Hey
I've received amazing support on here for our night times and night wakings which are now (prayerfully!) cracked, our little man now goes down with hardly a shout with no help at all. This has only been the case as of the last few nights, up until then he needed patting and shushing into a deep sleep and would wake in the night expecting the same.
We are still really struggling for naps, our first nap of the day has always been in the cot (40 mins- 2 hrs but usually 49 mins) and was the least tricky with him occasionally falling asleep on his own, the other naps would always be an absolute nightmare so we ended up doing those out and about in his pram (often leading to them being the longer nap, again 40 mins- 2 hrs but usually around an hour). Due to his cat nap habit I would still try to give him 3 naps a day. Now that we have done the sleep training for the nights I would like to keep things consistent in the day, I have reduced to 2 naps which are now mostly both in his cot but we are really struggling. The routine I'm trying to follow is:
7.30 wake and BF
8.30 breakfast
10.00 nap
11.30 snack
1.00 lunch
2.00 nap
3.00 BF and snack
5.00 dinner
6.00 bath, bottle, story, bed
6.30/7 sleep
Can someone please suggest a routine we can follow that unsuccessful naps won't clash with snacks etc? When I put him down for naps he will either shout and cry (escalates momentarily then calms so I don't go in but this cycle can continue for ages) both standing up then lying back down, he will then maybe sleep for 10 mins or so before waking up and continuing the cycle, possibly dropping off again for another short nap, or he will escalate so i go in and reassure him (this always seems to make the crying worse) after which he hasn't yet gone to sleep even after a full 1.5 hrs.
My questions are (sorry there's a list!!):
Do I still go in when he escalates even if it seems to aggravate him more?
Do I stop after 40 mins for a play break for 10 mins even if he is going between mantra cry, standing up and lying down and looking like there's a remote chance he may sleep?
After 1.5 hrs trying do I get him up and give him a snack then put him back down again? Today we tried unsuccessfully from 2-3.30 to get him to sleep, got him up and fed him and then weren't sure if we were too close to bedtime for him to try again despite him having only slept for 45 mins in the morning?
Thanks so much
Kara