12 Week old going from a rockstar napper to napping 45 mins-1hr

[shruts222]

Hello!  I need some help!  I have an almost 12 week old who used to be a great napper - she would take perfect 1.5-2 hr naps.  Suddenly last week things have changed drastically and I dont know what to do.  She started extending her nights last week - sleeps from 11pm - 7:15 am so I dont know if thats changing her naps at all. 

Currently we are on 3 hr EASY and it has worked really well so far.  She's a good sleeper in that I do not rock her or help her fall sleep.  I simply lay her down in the crib and she falls asleep on her own after fussing for less than 5 mins.

Lately I have tried to give her pacifier to help extend her naps - it works most days but some days it could take upto 30 mins to get her back to sleep - I dont want her to be addicted to a prop but its working well so I am using it right now.  At night I do not give her pacifier - she wakes up sometimes and puts herself back to sleep within 10 - 15 mins of fussing at nights.  Please help me with extending her NAPS as I have to go back to work next week and it will be very difficult.

We do use white noise and her room is pretty dark so that helps her sleep.

Here's our routine:
E: 7:15
A: 7:45
S: 8:35
E: 10:15
A: 10:45
S: 11:30-11:45 (this is the roughest nap - wakes up withing 45 mins - 1 hr and sometimes after crying for about 10 mins takes her paci and falls asleep)
E:  1:15
A:  1:45
S:  2:45 (another problem nap)
E:  4:15
CN: at 5:30
Bedtime routine and eat then asleep between 7:30 to 7:45 pm
DF: 11:00 pm

Any help extending her naps would greatly be appreciated as she can be very tired and cranky by the end of the day if she hasnt had good naps.

[weaver]

Short naps are reasonably common around this age.  For a lot of babies, it is a time when their nap length shortens and they need help to get through the sleep cycles during daytime sleep.  There is a big developmental leap going on around the 3 month mark.

Having said that, I suspect that your LO hasn't got to that stage yet and maybe just needs an A time tweak.  Average A times for 3 months are 1 hr 20-30 minutes.  Would you try extending A time by ten minutes?  Hold it at the new time for 3 days, at least, and see how she does.

And if that doesn't seem to do the trick, have a look at this:
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

[shruts222]

Thanks so much for the reply!  Will try it and see how she does.