3,5mo - sudden problem with dd naps!!

[sparklight]

Hello dear mummies!
I've got a problem with my LO son. We're on 3hrs EASY, which -until a few days ago -was running pretty smoothly. we used to have 6 meals per day and whole night slept well. the only problem was that I had to carry and walk with my son for 20-30mins to make him fall asleep, as he wouldn't do it on his own (I tried sh/pat and pu/pd but none of them really worked).
But since a. Few days ago he can't fall asleep during dd. He cries all the time, even if he falls asleep for a sec, he starts crying again and again as if something was bothering him, even carrying him and shushing doesn't really help - he can cry for an hour or so, until it's feeding time. He only falls asleep on a walk once a day. Still the nights are slept well.

About the sleeping - it seems like all those 'hints' for sleeping work only once - I did manage to sh/pat him once, he also did fall asleep listening to pink noise a few times, but now none of these work...

Could you please tell me what am I doing wrong?

My today EASY (I am BF, he eats both breasts for a meal):
E 6:50-7:30
A 7:30-8:45
Fractious, drowsy, I was getting to make him asleep 8:45-9:45
E 9:45-10:20
A 10:20-12:20
S ( feel asleep outside, in a trolley) 12:20-14:10
E 14:10-14:40
A 14:40-16:00
Fractious, drowsy, trying to fall asleep 16:20-17:05
E 17:05-17:50
A 17:50-20:00 (bath about 19 made him forget about becoming fractious)
E 20:00-20:35
A 20:35-23:20
E 23:20-24:00 (I woke him)

[becj86]

Hi, welcome to BW

I think I see part of the issue. It looks like you're counting A time from when he's finished eating. Its meant to be the whole time he's awake, so if you were to do something fairly typical of 3.5 months old with an A time of 1:45hr, your day might look a bit like this:
7 - wake up for the day, feed
8:45 - nap time
10:15 - likely he'd wake, feed when he wakes
12 - nap time
1:30 - like he'd wake, feed when he wakes
3:15 - nap time
4:45 - likely wake
6:30 - asleep for the night

Babies aren't born knowing how to put themselves to sleep, so it can help to be consistent about how you run his day and how you wind down for naps.

Given you've had issues for a few days, it may also be that he's sick, teething or in a growth spurt. He's still too young for PUPD, so I'd steer clear of that for the moment.

[sparklight]

Thank you for your answer.
Today I tried to check the hours more carefully, first nap succeeded after 45min, but eventually it did.

I think his naps are too short. I see that you advices for the naps to be 1,5hrs long, the problem is that he wakes after about 45min...but I will try to prolong them.

My other question is how to wind down? I can only think of waking around but maybe there is something else...?

[becj86]

There are some great stickies with lots of info that may be helpful for you. Here are a few:
Starting EASY - all you need to know and more!
What are A times and how do they fit into the EASY plan?
Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY
Six Weeks to Four Months: Growth Spurts - How to tackle them
Shush-pat - How to

It may also be helpful to determine how best to wind down by understanding his temperament: The BW "Know Your Baby Quiz"

The 45min nap could be a few things:
1. undertired - I have a suspicion this is not always the case, as he's having some really long A times in there and still waking after 45min.
2. developmental - around this age, sleep cycles become more pronounced and babies often start waking after 45min even if they've previously slept longer naps.
3. He just hasn't learned how to go to sleep and get back to sleep when he rouses. Babies aren't born knowing how to sleep. That's part of your job - to gradually teach him how to relax and settle into sleep.