First nap ok but second and third naps much shorter

[Aria2010]

My baby is 11 weeks old and I'm following the baby whisperer routine. I feed him every 3 hours and have him asleep after 1.5 hours of awake time. The first nap he takes in the day he does fine - he sleeps 1.5 hours or maybe even a bit more (only by 10 minutes or so) but the rest of his naps in the day tend to be much shorter and can range from 30 - 50 minutes but are not the recommended 1.5 hours. I do the exact same thing with these naps as I do with his first (successful) nap. I change his nappy in a dim room, swaddle him and put on some soothing music and put him in his crib. He has no problem drifting off to sleep (doesn't cry) it's just that he doesn't stay asleep as long for the second and third naps of the day. I try to get him back to sleep when he wakes up but that's a bit hit and miss. Yesterday I managed it and he slept for another 40 minutes but today I could not get him to drift off again. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Kellyjs]

Hi and welcome to BW!

It could well be he likes a slightly shorter A time first thing, but could handle a slightly longer one for the second one? Wdyt? The fact it's a bit hit and miss to get him to go back off makes me think an extra 10mins A might help him transition to the next sleep cycle.

The last nap of the day can be shorter anyway if he does take two longer naps earlier in the day. Want to try just increasing that second. A by 10mins and see if it works and leave the other one at 1.5hrs? Let me know what you think xx

[Aria2010]

Thank you for the reply and the welcome!

That sounds like a good idea - I always feel like he's not quite as tired before the second nap as he is for the first and so perhaps an extra 10 minutes might just do it. I'll give it a try tomorrow.

I've just fed him his third feed for the day today and he's now conked out in his bounce chair during his awake time so that 30 minute nap definitely wasn't enough for him.

It's all trail and error at this stage so will start afresh tomorrow and see how I get on and will let you know.

Thanks again

[Kellyjs]

That's a great way to look at it hun, tomorrow is always another day 

Give it a try tomorrow and let me know how it goes ok? Xx

[Aria2010]

Well we had a rough night as LO had some pretty bad trapped wind but he woke up at 7.20am so was not too far off his usual wake up time. He had a long first nap (2 and a bit hours) which I figured he needed because of his disturbed night. When he woke up from that he was in good spirits so I fed him and then gave him his awake time plus an extra 10 minutes. He then slept for an hour and fifteen minutes so a definite improvement on his usual 30 - 45 minutes! Hopefully this is just what was needed! Thank you very much for your advice!

[Kellyjs]

No problem at all hun, long may it continue! If not, you know where we are xx