16 week old cat naps

[meld16]

My 16 week old son has frequent 30-45 minute naps throughout the day, and usually one 1:15 nap, but not at a consistent time of day (sometimes first nap, sometimes second). We try to read his sleepy cues (usually yawning, occasionally eye rubbing) and have him asleep by 1:30 to 1:45 hrs after waking. He previously needed a lot of help settling (rocking to sleep) but we have started shh/pat approx 5 days ago with some success.

Occasionally he wakes up and is happy and cooing, and sometimes he is crying. When he is crying we are usually able to extend his nap ~45 mins by picking up & settling in our arms and then doing shh/pat in his crib.

I'm having a hard time determining if he is over/under tired, and how to adjust his awake times. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[ginger428]

This is actually the perfect age for trying sh/pat and other sleep support to help them learning to sleep independently. Great job and Don't give up!

He is probably taking 4 or so naps still? Do you have a general routine you can lay our for us in EASY format and note which naps he is waking crying. Once we have that, I would recommend trying wake to sleep for the ones he seems to wake up crying. Most likely it will be the first nap of the day and one or two after that. I think once he can connect sleep cycles, he'll be good to go. Short naps are typical around this age as their sleep pattern begins to change from infant to adult-like.

[meld16]

Thanks for your reply. He is feeding every 4 hrs, but our schedules isn't typical EAS because of short naps. Yesterday looked like this:

Wake up 7:15
E 7:30
A 1 hr 40 mins (first yawn was at 1 hr 15, started wind down & shh/pat at 1 hr 30)
S 9:00-9:33 (woke up happy)
A 1 hr 15 mins (fell asleep in the stroller, woke up happy)
S 10:40 - 11:10
E 11:30
A 1 hr 30 mins
S 12:40 - 1:10 (woke up happy)
A 1 hr 40 mins
S 2:50 - 3:20 (woke up happy)
E 3:30
A 1 hr 50
S 5:00-5:25 (woke up crying)
A 1 hr 50 (started bedtime routine - bath, pjs, nurse, book)
E 6:30
S 7:10
E 7:40 (woke up after 30 minutes but fell asleep while nursing)

11pm - resettled with shh/pat
3 am - nursed
5:30 - woke up due to gas, resettled with shh/pat
7:30 awake for the day

The day before yesterday, his first nap was 55 mins (woke up happy) and his second nap was 1 hr 20 mins with 1 hr 40 awake time in between.

I'm wondering if he is maybe under tired to begin with, but as the day progresses he becomes over tired?

[ginger428]

Hi meld!
I see you have a thread in General Sleep with similar questions.  I"m going to lock this one but will be sure to copy paste your EAS and pop in over there as well. =)