!!! Feeling Desperate !! 4 Month Old - Waking from Naps Early all of a sudden

[hynygirl]

My 18 week old daughter has recently gone through her "4th Leap" (if you follow wonder weeks) and we have our cheery, goofy baby back.  But with this has been a change in her naps.  She is consistently waking after 30-40mins sleep and cooing and singing to herself in her crib, after a while this turns to fussing and eventually crying. At this point I will go in and try to shh/pat (she uses a soother so PU/PD isn't appropriate) but I'm finding she has become super resistant to shh/pat and I end up giving up and getting her up.
This weekend we plan to stop the soother use, I've just put her down for a nap without it this morning and with a 5min shh/pat she went off to sleep fine.   
I just don't know what's the right thing to do here.. our 3yo did the same singing/cooing when she was a baby, this was her way of getting herself to sleep.  But how to I help her actually get to sleep after? Should I be shh/patting sooner when she wakes and starts cooing? I've considered wake to sleep - I had success with a habitual 12:50am wake up but I did it with her soother which we are planning to take away; so I'm nervous to try this as she's a very alert baby. 
Any ideas on how to extend her naps back to normal!?

[hynygirl]

Anyone have any thoughts?
I read one of the topics from Tracey's interviews on the forum here about Josie. So I thought I'd give it a go.  Snuck in a few mins before she would "stir from sleep".  She appeared completely asleep, arms out to the side etc.  There was no stirring - her eyes just popped open.  I put her soother back in and kept quiet, stayed out of sight - I was just the hand that put her soother in.  It didn't work, she started cooing and singing.  I then started shh/patting.  She would start to drift off and then either start to sing or start to fuss.  I shh/patted for an hour and just when I thought she was really asleep she started cooing again so I got her up. My entire day has been trying to extend her naps past 40mins.  Thank goodness my 3yo is at her dayhome today.  But I don't know how I'll do this when she is home.  Perhaps it's just a phase, she just loves to hear herself make these new sounds.  But I'm so frustrated!!

[Scottishmummy]

Hi!

Sorry for delay in replying. Waking happy and chatty from a short nap can be a sign of UT.  What are her A times at the moment?

Could you post her typical day in EASY routine (or last few days if her routine is inconsistent)

[hynygirl]

Thanks for the response.  She really goes to sleep so easily that I don't think she is UT.  We do our wind down and she goes straight off to sleep when I lay her down.. our she'll chat to her self for a few mins and off to sleep.  This waking and singing is a very new thing... might it have to do with her age? Sleep regression/change?
I've posted a typical day below... we have gone way off course the last couple days because of her naps though.  I'm struggling to keep her awake for an hour even because her naps are so short.  I did notice today that she was craning her neck to look around a lot so I doubled up some blackout and made sure not an ounce of light is getting in her room! Hoping that helps.. she's currently been sleeping 45mins but I don't know if it's out of exhaustion from such short naps or because I've really darkened the room.

E  7:30am
A 8-9:30am
S 9:30-10:45

E 10:45
A 11-12:15
S 12:15-1:15

E 1:15
A 1:30-2:30
S 2:45-4

E 4
A 4:15-5:30
S 5:30 catnap till 6:10
We do quite play while getting ready for bath/bedtime routine
E 6:50/7 and straight to bed.

[Scottishmummy]

Sorry for delay in replying. Has the darkened room made a difference? Both of mine really needed that for good nap.

There is a sleep regression combined with a developmental keep amd growth spurt around this age so it could be that.

Does she settle to sleep independently? Reliance on a prop or parent/career to fall asleep at this age an be a cause of short naps.

You could try wake to sleep again, as you did before, but maybe try the soothing to resettle by clock time rather than wait for stirring (e.g. If she always wakes after 40 mins soothe from 35 mins). This link might help: How do I address habitual wakings? (wake-to-sleep and other methods)

If that doesn't work and she's not resettling for you at all, Other option would be to push her first A time v slightly e.g. 2hr 10/15mins and see whether that helps get a longer nap?

[hynygirl]

Thank you again.  She has always settled to sleep independently, we laid her down awake from day one so that's never been an issue.
Today her first nap was short again but her 2nd and 3rd nap were 1.25hrs & 1.5hrs so hopefully things are starting to work themselves out.  We'll definitely keep at it.
I'm going to try some of the techniques for habitual waking, thank you for the link!

[Scottishmummy]

I think it's quite common for some babies to take a short first nap but longer later naps. If she seems ok with it, just go with it.

Hope the better naps continue