, some external noise waking your DS during his first nap, or he was a bit OT, many things. Or he may have just learned to extend nap 2 before he learned to extend nap 1.
I think I would focus on extending either nap 1 or nap 2. You *can* do both at once but it's hard work for you and it is better you don't switch between them each day but to stick to one until it is better.
As for the rolling, other than lots of floor time and just playing with him I don't know of anything else which would help. I could never get mine to roll, he didn't like it and only did it twice then stopped. He didn't roll again until months and months later, I think he'd started cruising by then! Floor play is excellent for core muscle development and is really good exercise throughout childhood. Personally I would not encourage any standing and would avoid door bouncers and walkers etc, even once he starts to walk it is still really really useful to floor play and crawl, it's excellent for all sorts of development (including writing would you believe).
Hmm...as a bit of an 'out there' idea you could try talking to him about laying still at night, a conversation during his A time about it then a reminder at BT, and perhaps go in an hour after BT and talk to him in his sleep (ever heard of sleep talk? I'm not read up on it but did use it once for my LO with another BWers help). It might sound a little odd to talk of such things with your baby, he is so small, but maybe worth a try? I talked about lots of quite serious things with mine, he seemed to take it all in
OK, think that covered it all. Shout if I missed something.
And good luck with extending one or both of those naps
