Is this the 45 minute wake up returning??

[Hollie-Mae]

I recently posted because my daughter has horrendous reflux and was screaming every time I tried to settled her into her sleep routine for a nap. It turns out I needed to work on her easy and extend her A time to try and move her completely to a 4 hour routine- she feeds every 4 but was still going yawning for a nap between 1 and 1.5 hours after waking. After 3 days she's taken well to the longer A time, extended to 1.45 mostly and then today 2 hours, but we're now suffering with EW from naps? Could this be the 45 minute wake up returning? She suffered horrendously with this when she was tiny so she was swaddled, but she seemed to grow out of it and now sleeps in a gro bag. Is there something I may be missing?

Today's easy(or not!) looked like this-

E 8.30
A 8.45
S 10.30-11.15 (tried ssh pat but she laid there laughing at me! Got her up after 30 minutes of hilarity for her, frustration for me!)
E 12 (fed early so not too close to next nap time because of reflux)
A 12.15
S 1.30-3.30(woke at 45 minutes but managed to ssh pat back to sleep)
E 4
A 4.30
S 5.30- 6.15 (this is normally at least an hours sleep, woke crying, settled with ssh pat and woke again 10 mins later, gave up and she's now winging!)

Argh!! Xx

[Emami]

Hi . How old is she?  It sounds like she was doing long naps before - was this sleeping straight through or do you have to resettle?  Is she an independent sleeper?

[Hollie-Mae]

Thank you for replying. She will be 5mo next week, she used to manage 1.5 naps on 3 hour easy really well, then 3-4 months she started sleeping longer as A time increased and became more of an active A, now we've lost the plot! When tiny she struggled with 45 minute wu and I had to resettle but she eventually learnt to settle herself once I recognised the mantra cry and could ignore for long enough, now it seems to be back with a vengeance! She sleeps so well at night (so I know I shouldn't complain) but I think this is mostly due to being so tired from managing 1.5 sleep all day if we're lucky! 
I tend to hold her until she's drowsy, put her in her cot and she falls asleep, sometimes needing the dummy back a few times (because if she's not drowsy enough she takes it out with her hand!) dummy falls out once she's actually asleep xx

[Emami]

I think she's ready for an increase in A times and you're getting UT naps atm.  45mins and laughing sounds like she's not tired enough!  I know you have been increasing, but 2hrs is still short for her age.  So I would keep trying to bump it up and see if the naps get longer again

[Hollie-Mae]

If it was laughing every time that would make sense, but she only laughed the first day I increased her A time, ever since she is crying when I go to her and beside herself whilst trying to resettle? I'm just putting her down for a nap now she's been awake for roughly 2.15 and she's really overtired. It's so hard to know xx

[Hollie-Mae]

Do you think it's worth trying w2s? I tried this when she was little and it didn't help, but I guess that doesn't mean it won't work this time? Xx

[Emami]

Sure, w2s is worth a try!  I have definitely found that things can start or stop working for LOs as they get older and change, so she might respond to it now.

I just want to say wrt to this:

If it was laughing every time that would make sense, but she only laughed the first day I increased her A time, ever since she is crying when I go to her and beside herself whilst trying to resettle? I'm just putting her down for a nap now she's been awake for roughly 2.15 and she's really overtired. It's so hard to know xx

It can be really easy to get into an UT/OT loop, and in my experience it is harder as they get older to recognise the difference.  I was always nervous about my daughter getting OT and thought that crying always meant she was OT (as opposed to happy / playing being UT).  But actually sometimes she was screaming because she was very annoyed that I was trying to get her to sleep or keep her asleep when she just wasn't tired enough, and me thinking she was OT made it worse.  It took me a while to figure that one out!  I'm not saying you're wrong (you know your baby best  ), but maybe something to consider.

[weaver]

But actually sometimes she was screaming because she was very annoyed that I was trying to get her to sleep or keep her asleep when she just wasn't tired enough, and me thinking she was OT made it worse.

This definitely happend to us - with both LOs.   Highly offended if you try to put them back down when they're not ready for it!

[Hollie-Mae]

I'm absolutely at a loss with her now. I tried w2s and remembered why I hated it the first time round, for me it may as well be called w2w!! I gave up and got her up, she then went to be grandparents and only had a 10 minute nap for the rest of the day (!!!!) and then late to be as my husband was baby sitting (!!!!!) so today I decided to try to lengthen A again.

So far-

W-7.30
E- FF 8, solids 9
A- 8.15-9.45

She was drowsy in my arms within minutes, laid her in her cot and the dummy fell out, now she is laughing and living the cot mattress with her legs, no sign of sleep whatsoever. What the??!!

[Hollie-Mae]

I've been ignoring her and now she's sobbing, feeling pretty clueless

[Hollie-Mae]

So in the end I got her up, stroked her nose and she went to sleep in my arms, nothing independent about that but she went to sleep! I stayed in the bedroom through the whole nap to find out what might happen next. She woke at 35 minutes mantra crying so I ignored it. 2 months ago she used to be able to get herself back to sleep, but then we had such problems with trapped wind waking her from sleep I wonder if this has ruined any hope we had of establishing a proper routine. She then ended up screaming so I picked her up, stroked her nose again and laid her back down, she was back to sleep. Then within 5 minutes, by which time it's 45 minutes from the time the nap started, she was wide awake!! I haven't managed to resettle her, have given up trying, but she is whinging and crying, obviously still tired?!

[Hollie-Mae]

Ok so I refused to give in seeing as she was still clearly tired. I held her again and stroked her head with her dummy in, and she eventually went back to sleep by about 11.45. She's sleep asleep now despite feed being due at 12, will just make the 4.30 feed 30 minutes early rather than her being late to bed and wake her at 12.30, so all told she'll have had an hour and half nap but it's taken 3 hours to achieve that!! Is this just adjustment to routine? Am I making it worse by picking up and resettling? Should I have given up and just started the next lot of A time?

Sorry for the tonnes of posts, I'm at wits end (and physically and emotionally exhausted myself!!) xx

[Emami]

Hi hun, sorry you're having a rough time.  My DD is just up for the day but I'll be back later x

[Hollie-Mae]

Hi all, we've had a MUCH better day today, first nap 1.5, second was 45 again but as she'd had a longer one in the morning I wasn't so concerned about resettling her, she's now down for nap no3 which we haven't managed for weeks! My question is, she went down at 5.30, it's now 6.30 and she's still sleeping, bedtime is normally 8pm, would you wake her now or let her sleep for 1.5 if she manages and push bt to 8.30? Xx

[weaver]

What time did she get up at?  I would probably get her up to preserve BT, you probably have by now. 

If W2S doesn't work for you, there are alternatives:
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

As you got the first nap to 1.5 hours (yay!), I'm thinking maybe your issue is an A time one, so start keeping an eagle eye on A time to second nap, and also give her a good wind-down before it to maximise your chances.