45 min naps and other questions - 10 weeks old

[ljc1977]

Hi ladies

I have a few questions regarding EASY

• Firstly I have a 45 minute nap problem going on, it just turned up in the last week...After reading about Ferber's average sleep times and blogs on the matter it seems like shorter naps are sometimes solved by reducing core night hours? So, if LO's average sleep per 24h is 15.5h then 12 at night equals only 3.5 hours left for the day - since my LO can only really handle 1 - 1:15 awake time without sever grumpiness would I be better reducing night sleep? Pushing back bed time to 7pm and pulling forward wake up to 6am...I have sort of been trying this and one day went perfectly, the next a bit patchy and also the 7pm bedtime did cause some OT/fussy/crying as LO has always gone to be early...Just wanted your thoughts on this?
  
  
• Secondly - i've been doing shh pat to put her to bed for a few weeks and it is brilliant, a lot better than the relentless rocking we were having to do in the early days of colic. But a couple of things are different with the way I do it:
  
  I swaddle her and then walk around swaying to wind her down - I know they say you should remain still before putting them down but my LO hates that - should I just put her down calm rather than carry on swaying to try and get her drowsy?
  
  I use white noise instead of shhing, it works well however we keep the white noise on through the night (low) - is that a problem?
  
  Since she's not yet 3/4 months - if i put her down and she seems ok but then starts crying and shh pat isn't working to calm her do I pick her up and wait till she's calm then put her down again? I know pu/pd isn't meant to be down before 3 months but sometimes i notice that she really needs to come out and be settled again before shh pat will work.
  
  And finally, (sorry for all the questions!) after 3 months do i change my strategy? How do i move forward to independant sleeping e.g. not shh patting all the way into sleep?
  

Thanks in advance!

[nevinsmama]

Your approach to shh/pat sounds age appropriate. What is a typical day like? Your short naps could be developmental, OT or UT, hard to tell without seeing a day. I would keep the white noise as long as possible. Gradually as LO gets bigger you will be working on laying her down awake, and then patting and shhing less and less and using your voice and presence more. All in good time! At this age you can lay down drowsy if you want but IRT more independent sleep you would want her more awake later on. We can be more help when you post a typical day.

[ljc1977]

Thanks for your reply! The easy i'm aiming for is 10.5-11h at night which is fine. She goes down at 7:30pm, DF at 1030, wakes at about 4am for feed then sleeps till 6:30 wake up.

After that My A times are about 1:10 throughout the day....I've tried extending A times to 1:20 which are fine, but still 45 min wake ups. Any longer and the naps tend to shorten, she wakes very grumpy etc.

I do tend to still get one longer nap each day - usually later in the day.

One thing I noticed the last couple of days was I realised the wind down routine said to get baby drowsy before putting down so i started doing that but now after a few days of this she is resisting naps! she lurches away from me but cries as soon as i put her down. Also cries as soon as i swaddle her....am thinking possibly this means her A times are a bit short at 1:10? and she could go a bit longer despite all her signs being sleepy e.g. yawning/rubbing eyes. So difficult to figure out the perfect time to put them down!

Thanks in advance!

[ljc1977]

Also, she is very touchy baby - so i keep everything dark in her room, try to avoid too much overstimulation etc.