Help! 3 month old catnapper since 5 weeks.

[Seegmiller]

Hi! My little guy is 14 weeks old. We have been dealing with the 45 minute naps since week 5. A little about him: formula fed, always put down in crib awake and he is very good at settling himself to sleep within 5 min. I try to follow the EASY plan, but when he wakes after 45 minutes (maybe 15% of the time I can resettle him), by the time his next feed is due, he is exhausted. Then sleeping very shortly after. Sometimes he wakes from his short naps happy, other times he is clearly not rested and needs more sleep. He ALWAYS stirs at the 45min mark, and struggles to get back to sleep by himself. I have to go in and give him soother between 1-3 times to get him back to sleep. Today he was awake for a total of 30 min but never out of his crib in between sleep times. I have tried extending A time, decreasing A time... I'm at a loss. He sleeps well at night. Bath and bed between 7:30-8. Dream feed at 10:30, usually wakes between 2:30 and 3 (has occasionally slept until 3:30-4), and up between 6:30 and 7:30. My goal would be 7:30. I try not to get him up until 7:39 even if he is awake. Sometimes feed a little at 6 and put him back in crib as a night feed. Sometimes he sleeps, sometimes not. He has also been getting up much earlier the last 5 days and my going back to sleep. Although he is happy, I don't want to start my day at 6! So my question is... How to I help him with his naps? I'm at a loss and feeling quite defeated.

[Scottishmummy]

Hi & welcome to BW

Sorry you are feeling so disheartened. Short naps are very frustrating & quite common at your LO's age. My DS was a chronic short napper but did eventually grow out of it. Sometimes there are things you can try to extend the naps though.

Could you post your typical day, or your last 2-3 days in EASY format to give an idea of how your day goes.

Could you also describe your activities when your LO is awake and your WD routine?

It sounds like you've tried lots of things already so apologies if this is something you've already done but have you tried the w2s approach where you go in before the 45min mark & hold or sh-pat before he wakes. At this age babies sometimes don't transition easily through sleep cycles and this little bit of help to stay asleep is often more effective than trying to resettle once awake.

[ireneasheard]

Following. My 14 week old is a serial catnapper. I've been resettling him but it seems his awake times have leapt upwards suddenly he is awake a lot longer than before. Keeping him up past his first just getting tired sign - yawning - seems to help as he is not truly tired enough to sleep only nap. It's a balancing act but I was putting him to bed too early. Now at 3.5 months he's awake 1 hour 45 minutes and inching closer to 2 hours.

[Scottishmummy]

My DD was similar- needed activity right up to about 10mins before her full A time.  I tried winding down earlier at first tired sign in the beginning as my first had needed a really long WD but just got UT naps.

They're all different and it takes trial and error to work out A times & WD needed. Sounds like you're getting there IH. There is a rapid A time increase between around 3.5-6mo so you're right to be aware of & responding to those A time leaps

[ireneasheard]

Wish I'd known that with my first child! Definitely pays to be observant re awake times. My 2nd has increased his awake time quite rapidly in the last few weeks and appears to have lower sleep needs than my first. As you say it's all trial and error!