Hi, I'm new to posting on here though have been reading the boards since starting BW routines when I had my little one. I wonder if you can help me with my baby’s napping schedule – I’ve read and read through the boards as I know 45 minute naps are a common issue but I can’t quite work out what to do.
My lo is 10 weeks old and we have been following easy since birth. He fits well into the 3 hour routine, feeding for 10-15 minute and then happy and awake for the next hour or so. He then starts to show tired signs and I put him down for a nap, and almost without fail he falls asleep almost immediately, so I know I have caught him at the right time. In the first few weeks he would then sleep until the next feed and wake up almost like clockwork.
However for the last few weeks, 45 minutes after I put him down, he is wide awake – unless we are out somewhere, and sometimes even then. This used to result in him crying because he was so over tired and it would take some time and strength of mind to calm him down (having to believe that he is tired and not hungry, for example). I then realised as he got a bit older and we all got more experienced that he was actually ok when he woke up after the 45 minutes, and so would play with him for 10-15 minutes, at which point he would be tired again and sometimes have another 45 minute nap, taking us up to the 3 hours. If this happens, should I be worried that he isn’t linking his naps together? He doesn’t have any trouble sleeping at night so I know he can do it...but for some reason not during the day.
More recently, there is becoming a longer period between the two short naps, and sometimes the second nap doesn’t happen. If it does, then he ends up going 3.5 hours between feeds. Should i be waking him 15 minutes into that second nap to get back on to 3 hourly? How can I get him to always take the two naps/link them into one nap? Does this mean he wants to move to a 3.5 hourly schedule and I should be holding out at the other cycles for 3.5 hours?
He isn’t yet sleeping through the night but goes down around 730pm (I usually feed around 530pm and then again at 730), has a dream feed at 1030pm ish (our bedtime) and then wakes around 3/330am for a feed. He then goes until 7/730am. At bedtime he is always really tired and goes to sleep immediately we put him down, as he does for the first bit of each nap.
Any advice gratefully received – it’s not the end of the world if he has short naps, but it does make it harder to get stuff done! Of course whilst typing this I thought I’d try a bit of wake-to-sleep. Wasn’t sure how much to wake him so just got him to flinch a bit, a couple of minutes before the end of the sleep cycle. And now he has been asleep for nearly an hour in total. Sod’s law!
