10 week old - 30 minute cat naps

[rachaelcole]

Hi,

I can see that there are quite a few similar posts to this, but as I'm new to the site I'm not sure on whether I should be commenting on other posts or creating a new one?

My 10 week old daughter has been on a 3hr E.A.S.Y routine from the day we bought her home - it has worked really well for us.

Since she was about 6 weeks old (which coincided with Christmas!) she has only napped for 30 minutes during the day.  I have stayed in her room and watched what happens so i can try to understand what is waking her - she jolts & arches her whole body at what i presume is the transition between two sleeps stages.

Her daily routine prior to this nap problem (& Christmas!) was (roughly) as follows:

0700 - wake & feed
0720 - activity
0800-0830 - goes down for nap (I start her 'wind down' at her first yawn or sometimes the rims of her eyes go red)
1000 - wake & feed
1020 - activity
1100-1130 - as above for nap
1300 - wake & feed
1320 - activity
1400-1430 - as above for nap
1600 - wake & feed
1620 - activity
1700-1730 - as above for nap
1830 - wake, bath & massage/quiet time
1915-1930 - bottle & bed
1100 - dream feed
0300 (or whatever time she woke) night feed

Over Christmas we managed to keep her on the same pattern fairly consistently, but it was quite a 'busy' time for her & she was visibly overstimulated at times.

Since Christmas (so since she was 6 weeks old) her daily routine has followed this rough pattern:

0700 - wake & feed
0720 - activity
0815-0845 - nap (wind down starts at first yawn or red eyes as above)
30 minutes after nap wake up & grizzle

From this point onwards the only thing that is consistent is her feeding routine, nap wind down & bed time routine. Sometimes she will get up & stay up. Sometimes she goes back down after half an hour - it's chaotic!

1815 - bath
1845 - quiet time/massage/quiet sensory
1900 - bottle & bed by 19:30
1100 - dream feed


I am confused as to what to do - I know she needs the sleep as she yawns straight away & is grumpy unless she is being entertained/held etc whereas when she is fully rested she is very good at entertaining herself rolling around on the floor for 15minutes or so.

I start her wind down at her first signs of tiredness each time: we go to the nursery, roll down the blind (blackout but sunlight seeps round the sides), cuddle on the nursing chair & she drops off within minutes each time with no or very little fuss.  I should add that she goes to sleep very easily, often puts herself to sleep from being awake in her cot. Because she falls asleep so easily she often falls asleep towards the end of wind down, and stirrs, opens hers eyes & drifts straight back off when she is put in her cot.

I have tried consistently ssshh/pat to get her back down but she wakes again after 5 or 10 minutes.
I have tried putting her down slightly earlier as the common theme seems to be over tiredness.
I have tried putting her down later for her first morning nap as she sleeps through the night now from 19:30-07:00 so thought she may be getting too much sleep.

I really don't know how to tackle it.  The only thing that has any success is putting white noise on as soon as she wakes up, covering her eyes with a mussi (then i panic she is going to smother herself!) & popping her dummy in her mouth. I'm worried that this is just creating a number of props though!

I feel like I have tried everything but know I must be missing something.

Should she still be having 4 naps a day of approx 1.5 hours each or am i trying to get her to sleep too much given that she goes so long at night?

I think i have been responding too soon to her when she wakes - she whines/cries (on/off - sometimes off for up to a minute then starts up again) and I don't know whether i should be leaving her or attending to her. I will never leave her if her cries become consistent (i.e there is no break between them for about 2 minutes) as to me this is a sign that she really is upset about something rather than testing to see if she will get a response.

Apologies for the exceptionally long post (4 weeks worth of info to fit in!!) & thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.

Thanks 

[amayzie]

Hi hon- always best to start a new thread- good to keep your information in one spot! I'll bump this to the top for you so one of the ladies can give you some more thorough answers!

[lauradj]

Ah the 10 week short naps, they're a riot!  My DS went through this as well, as have many other babies on this forum.  It seems to be a pretty common issue at this age, though I'm not sure why.  Rest assured it will likely pass.  My DS got to 3.5-4 months and he was back to sleep for 1.5-2 hr stretches again.
I would suggest putting on your stopwatch/clock, whatever you have when you hear your LO start to fuss and not go in for 20 mins.  This is what I do.  Obviously if it changes to a cry (escalates in volume, no pauses in between cries) than you should go in right away but lots of babies fuss around that mark and if you just leave them, they'll put themselves back to sleep.  I have to busy myself as soon as DS starts to fuss so I'm not standing around listening to it but the stop watch helps because it lets you know that it really has only been 2 minutes when you though it was at least 10!
My DS also sleeps through the night (7pm-7am) but at 5.5 months he still has a 2 hr morning nap, a 2 hr afternoon nap and a 45min catnap.  For you baby's age, I'd say 3 naps of about 1.5-2 hrs should suffice, or three 1.5 hrs and a catnap, whatever your A time is.  Tracy mentions babies need around 16-18 hours of sleep when they're little!  Also, my DS doesn't like the 'Pat' part of Shh-Pat so I Shh-Rub and I leave the white noise machine on for the entire time he sleeps, even through the night.  However I'm willing to bet that if you set your timer and just wait, you won't have to do any of this.

 

[lauradj]

I also would like to add that 'fussing' can be chit chat.  For example it sounds like my son was just hosting the G8 Summit in his crib, comprising of himself and his mobile buddies but it's only been 1.5 hrs so I didn't go get him and now all is quiet.  I just sat out here in the kitchen giggling.

[1sttimemamma]

I'm in the same boat - my 10 week old has terrible naps. However, he's sleeping lots at night. Last night he slept for almost 14 hours with one feed. So, I feel like the nighttime is messing up his daytime sleep. I hope you get some answers rachelcole!

[weaver]

Hi Rachael,
The first thing I'd say is that *you* know your baby's sounds best, so if you're confident you know what her mantra cry sounds like, then you know you're not intervening too soon.  You might like to read this as a refresher:
What’s a mantra cry?

Secondly, most babies start to wake up to the world around 6 weeks, so things have changed a lot for her in the past four weeks.  She's noticing more and is more stimulated by it.  Short naps can be caused by overstimulation, so it might be worth considering if you want to quiet things down a bit more in the last ten mins before nap time.

On the OverTired (OT) point, average A times around 10 weeks are somewhere around 1 hr 15-20 mins.  At this age, 5 or 10 minutes can make a lot of difference.  Have you upped her A time since she was 6 weeks old? (Or are you just a bit confused about A times now? Totally understandable    For now, I would try picking a time and sticking with it for a few days.  Don't change too often, allow LO time to get used to it.

Hugs, it does sound like you've tried lots of different things.  Have you tried keeping a note of her naps, not just times etc, but also behaviour and activity before and after?  Might help you to spot a pattern. 

I might also suggest that you could try Holding Through the Jolts (HTTJ).  Sounds like she goes to sleep really well, but you could then sneak in around the 20 min mark and if you see her stirring, gently lay your hands on her, or do what you feel would soothe her back down.  The idea is to get to her before she gets too close to awake.  It make take some trial and error to find the right time to intervene, as all individuals have slightly different sleep cycles.  Here's another link if you would like to read
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

Hugs!

[Fefekabob]

I am one of those 30min nap sufferers myself. LO is 10 weeks old but only sleeps in my arms and still has 2 NF. So maybe that will make you feel a little better. You are one step ahead of me!!!

[rachaelcole]

Thank you all for your replies & advice.

For the last few days I have left her alone whilst she is fussing/Mantra crying & only attended to her if she escalates into a true cry. I guess about 70% of the time she quietens within 5 or 10 minutes & then lies quietly drifting in & out of sleep. This means that every now & then she will start fussing again. I leave her & eventually she falls asleep. My question is, if I persevere how long is it likely to take for the awake time between sleeps to reduce &/or disappear? Is it likely to be a matter of days, weeks, months?

Also as she isn't napping for a full 1.5hrs should I be reducing her 'A' time to compensate?

Thanks