Long time for 3 month old to fall asleep at night

[becj86]

When you mention nap times, I'm assuming you mean times when she should be sleeping, correct? So a 945 nap time means settle for nap about 925 so she can sleep by about 945.

Yes, I mean nap times but I don't mean she should be being settled off to sleep 20min before the nap time when she's UT and will therefore fight the nap and cause unpleasantness for you both. I mean you should be laying her down in the crib for sleep about 9:42 or 9:43 and shush/patting for a couple of minutes tops because she's actually tired enough to go to sleep at that time. This will help her learn what it feels like to be tired.

It's the naps that are still short of about 30 or 35 minutes. This is what I'm struggling with. Even with the longer activity times,  they're not long enough at the moment.

So with this, you can creep in at 25min and just watch her - she probably stirs and just can't quite resettle herself, so just hold through the jolts or shush/pat (whatever you're doing to settle her in the first place) whilst she's still mostly asleep should help her lengthen the nap rather than waiting til she's fully awake and upset. 

[Dreambaby10]

Thanks for the tips. I'll put them in practice and see what happens over the next few days.

[becj86]

Great Keep us posted!

[Dreambaby10]

Hi I'm just not making progress with extending her naps. She's taking the 25 to 35 minute naps and it's exhausting! Don't get me wrong because at least shes napping some. I know she can sleep longer as in the other day when we went to visit family and she slept on the way there in the car seat for 1 hour 20 minutes. I was wondering whether she was ok!!

She seems quite happy and cheery when she wakes but I can tell she's tired. Maybe it's my fault as I'm rocking her to sleep for her naps? She self settles for her night time sleep - goes down drowsy but awake.

I've tried the shush pat but it ssems to wake her up more. I've picked her up to try to get her to continue her sleep but once she's up, she's up. What else can I can do to help her?

[becj86]

Can you remind me how old she is now and write out a day in EAS format, please? Some of that behaviour when she wakes sounds like overstimulation or undertiredness.

[Dreambaby10]

Hi, She's 5 months (23 weeks tomorrow to be exact).  I've tried putting her down earlier than after roughly 2 hours awake time or slightly before. If I put her in the jumperoo, I make sure she's out and having more quiet time on the floor for example playing with her feet ...  If I pick her up she'll sleep in my arms but even then she'll wake. She has a 30 minute button to wake her up!!!

Here's a pretty typical day:

730 am wakeup
A
E 750 oatmeal
A
E 830 milk
A
S 930 to 10
A
E 1215
A
S 1 to 140
A
E 345
A
S 4 to 440
A
E 630
S 645p

[becj86]

So there is a 30min nap after 2hr A time and 2x 40min naps after 3hr and 2:20 A respectively. I don't think that we can assume the 30min nap is OT as is usually the case.

How long has she been eating oatmeal for breakfast? Is she still drinking the same amount of milk as she was before starting solids?

It may be related to rocking to sleep - if she then wakes and she's not still in your arms rocking, its common for LOs to wake fully and get help if they're not where they were when they fell asleep. Have you been able to resettle her at all by catching her before she wakes fully?

[Dreambaby10]

 She's been on oatmeal for 2.5 weeks and she drinks pretty much the same amount of milk. Sometimes I catch her ar the right time and shes able to continue sleeping while other times it just doesnt work.

Once after our holiday and moving house, I'd like to train her to fall asleep on her own in her bed for naps. Hopefulky this will work?! In addition to being better about the times naps are to take place

[becj86]

There will usually be some regression and retraining at some points along the way as she develops but essentially if you tetach her how to get to sleep, you should find it relatively easy to get back on track.

[Dreambaby10]

I'll continue to work on naps to see about improving them. Thanks for your help.