Author Topic: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do  (Read 1779 times)

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Offline Dollopsmum

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Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« on: March 31, 2016, 08:55:58 am »
Hi, I am not sure what to do. My DD is 13 weeks and used to take great naps until about 8 weeks when she started waking 30 minutes into naps.  Around the same time she started sleeping 7pm - 7am with only an 11pm dream feed which of course I am thrilled with but I really want to help her with her daytime naps.  She is really easy to put down for a nap and in the last week has got to the stage where I need to do very little as she now fights the quiet sit in the chair and is quicker and happier to settle by herself in her cot.  However, almost every single nap she wakes at 30 minutes.  She sometimes settles herself with a mantra cry (sometimes quickly, sometimes it take longer with on and off mantra over 30 mins) but sometimes she cannot and I have to intervene.  The afternoon nap is the worst and often I cannot help her get back to sleep after the first 30 mins at all.

She hadn't seemed very hungry so I thought it may be that she needed to be on a 3 1/2 hour easy so moved to that over 2 weeks ago but nothing has changed.  I tried rousing her at the 25 min mark over a couple of days but it didn't work once, she still woke at the usual time.  I have read the BW book (second one) and see that TH suggests that I go in before the 30 min mark and just pat her through the transition.  I am worried about doing this because she can self soothe (particularly for the first two naps) and I don't want to interfere with her ability to do this.  Can someone please help as I have been so conflicted as to what I should do, is it just developmental and will she grow out of it?  It did start at the 8 week mark when TH says a lot of babies can start to take shorter naps.

Thanks

Offline lauradj

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2016, 04:49:24 am »
Hi there,

  I see you have two posts that are almost identical.  I'm going to lock your other one as there isn't as much information to go on there.  Yes, this is a very typical age to see short naps pop up and honestly, they are incredibly frustrating but there is very little you can do to alter them.  I would suggest you continue on as you have been because you're taking the right approach.  You could try taking her out for a walk in the stroller or sling to see if you can get her to nap through the 30 minute mark, I found that effective sometimes.
If you post your EASY we can take a look just to make sure there's no room for any modifications.


Offline Dollopsmum

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2016, 08:37:51 am »
Hi Thanks, my easy is as follows (3.5 hour easy), she is 13.5 weeks old:

E A 7:00 - wake and feed followed by activity
S 8.30 - down for nap (usually wakes at 30 minutes but let her self soothe back to sleep or if she can't I go in and help).
E A 10.30 - feed followed by activity
S 12:00 - down for nap same as above
E 14:00 - feed followed by activity
S 15:30 - down for nap (less success with this nap, she always wakes at 30 mins and has limited success in self soothing, can sometimes snooze on and off for the rest of nap time, sometimes I am able to help her get back to sleep but not very often and sometimes we don't manage any more than the 30 mins which results in a very OT baby by bedtime).
E A - 5.30 - only a short 5 - 10 min feed (she never wants more than this anyway) as close to bedtime.  Take up for bedtime routine between 6.10 and 6.30 depending on how her last nap went and how tired she is.  Bedtime routine consists of change and massage with a Bath every third day.
E - last proper feed between 6.30 and 6.45
S - 7 - 7.15.
E - 11pm dream feed
Then 7am get up and start again.  She often wakes between 6 and 7, if nearer 6am she will go back to sleep until we get her up at 7am, if nearer 7am she may go back to sleep, otherwise she is happy in her cot until 7am.

THanks

Offline lauradj

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2016, 04:35:03 am »
Just to clarify, does your LO sooth herself back to sleep until 10:30, or is she waking earlier?  If she's waking earlier, I'd say her A times are too long.


Offline Dollopsmum

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2016, 08:39:03 am »
She will go back to sleep until 10.30.  I have tried WTS again after an interesting development this weekend.  We went out and didn't leave to come home until 12:00 when she would ordinarily have gone down for a nap.  She fell asleep in the car almost straight away and 20mins later when we got home she woke, I quickly and quietly transferred her to her cot and she went back to sleep without any fuss for another 1 and ten minutes when she fussed for a couple of minutes and then went back to sleep again for another 15.  This made me think that I may not have been rousing her enough when I tried WTS previously.  I therefore tried it again 2 days ago but lifted her upper body of the mattress so she stirred more (but did not fully wake).  She didn't wake for 90mins when she did an on/off mantra for a couple of mins and then went back to sleep for another 15.  It didn't work for the second nap, she still woke at 30mins but self soothed again back to sleep.  The third nap she woke at 45mins instead but again self soothed and went back to sleep for another 40mins.  I tried again yesterday, it worked again the same way for the first nap but not the second or third when she woke at 30 mins for both.  Just tried it again this morning but unfortunately she woke at 30mins really crying so I had to intervene, she settled very quickly with just my hand on her chest and went back to sleep, then did a massive poo so I wonder if that's why she woke.  Not sure if I should keep trying this?

Thanks for listening.

Offline lauradj

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2016, 21:59:07 pm »
Yes, keep going!!  Some babies might need more of a stir than others.  Generally Tracy suggests you do enough to get them to move a little; a finger twitch, head twitch, catch of breath and that's enough to reset them.  Keep doing what you're doing, that's great progress!


Offline Dollopsmum

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2016, 08:34:35 am »
It didn't work at all yesterday and again it hasn't worked this morning (although she has resettled herself with minimal fuss bless her).  It think it's hard to get the right time.  How long should I keep trying, if it works for some naps and not others might it still help to break the habit do you think?  I say it didn't work yesterday at all but actually she woke at the 40min mark for her afternoon nap so I guess is that still progress?

Thanks again so much.

Offline lauradj

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2016, 21:07:39 pm »
Hi there!  Sorry for the slow response, I was having some connection issues.  Have you tried Shh-Pat as a means to help her back to sleep?  If you find the W2S method is not working for you two, I would suggest that next.  I do wonder if you were to keep her up a smidge longer, even just 5-10 minutes, do you think you'd see an improvement?  Unfortunately there is a period of time, around this age, that babies short nap and there's not much you can do to help it.  However, it would be worth while I think to see if she's simply not awake long enough to settle down for a good nap.  Would you be open to trying that? 


Offline Dollopsmum

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Re: Help please - 30 minute naps - what should i do
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2016, 10:57:10 am »
Thanks, I have been wondering that myself.  WTS has really not worked so I have decided to stop.  She had 2 days of terrible naps on the trot and then yesterday napped better than she has since she was only a couple of weeks old so i think she catches up when she needs to.  What was interesting was that she woke from each of her naps by herself just before i would have got her up anyway so i knew that she had slept all she wanted, which was 1hr 50, 1hr 45 and 1hr 30 (she didn't wake at the 30 min marks for any of them, only made a couple of tiny noises but stayed asleep).  It made me think that if she takes that amount of sleep when she is tired and catching up then she may not need that much on a normal day so this morning I put her down for her first nap 10 mins later than usual.  At 35mins she made fussy noises for 5 mins so not even sure if she woke completely but even if she did she went back to sleep pretty easily indeed and then woke at 10.28 (I would have got her up at 10.30), so 1hr 35 in total, thanks for your help and advice.  Even if it is just one of those things I need to ride out it helps knowing that i can't control everything and actually she is pretty good at sorting herself out when she needs to catch up on sleep. :)