Author Topic: What does a broken nap mean?  (Read 4566 times)

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Offline hkrmom

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #15 on: June 16, 2015, 17:48:49 pm »
oh no, today is off to a bad start and I dont know what to do :(

Baby seemed very tired this morning, was yawning, rubbing eyes, etc so I ended up putting her down after 1 hour and 20 minutes.  She ended up sleeping 1 1/2 hrs with a peep in the middle, so another broken nap.  After that i went up to 1 hr and 30 minutes, though she was yawning around an hour.   She went down easily enough, though only slept 30 minutes.  I don't know if it is UT or OT? she was fussing a bit when she woke and then cried out so I went in and tried to resettle.  I had to take her out of bed because she was screaming, but I couldn't resettle her and just ended up getting her up.   Honestly I am so rarely able to resettle that I probably didn't try hard enough, but she really didn't seem to respond to anything.  If anything, I think I make things worse when I go in the room.  I usually try to see if she can resettle herself, but that wasn't happening either.  When I got her up, she was pleasant and I put her in the stroller to see if she'd snooze a little.  She didn't, but started falling asleep while feeding about an hour later (I pulled that forward a little), so I tried to get her up to her bed after an hour and 20 minutes, but she cried and fought and wound up in bed after 1 hr 35 minutes. I dont know if she was UT or OT? I think I just keep making things worse because I'm not sure what she is.  Her mood is usually pleasant even if she's tired and so I don't know what to do and if she is fighting me because she's not ready for sleep, or because she is too tired!

I'm just nervous that the rest of the day is going to only get worse and worse and bed time will be bad. Are there things you think i should do differently? I feel I'm resorting to bad habits as a result because I'm so stressed out about it.  I've tried some APOP but I try not to do more than one nap a day that way, but I'm desperate!

Offline hkrmom

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #16 on: June 16, 2015, 17:51:15 pm »
I would use 1hr 30 all day, yes, but I wouldn't go below that for a short nap as it's already a lower A time than she normally needs.  Let me know how you get on :)

Shoot, I just sent a separate post. 

Would you not go below 1 hr and 30 even following a 30 minute nap or multiple short naps?

Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #17 on: June 17, 2015, 20:45:47 pm »
I would use 1hr 30 all day, yes, but I wouldn't go below that for a short nap as it's already a lower A time than she normally needs.  Let me know how you get on :)

Shoot, I just sent a separate post. 

Would you not go below 1 hr and 30 even following a 30 minute nap or multiple short naps?

No, I'd keep that as the lowest A time.  She's nearly 4 months now, right?  Her A times should be around 1hr 45 - 2hrs, so if lowering her A times only helped for one nap then probably the next nap was UT, though honestly, naps are so hard at this age one good nap a day as a minimum might be the best you'll get some days.  We had a lot of short naps and it drove me crazy too, but sometimes you just have to wait til they grow into longer naps.

Now you've had a day on lower A times how about doing 1hr 40/45 for a few days and holding there for a while to see how she does?  If that doesn't help I'd increase to 2hrs since lowering A times hasn't helped - she might just need a bit more A time than some LOS.



Offline hkrmom

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #18 on: June 17, 2015, 23:02:52 pm »
I would use 1hr 30 all day, yes, but I wouldn't go below that for a short nap as it's 

Now you've had a day on lower A times how about doing 1hr 40/45 for a few days and holding there for a while to see how she does?  If that doesn't help I'd increase to 2hrs since lowering A times hasn't helped - she might just need a bit more A time than some LOS.

I used 1 hr 40 for the first nap today and got a 30 minute nap that wouldn't resettle.  After that, she was falling asleep while eating, so I put her down at 1 hr and 30 mins and she ended up sleeping 30 minutes, peeping, going back to sleep on her own for 40 minutes, peeping again, going back to sleep on her own and then slept another hour.  Is this her way of working through transitions? Coincidentally, she also broke an arm out of her swaddle and I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

After that she was very happy and I think I tried to put her down while she was UT and she screamed and wound up going down at 1 hr 50 minutes and woke after 30.  She had an EBT tonight because she took only a 15 min cat nap after that, but hoping she makes up some sleep overnight and we can start again tomorrow with 1 hr 40 (she is 4 months on Friday).  Ahhh, we'll see I guess!

Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2015, 07:23:01 am »
Yes, see how you get on. She might prefer a shorter first A and then longer second A, but see how you go. It might just take a while for her to settle into the new A time....

The shouting out during transitions could just be her way of working through them,  yes.  My two did this and Jack did it at night a lot for a long time too before settling himself more quietly!  In fact I posted asking if some babies are just noisier when they sleep than others  (they are!). Breaking out of the swaddle would make transitions harder too.



Offline hkrmom

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #20 on: June 18, 2015, 23:00:11 pm »
Today I used 1 hr 40 mins A time and she took a 2 hour nap this morning! After that though, it was a 35 minute, then a 45 minute (1 hr 30 A time), and a 20 minute nap (2 hr A time because fought the nap!).  So, we did EBT tonight again. 

I think she may have been UT for the 35 minute nap and perhaps I need to bump that up?  Would you have kept 1 hr 40 after that?  I went to 1 hr 30 because she started dozing while feeding...

I had been using 1 hr 40/45 for the last several weeks.  Is there a reason you think she stopped responding to it?

I would love to get another longish nap.  We can almost never make it to actual bedtime (7) because of OT by the end of the day and more often than not, bed time is 6:20/6:30...

Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #21 on: June 19, 2015, 06:12:32 am »
Yay for the long nap!

You may be getting mixed results cos she's in an UT/OT cycle, or just cos she's very young still and there are so many things which affect sleep at this age!  It could have been a developmental thing that meant her A times changed temporarily.  For example, my little boy always had a big A time jump during wonder weeks and then would be more tired for a while afterwards.

I agree that second nap was probably UT.  My LO  would always fall asleep whilst feeding / in the car etc a while before he was actually tired enough for a good nap, iykwim? I would try 1hr 40 / 1hr 45 throughout the day and hold it for at least 3 days, maybe even a week. After that it'll be easier to see any patterns in her sleep  :)



Offline hkrmom

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #22 on: June 19, 2015, 11:08:49 am »
Assuming a good first nap, would you increase nap 2 A time? yesterday I did 1 hr 40 and got the 35 minute nap.  I'm just unsure what to go to?

Following a short nap, would you still keep 1 hr 40 regardless? By the end of the day yesterday, the baby was really difficult to put down and screamed for her 4th nap to the point that A time was 2 hours and I ended up putting her in the moby wrap.  I probably should have done so earlier, but really wanted to try to get her in her bed.  Do you have any recommendations? I had started wind down process a bit before 1 hr and 30 minutes but still got stuck with a screaming baby.

Also, she is still sleeping and I'm not sure if I should wake her? She went to bed at 6:30 (EBT) and it is now 7:10.  I hate to wake her if she is tired, but don't want her to sleep too long...

Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #23 on: June 19, 2015, 21:56:32 pm »
I would definitely leave her if she's sleeping in :) This, coming from the parent of a chronic EWer!  I'd take all the lie-in you can get  ;D

I would treat 1hr 40 as her new normal A time,  and reduce to 1hr 20ish if she does a short nap. I would stick with one A time for a good few days before making any other changes.  She will need a good few days to settle into it.



Offline hkrmom

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #24 on: June 20, 2015, 01:08:40 am »
Well I did let her sleep in and she slept until 7:30 - 13 hours straight! She then took a 2 hour nap with 1 hr 40 A time, though it was one of the broken ones where she peeped in the middle.  What I can't figure out is after that.  I tried to keep her up for 1 hr 40 and she was acting so tired.  i ended up pushing her through it, but she took a 40 minute nap.  I'm wondering if I should bring that A up a little?

And then after that, all fell apart.  She has not wanted to take a nap after 3:30 the last few days and today was no different.  I actually brought her up at 1 hr 30, thinking i'd put her in bed a few mins before 1 hr 40 since she had the short nap.  She went in fine, was doing her normal singing and I thought she was down, but started crying 10 minutes later and was up until 2 hrs A time and started screaming.  I ended up putting her in the moby wrap and she only took  a 20 minute nap.

Do you think it's OT? I honestly don't know since she had just the 1 short nap that I thought could be UT so I thought she could do close to a full A time, but maybe I should have brought her up earlier? She did the same thing yesterday and we got to 2 hrs A and I tried a carrier.  I can't imagine she needs more A, so do you think I should cut the A as you suggest regardless of the previous nap?

Offline LovelyLilyandJack

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Re: What does a broken nap mean?
« Reply #25 on: June 20, 2015, 20:22:32 pm »
She possibly was a bit OT but that's hard to avoid when pushing A times.  Doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do though  :) If she does a short nap then I'd cut the next A time to 1hr 20 or so, but otherwise I'd stick with 1hr 40 the rest of the time for long enough to see a pattern  :)