Author Topic: Short naps  (Read 1706 times)

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Offline Jessielou

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Short naps
« on: September 30, 2015, 13:09:22 pm »
Hi
I know this is probably a common issue but I've been battling short naps with my 5 month old pretty much since she was born. They used to be 45mins long but now are 30mins and she needs to sleep roughly every 1.25-1.75hrs. I've tried playing with wake times and if kept up longer she goes CRAZY, I mean hysterical pain cries. This used to happen a lot in the evenings and I she used to be colicky til about 14 weeks (part of me thinks this was actually over tiredness) where she would cry from about 6pm-11pm and NOTHING would console her.
I'm finding that she's having to have 4-5 naps per day and every day I'm just filled with dread as to how I'm going to plan anything around her naps and wake times, it's like a race against time and by evening I'm so stressed to ensure her last nap is as close to bedtime as possible in order to avoid crazy crying episodes and battle to get her to bed for the night. To add to this I've just begun weaning (previously exclusively breastfed) and she's started night waking so every 3hrs. We used to get a longer stretch at the early part of the evening but not anymore.
Consequently I'm so stressed and exhausted myself and am constantly anxious and worrying all the time about it. During wake times she's generally happy but when tiredness strikes its awful.
We try and do bedtime at 7-8pm she wakes 6-7am with approx 3 feeds in night. Feeds 3hrly in day time

Offline newkidontheblock

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2015, 15:32:06 pm »
Could you post your day's routine in EASY format, hun? It does sound like OT to me too but don't worry, we can work through it. Having a look at how your days go will help a lot. Hugs till then!






Offline Jessielou

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2015, 08:35:32 am »
Hiya!
I only just read your reply! Many thanks for this!
She's waking at around 6.30/7 then has been napping at about 8/8.30 last few days this nap has bed 50mins which is amazing!! Then she'll nap every 1.75-2hrs for about 30mins. Last nap of day tends to be at around 4.30 for 30mins then we start bedtime routine at 6.15 and aim for bed at 7. She has breast milk 3hrly in day and breakfast at 7.30-8 solids at 12/1 then solids again at 4/5

Offline Jessielou

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2015, 08:40:49 am »
Last few days
Wake 6.30-7 breast feed
Breakfast 8 (solids)
Nap 8.30-9/9.15 (45-50mins)
10 breastfeed
Nap 11 (30mins)
Lunch 12/12.30
Breastfeed 1/1.30
Nap 2pm (30mins)
Breastfeed 3pm
Nap 4pm (30mins)
Dinner breast milk and solids 5/5.30
Bedtime routine begins 6/6.15
Aim sleep 7

Offline newkidontheblock

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2015, 15:38:39 pm »
How is her night sleep? It seems to me like you might be heading into the 3-2 transition, where she would move to a higher A time and 2 naps of 1.5 - 2 hours + a catnap. Looking at your routine, what stood out to me was that you are getting a good morning nap but it is still only 45-50 minutes. This could mean that she is having trouble transitioning between sleep cycles - is her room dark? Could there be any noise disturbing her? You could try wake to sleep to try to help her transition through this and lengthen the nap.
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

Then, looking at the later naps, it does seem like a case of under tiredness to me because of the extremely short A time. I know you said that she gets super cranky and wants to sleep but you might have to keep her up in order to lengthen the nap. I found that with mine, she would sometimes seem really tired and would sleep easily but would not be tired enough to do a long nap, so she would be up and refreshed in 30-40 minutes. I had to keep her up any which way, and stick to a more appropriate A time. I pretty much stopped going by sleepy signs around 4 months and kept an eye on the clock instead. It did take E a few days to adjust to A time changes but when she did, naps lengthened and it really helped.

The great thing about the 3-2 transition is that things honestly do get a lot better from here on out. Simply dropping a nap is a big relief. With mine though, I was never able to get 2 long naps + the catnap, and so we got one long morning nap of 1.5 hours + 2 catnaps of 30-45 minutes. I'm posting a link with more information regarding this transition.
All about the 3-2 transition- 5/6 months
Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

Hope this helps:) Good luck

PS: Have you visited our Birth Clubs yet? You can meet a ton of mums going through similar experiences. The support is amazing! This is the one you would post in
0-6 months, Part 1






Offline Jessielou

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2015, 09:10:55 am »
Thank you so much for your reply, I will definitely try lengthening awake times, that's really good advice. She's a very alert and active little baby so perhaps just enjoys playing and doesn't want to sleep too much! lol! She's been waking for about 2 feeds in night but goes down at 7 til 6.30ish. We've been keeping room dark with blackout blinds which I think really has helped. I know she can last 2.5hrs so will give a try. Again thank you so much

Offline Jessielou

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2015, 09:28:54 am »
Forgot to ask, is it possible for them to get really overtired with pushing awake times and will it affect night sleep?

Offline newkidontheblock

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Re: Short naps
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2015, 15:36:00 pm »
She's a very alert and active little baby so perhaps just enjoys playing and doesn't want to sleep too much!
Same thing with mine. She wouldn't show any tired signs until it was too late. She could literally go from 100 to 0 in a moment. That's why going by the clock worked for us.

is it possible for them to get really overtired with pushing awake times and will it affect night sleep
Until their body adjusts, yes they can get overtired. That is why it is important to keep things very low key and lengthen the A time with something absolutely non stimulating like getting out into the fresh air. Invigorating but not exciting or over stimulating. It did not affect night sleep for us and I hope it does not affect you'll in that way either. The catnap was always a saving grace. So no matter how bad the day went, if I got that catnap (which we did in a sling) and then got her to bed soon, everything was great. I would move straight on to BT routine after the CN and get her down by 7 sharp.