Naps 3 month old and self soothing

[Jojo290615]

Hi there!

I had a thread going about getting my little girl into a Easy routine , and it’s going quite ok, and we manage to follow it most days.

However we are struggling with naps, in the sense that she will nap great in pram and in arms but when I attempt to put her down she cries:( I try to ssh pat her etc but she just gets upset. What am I doing wrong ? I have also noticed she will fuss a little after 30 mins but in the pram and in arms she is settled. But if she is put down before the fuss she will wake up and be difficult to get back with ssh pat.
Here is our routine
This is today so far but it’s more or less the same every day.
Wake at 6:30 ( tried to get her back to sleep as she had a big bottle at 4:00 in the morning so I know it’s not hunger.
E: 7:00
A: dressed, play mat
S: 8:30. Put down drowsy in pram ready for daycare run at 8:45 She cries of course but I jiggle the pram and put a hand on her her and sssh and she normally goes to sleep after a couple of minutes.
After daycare run I take her for a walk ( still sleeping)
E: 10:00
A: play
S: 11:00 started yawning already. So I pick her up and cuddle and rock her a little in the bedroom. As soon as I enter a darker room she cries because shecwants to look around all the time. I put her in her pram carrier, she cries again I put my hand on her and sssh pat but she gets quite upset, so I pick her up cuddle and calm her and put her down again. She calmly falls asleep, I keep my hand on her and ssh a bit .. she wakes 10 minutes after quite awake and I don’t want her overtired so I pick her up and rock her to sleep. Finally sleeping at 11:30 but wakes up at 12:00 and I have to power rock her back to sleep. She remains in light sleep for about 20 minutes.
E: 13:30
A: play
S: 14:45 put down in pram readay to pick up big brother.  She fussed and cries, I ssh pat and hold my hand on her and most of the time leave and she settles and falls asleep in the way to day care( which is a 5 minutes walk) I then go to playground with my lb and she will sleep.
E:17:00:
A: play and watch us eat dinner
S: 18:45. I start bedtime around 17:45.. because she gets very cranky. She will often have a little too up milk.
I then have to hold her for an hour to make sure she is sleeping deeply.

Is she too young to self settle and transition through to a deeper sleep without being held and pushed in pram?
She sleeps well at night. Wakes up once for a feed. The time really depends on how hungry she is and if she had a good feed at 10 o’clock dream feed. So the EASY can start at 6:00 sometimes and the morning nap will only last 45 minutes because I’m not out walking her in the pram at that time .. so then she will have another quick nap at 8:45 until 9:30 on the daycare run.  So I always make sure she has a good nap after in the pram for the next easy.

What can I do? Should I prioritise cot naps? I thought it would be easier to keep her napping to the pram and bedtime to her crib?


For the bedtime I’ll post in the general sleep issues.

Thanks in advance:)

[becj86]

E: 10:00 A: playS: 11:00 started yawning already. So I pick her up and cuddle and rock her a little in the bedroom. As soon as I enter a darker room she cries because shecwants to look around all the time. I put her in her pram carrier, she cries again  I put my hand on her and sssh pat but she gets quite upset, so I pick her up cuddle and calm her and put her down again. She calmly falls asleep, I keep my hand on her and ssh a bit .. she wakes 10 minutes after  quite awake and I don’t want her overtired so I pick her up and rock her to sleep. Finally sleeping at 11:30 but wakes up at 12:00 and I have to power rock her back to sleep. She remains in light sleep for about 20 minutes.E: 13:30

Here I think you put her down undertired, then she became overtired in that whole long process. Try to stick to 1.5hr A time. If she's yawning at 1hr, try a change of activity instead, as she's almost certainly not ready for a nap.

If this is the only sleep she gets in the cot during the day, it'll take longer for her to learn this is a place for sleep. Of course she is more used to sleeping in the pram because she does that more often and frankly, it sounds like that's great for you as you need to do the daycare run and get your other LO out to the park, etc. I think it may also be that she's UT/OT that might be affecting how she sleeps in her cot for naps. She's not too young per se, but she is young and so some assistance is still perfectly reasonable and to be expected, really. Just being ready to sneak in at 25min and help her get through that transition at 30mins can help her learn - using hold through the jolts or shush/pat.

She may be moving towards needing 1:45 A time if she's more like 3.5mo than 3mo, so that could be part of the picture too.

[Jojo290615]

Hi thanks for your reply
Yes you are right about the sleeping in cot versus sleeping in pram. But this is the norm where I live ( Sweden) little ones sleep outside in their prams for their naps even at daycare so I’m hoping she will understand that naps are in the pram and cot is for sleeping.

She woke up early for a feed in this morning before 6 so I treat it as nighttime still. And after her feed this time I laid her down awake and put my hand on her and she fell asleep 🎉🎉 this has happened before too when she has woken up but I know she isn’t hungry.. and I’ve managed to resettle her quite easily.

At bedtime however she seems more agitated and upset. Even though she is fed and had good naps during the day. It seems as soon as 17:30 comes along she gets very cranky and so bedtime can be a bit agitated.
Sometimes she will have a power nap until 17:00 so she can’t be overtired or?
I struggle to find the balance in the afternoon.

When would you say the best time for her to wake up from the last nap? She should ideally be in her bed at 18:30.. as she is wanting bedtime at 17:30.
 
 

[becj86]

But this is the norm where I live ( Sweden) little ones sleep outside in their prams for their naps even at daycare so I’m hoping she will understand that naps are in the pram and cot is for sleeping.

So she's in the pram for the middle nap, just not moving? Either way, she's probably using the movement to keep her asleep. She'll learn to sleep there, it'll just take more time.

At bedtime however she seems more agitated and upset. Even though she is fed and had good naps during the day. It seems as soon as 17:30 comes along she gets very cranky and so bedtime can be a bit agitated. Sometimes she will have a power nap until 17:00 so she can’t be overtired or? I struggle to find the balance in the afternoon.

This is very common, we call it 'witching hour' where baby is unsettled for a few hours in the later afternoon/early evening. It could be related to overstimulation if you're finding its happening when people arrive home from work/daycare/school or its around meal prep/eating time which can be more noisy and busy than other parts of the day.

It is reasonable for her to wake at 1700 if BT is 1830. If the nap is only a catnap, you could certainly let her sleep longer than that, say til 1715 or so. 

[Jojo290615]

Thank you for replying

Yes and that’s the issue. I put her down drowsy in the pram and she settles ok with some help by sush pat etc. I then get ready to leave, so she is often there for about 20 mins without moving. I zip her her up and then I leave.. either daycare or a walk. I come home after an hour 1hr and she will remain on the terasse sometimes for another 30 mins.. I sometimes need to wake her up.
But if I’m not going out she will wake after 30 mins and even if I sush pat her she gets upset ( it happened yesterday) so I had to rock her to sleep. I had tried about 2 times to put her back down awake.
And I didn’t want to do the pick up put down yet as she is too young ( 12 weeks) or is she ?

I’m really struggling with transitioning her through to the next sleep stage.

[becj86]

But if I’m not going out she will wake after 30 mins and even if I sush pat her she gets upset ( it happened yesterday) so I had to rock her to sleep. I had tried about 2 times to put her back down awake.
And I didn’t want to do the pick up put down yet as she is too young ( 12 weeks) or is she ?

Yes, she's quite used to the movement. Would you try her napping inside for that nap? So its a different place and she doesn't expect it to move?

Is she OT if she's waking after 30mins?

[Jojo290615]

Hi

Yes we had the middle nap in the crib yesterday, I cuddled her until her eyes fluttered and then I put her down.. and laid next to her with my hand on her. she is in a co sleeper crib. And she laid there smiling at me .. even though I pretended to sleep. I stroked her forhead and she fell asleep.. but again she woke after 30 mins. I tried the same and then she pooed arrrgg!

Yesterday our EASy looked like this.

She had milk at 4:30 for her night feed.. then woke up at 8:00! She had a big bottle and most of the times her wake ups depend on how hungry she is.

E8:0
A
S:9:30.. laid her in the pram and she fell asleep with just my hand on her. We then went to the park just before 10:00
E: 11:45
A
S 1:30 but fell asleep 1:40 woke up at 14:10, I left her in bed a bit then she pooed so we got up.
E 15:00
A
S 16:00 until 17:15 in the pram but put her down awake and she fell asleep.
A
E: 18:15
S :19:00

I don’t think she is overtired when I put her down. She doesn’t cry when she wakes up.

The first hour of her bedtime sleep, I have to hold her because that first hour is so unsettled.she falls asleep then wakes up. And I don’t want her to get too overtired. I guess it’s also easier for us. Could this be overtired?
Maybe I

[becj86]

She could be a bit OT by BT but she might also be a bit overstimulated with all that goes on just before BT.

E: 11:45AS 1:30 but fell asleep 1:40 woke up at 14:10, I left her in bed a bit then she pooed so we got up.

This was nearly 2hr from when she woke (presuming she woke at 11:45) and when she fell asleep again - that may be a little too much for her and she may have been a touch OT. Babies don't all scream when OT and don't all fight sleep if OT. I'd think maybe about keeping her A times to a maximum of 1:45 if you can manage it.

[Jojo290615]

Yesterday I started the wind down after 1hr20 mins. Settled her in her crib ... fell asleep quite easy but still woke after 30 mins !
Don’t know what else to do.
Same for bedtime

[Jojo290615]

I think for the naps ... I need to be consistent with where she naps .. this morning I’m home with my sick toddler so I popped her in her pram and put her on the terasse. Jiggled the pram a bit .. she fell asleep .. woke 10 mins later .. jiggled again and fell back again..same with the 30 mins . And she seems to be sleeping well. So even if I’m not going for a walk , she will sleep in her pram and maybe I can slowly reduce the jiggling until she can extend her naps. I know she can self settle because she does it at night.. she has been sleeping through to 4 /5 am most of this week. But wakes up early after I put her down.
Do you think this could work regarding the naps ?

[becj86]

Yes, I think it would work nicely to have one place for naps and another for night sleep. Gradually reducing the assistance to sleep is a sound plan. Fingers crossed it work out for you!