Short naps - trying wake to sleep, tips appreciated!

[KingCabbage]

Hey guys!  My LO is averaging between 30 and 50 minutes per nap during the day. She is approaching 3 months now (she'll be 3 mos on the 8th of October). I know BW recommends about 1.5 hours per nap but I just can't get her to stay asleep any longer.

She's still technically a newborn I guess, but she used to sleep a bit longer so I am wondering what I can do. I tried going in early and shush-patting her when she seemed to stir - I just ended up waking her every time I tried it. I just tried wake to sleep and I couldn't get it to work this time. I touched her face and shifted her body around a bit til I saw her squirm and she grunted...then I started shush-patting and she dropped off immediately again. So I left her be but she was up 10-15 minutes later.

She eats a lot too. I think she wakes and decides no matter when she wakes that it's time to eat. I've tried shush-patting her to get her back to sleep but she is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and has lots of energy to cry and fight it, so I haven't tried for too long. Should I? Usually I just assume she is rested and just go ahead and get her up.

She is averaging eating every 2 hours. Last night her bouncy chair was in front of the tv and she was fascinated....I finally turned her around and entertained her with a fan instead (a hand fan I just waved around in front of her) and she was mesmerized and distracted...and she went a much longer time between feedings.  So I am not sure if she is really hungry when she cries to eat or if she's starting to get into the habit of just eating the second she feels even a tiny hunger pang.

I am feeding her on demand because I heard it's important with newborns and I don't want to risk anything. She is gaining okay, though the doctor wants to check back in in a month cause she's on the lower-ish side of weight gain. Nothing too serious but they just want to check in again, that sort of thing.  She seems healthy and produces looooots of diapers (we cloth diaper so we know it's a lot lol)

She sleeps pretty well at night, usually wakes arounf 330-4 am for a night feeding. I tried a dreamfeed for a while and finally successfully accomplished it last night - but then she still woke at 330 

Anyway, any tips for helping her sleep longer? Should I be worrying about it?  She has colic, if that helps, and getting her to take naps at all really helped calm her down with that. She still fights naps though. I have to be extremely accurate to catch her sleep window and even then she fights a little just not as much. She hates going to sleep.

[lolsyb1982]

Hi could you post your day for me so we can see what your A times are looking like now. Lots of LO this age still struggle with short naps so you're not alone.

I think when you do manage to resettle her the recommended time to continue for is 20 minutes as this would mean she's in a deep sleep.

Does she sleep any longer anywhere else? Buggy, sling etc?

[Scottishmummy]

Sounds like she might be a bit touchy/spirited about sleep..these personalities often fight naps and then don't sleep for long.

Are you doing a wind down for naps & how long is it? That can help settle more easily for the nap.

[jkitiara]

Following, since my LO is the same age, doing the same thing!

[KingCabbage]

Hi jkitiara, welcome to the club!

I had stopped tracking EASY for a while because we were getting a bit obsessive with it but I wrote down today so far.

E 330 AM (nighttime feeding)
S 400-530
E 530 (first morning feeding...would like to push this back actually, but that is a separate problem!)
S 600-730
E 730
A 730-1000
E 930 (we went to church so I decided to feed her just before the service so I could hopefully make it through the service while wearing her - worked really well she slept the whole time!)
S 1000-1100
E 1130
A 1130-1230
S 1230-230 (I went grocery shopping while hubby stayed home with her. She woke once and he managed to get her back to sleep shush-patting and using white noise)
E 230
A 230-445 (I decided to let her show me her sleepy cues before acting on anything, thinking I might be putting her down too soon - and she fell asleep while nursing when I had fed her earlier so I don't know if that threw things off but she was up for a WHILE this time)
E 430 I nursed her to sleep because she was rooting like crazy and sucking on her hand
S 445-500

She just woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. The fact that my husband was able to get her back to sleep between 1230 and 200 was pretty amazing because every other time we've tried (we both try it when she has too short a nap) she fusses too much - and ifit goes on too long with her fighting sometimes she will start into her colic-crying really hard and it's pretty unbearable. She once went 8 hours without eating because she was so upset and crying she refused to even latch on to me or a bottle. This is why I get worried about trying too hard to make her sleep. I usually try for about 5-10 minutes and if she is still strongly fighting I let her up. I don't want a super-meltdown.

[KingCabbage]

Oh and forgot to answer about other sleep places:

She doesn't really sleep easy anywhere. She falls asleep nicely in a stroller but wakes pretty soon after we arrive anywhere (she only sleeps when the stroller is in motion). Same usually goes for the carrier/wrap. She will fall asleep while being worn but will usually wake within 5-10 minutes after you stop moving. This morning during church I kept lightly jiggling and bouncing while I held her and I think the pastor's voice during the message was a nice drone for her too (lol, I actually really enjoyed the message but I am glad she liked his voice and it made her sleepy).

Sometimes she'll go for a longer stretch but never more than half an hour...we can't use any of the devices as a way to start her sleep off. We'll try a longer wind down. For now, we usually just swaddle her then I hold her for a bit quietly (or I start shush patting) maybe for 2-3 minutes. She tends to fuss and start straining if it goes too long and then I put her down to start shush-patting. I actually also gently jiggle her if she starts to fuss too much as this distracts her and lets the sleep catch her...then I immediately switch to shush-patting again...and gently jiggle if she starts straining or crying too much, back to shush-pat, etc.  Usually she can go down within 5-10 minutes....which is a big improvement over her early days at least!

[Scottishmummy]

She's doing quite high A times for her age..usually around 3mo babies manage around 1.5hrs awake before they are ready for a nap. I see your long nap was after 1.5hrs A time. Not sure if that is coincidence or not..
Would it be worth trying her down for her naps a bit earlier and see if that helps so with a 7.30 wu, aim for first nap around 9?

[KingCabbage]

We'll try the 1.5 A times and see if that helps! Her sleep cues are hard to read.

[Scottishmummy]

Good luck! My DSdidm't have clear sleep cues and I had to go by the click a bit. Have you see this link? I found it quite helpful: Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

[KingCabbage]

Thanks I am so glad to hear I'm not the only one who could'nt read the cues! I felt like a dope haha. She gets the stares and yawns and rubs her eyes but this can go on for a while before she's sleepy enough to actually sleep. We tried putting her down at the first sign and she would fight it harder than if we waited til she was sleepy for a while. Now I try to time it instead.

[Scottishmummy]

Ah yes..I did that with my DD..I was so used to DS needing a long wind down and low stimulation before he slept I jumped every time DD yawned and ended up with an UT, US baby who was too bored to sleep!

It's all about learning what suits your baby, and a bit of trial and error

[jyr838]

Sorry no real solution here but I thought it might be nice to hear that our dd who is 3mth and a week now is basically in the same boat. Her naps are generally between 30-45 min. Occasionally she will bestow upon us a glorious 2.5HR nap.but we can't for the life of us seem to figure out what led to that and how to replicate it! She gets into a weird routine where we end up feeing her right before her sleep which messes with our EASY routine in a bad way! Just thought I would commiserate with you and wish you tons and tons of luck!!!!

[athenasmom]

Can you stay close to her when she enters the light sleep cycle right before she would wake up? My DD used to wake up at the 40 min mark every.single.time.  So I set a timer and I went into the bedroom at the 35 min mark and stayed next to the crib. As soon as she started stirring as she entered the light sleep cycle I started shhhh patting her. Sometimes if she jolted too much I literally held her down. It sounds rough but it kept her from waking herself up. It was a hit or miss at the beginning but after about a week I manage to extend her naps about 70-80% of the time. After a few weeks of that she kind of learnt to do the longer naps. But I also agree with Scottishmummy ... in order to make this work you need to have her on a routine that supports good sleep. She might be OT if the A times are too long and then no amount of sleep extending will get her through the jolts at the 30 min mark