Author Topic: Short naps since sleep training  (Read 1163 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline zissi

  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 251
  • Location: Ireland
Short naps since sleep training
« on: November 23, 2015, 14:18:26 pm »
Hi there, a week ago we sleep trained my 6 months old daughter with shush pat and pupd. Before she would have fallen asleep on the breast but mainly eith her dummy. She did good naps because I was able to extend her naps with nursing or dummy. She took really well to shush pat and falls asleep now without any probs. however after 30 mins she stears and is searching for the dummy I presume and then she fully wakes. For the first nap I'm able to extend the nap by placing my hand on her back and shushing. This doesn't work for the second nap. Today I gave her the dummy when she steared and she continued sleeping. I hate going back to the prop. What Gould be the problem? We did well with transitioning from 3 to 2 naps and she did 2 good naps but now eith the afternoon nap being short we need a cat nap again to make it till bed time. This creates problems with night wakings. Is it ok to use the dummy mid sleep to get a longer nap? I guess not, what else could I do? I have a toddler around too and don't have a lot of time to be hours in the bedroom eith lo. Any ideas? Her a time is 2.45mins and I don't think it needs changing yet... Maybe one more thing. I do feed her before she goes to bed but she never falls asleep on the breast now...
Franziska

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2015, 21:18:17 pm »
Hi
Well done on successful sleep training :)

I would imagine that even though you don't feel her A time needs extending, she isn't quite tired enough to see herself through that sleep transition into the next cycle.  Moving into another sleep cycle when being held or shush/patted or when given a dummy is one thing but being tired enough to do it alone is a little different.  I would be inclined to try a 3hr A time.

It may also be that whilst she is now falling to sleep independently (no prop since sleep training) you have not trained her to stay asleep and self settle mid nap.  This is still part of sleep training.  You shush/patting during nap 1 to help her re-settle is part of that training, you are telling her it is still sleep time.  After a few days (and if on the right A time) she should become accustomed to the idea of having a long nap the way you are showing/telling her to.  This is one of the W2S (wake to sleep) methods, you can read about here:
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)
Usually you would do it for 3 days and then hold off to see what happens, this is so you don't end up stuck in the room for every nap day in day out for the foreseeable future.

Whilst you can certainly continue to use the dummy to extend nap 2, I would probably advise not to just because you have already dropped that prop so it seems more logical to keep moving forward.  I really do think an increased A time would help, and you could use the shush/pat W2S for a few days to see how she settles into it.  It's possible to just increase the second A time if you don't want to extend both in one go, that way she will be more tired for nap 2 where you are having difficulty extending.

hope this helps


Offline zissi

  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 251
  • Location: Ireland
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2015, 14:30:17 pm »
thanks creations, this is really helpful. I thought about not using dummy and you confirmed it. my hubby said the same but I tend to believe my friends here more than him LOL... I will push out the A time and see what happens. she certainly isn't always tired when I bring her up after 2.45hrs...
Franziska

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2015, 18:32:04 pm »
You're welcome.

Let us know how it goes :)


Offline zissi

  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 251
  • Location: Ireland
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2015, 21:11:02 pm »
just some feedback, we got 2 good naps today after an A time of 3 hrs. both naps were 1.20hr which is fine for me. I also didn't feed her right before sleep but rather a bit earlier. this seemed to have contributed as well. I did shush and place my hand on her back just in case... thanks again for the good suggestions!!
Franziska

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2015, 21:17:17 pm »
What a lovely update :)
This is not to say it is all plain sailing from here on out, when LOs need an A time increase sometimes they respond well for a day or 2 and then seem to revert back to the short naps, it can be an indication of even longer A needed but it's good to go in small increments and wait for a number of days to see how things go. Just warning you in case short naps come back.


Offline zissi

  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 251
  • Location: Ireland
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2015, 13:32:15 pm »
hi there, as if you had known creations, our short naps are back. LO is sick at the moment with a cold so I figured she couldn't do an A time of 3 hrs as she woke up very OT, like 20 mins into the nap instead of her usual 30-40 mins. so I reverted back to 2.45 and we still get short naps. the first one Im able to extend by placing my hand on her back. the second one not unfortunately. whats going on? we needed a CN for the last few days and its such a nightmare to get her down for BT after this. its also difficult to get her down for the CN which happens in the carrier. I just popped the soother in to extend the nap, not happy with that since she was off the soother for a good few days. she woke early this morning too, possibly due to the CN. any suggestions? 3 Hr A time regardless? when she was sick before I noticed that her A time decreased quite a bit, like halfn hr. but this time I have the feeling its not the case...
Franziska

Offline creations

  • Feeding Solid Food & EASY
  • Forum Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 496
  • Posts: 21993
  • Location: UK
Re: Short naps since sleep training
« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2015, 18:35:24 pm »
Sorry to hear she's poorly :(
I'm afraid when LOs are poorly all bets are off. You're doing the right things by following cues on being tired and putting her down for a nap earlier if she is not managing well with her usual A time, soothing her back to sleep, even holding for a nap, whatever it takes really.  All you can really do is get through the best you can and keep helping her.  When she is better you will get back on track.
Usually independent sleepers return to independence just as soon as they can on their own or with very little encouragement. It may take a little help from you considering she has not been independent for that long but she will get back on track. You just have to be patient and try not to worry too much about props and times right now.
There will be very many times like this throughout her baby-hood, toddler-hood and child-hood when she needs some extra help, it's totally fine and nothing to worry about.

Hope she is well again very soon.