45 min naps

[briela83]

My 9 week old isn't a great napper. First off she will only nap on me  which is 100% my fault. I did it in the beginning so I could get a rest in the afternoon without always listening for her.
She naps for 45-50 Mins about 4 times a day. She will wake from a nap and is yawning shortly after. I know I will have to break her of this habit I've started, and start putting her in her crib,  and we are starting that this weekend. But even still....how do I get her past that first sleep cycle? I posted in night wakings as well because it relates to her nap ...as she is now waking at 4am and it may be because she is over tired? 
I find the only way to get her past that 45 mins through the day is to bounce or rock her when I notice her waking up.
That doesn't always work though.
Any advice? I believe that if I can get her napping longer she will go longer than 4am (she goes to bed between 8 and 9) or is this just wishful thinking

[creations]

Hi there
W2S 9wake to sleep) is a useful method when LO needs help to transition from one sleep cycle to another.
How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)
You can read all of it but in particular the nap, wake to sleep option 1.
In your case, as she is used to begin rocked, you could put a firm hand on her in the crib and begin a gentle rocking without lifting her up (rather than the patting, you can still shush), obviously if she fully wakes and then fully cries you would need to pick up and sooth her in arms until she is fully calm before attempting to put her down again. When you put her down you can continue to rock with a firm hand on her in the crib again.  It's not 'magic' but it is a helpful tool and worth trying for your situation where she is used to napping in arms and getting that movement at the transition.
As she learns to sleep in her crib she will also learn to transition from one cycle to another without the additional help.
With W2S you usually use it for 3 days, hold off on the 4th to see how she is on her own, you can go in and observe, if she needs help go ahead and help her, if not then leave her to it and you won't need to W2S again.

I suggest if you are finding the whole process of sleep training quite hard going to focus on the first nap of the day and make this the habit that is formed, one good nap in her crib with W2S.  It can be quite tiring if you try to do it for every nap throughout the day but it's up to you.

I believe that if I can get her napping longer she will go longer than 4am (she goes to bed between 8 and 9) or is this just wishful thinking

I'll leave the NW for the NW thread you have. Only wanted to say that she is pretty young still and will need at least 1 if not 2 night feeds, if she is hungry at the 4am NW I would just get on and feed and get her back to sleep.

[briela83]

Thank you very much. The first nap of the day was 2 hours long but it was on me. I patted her back when she would begin to wake. She is use to having that done on me and one member now that that was one of the reasons I started with naps on me. Second nap of the day was in her crib. It took me 40 Mins to get her down but she finally settled with a soother which she eventually spit out. But woke after 30 Mins. I'm happy I got one good nap in though.

I think we will attempt the w2s method.
Is there a specific time we should go in if she is sleeping between 30 and 40 Mins?  Perhaps 25 Mins into nap?

[creations]

Yes, 25 mins into the nap sounds like a good time if she is sometimes waking at 30 mins. What you need to remember is that this alone is unlikely to resolve all napping issues and won't on it's own make her an independent sleeper, but using it in conjunction with sleep training will help.
It is pretty much always a hard few days when you decide to sleep train, getting her to fall to sleep in the crib rather than on you is a big deal, it takes time and patience and may seem impossible to begin with but you will get there if you are consistent.