Just started..naps are so much harder

[JHudson25]

Hey y’all! We just started pu/pd last night and I generally think it went pretty good. Some hiccups but I got sleep which I haven’t in 7 weeks. Bub is 5 months (22 weeks) and things just weren’t working so we tried this.

Today we had two 20-25 minute naps and then battled for 2.5 hours to get him down for his third nap. Sorry to say we eventually caved because the nap itself was only supposed to be 1.5 hours.

I typically nurse to sleep but I’ve been trying to work on nurse to drowsy once I see tired cues and then put down. Am I doing something wrong? Is there something I could do better? Any ideas would be appreciated!

[becj86]

Hi, welcome to BW

When things aren't working, sometimes its about when you're expecting LO to go to sleep rather than that he's just lost the ability to sleep. Their sleep needs change so fast at this age that its more likely he needs a routine change than anything much else. Having said that, if you've been feeding him to sleep and he's waking looking for feeds frequently, that can be a time that if the routine is right, some form of assistance in settling to sleep (other than feeding) is required.

What are you aiming for with his routine?

Have you ever tried the EAS order of things, so feeding when he wakes from sleep, then play, then sleep (without a feed)? You can settle to sleep with shush/pat or some variation - I would recommend starting with that rather than going straight for PUPD as its a method of last resort for when shush/pat has been used consistently and appropriately for 2 weeks with NO improvement.

At 5 months, a typical routine would look a bit like this:
7 - wake, feed
9:30 - nap
11 - wake, feed
1:30 - nap
3 - wake, feed
5 - 45min catnap
5:45 - wake, feed
7:45/8pm - asleep for the night

[Madrigal]

bec86m,

I'm experiencing the same as this mum, but my LO is 9 months...we have him on a very similar schedule that you listed for 5 mo. Going down for naps takes forever and ever. He never sleeps longer than 1.5 hours which is rare. Are we doing this wrong?

[becj86]

Hi, At 9 months, most babies are awake at least 3hr, usually closer to 3.5-4hr, so if you're putting him down for a nap at 2.5hr, I'm not surprised that 1. he's taking ages to go to sleep and 2. he's not sleeping a long nap. Having said that, a 1.5hr nap is considered restorative, so that's not a bad thing and we'd only expect a 9mo to take one 1.5hr nap and a shorter catnap of ~45min-1hr.

[Madrigal]

This is so helpful, thank you! I don't know why I was sure the 2.5-3 hours awake time was on track for him. I've been SO stressed about him not getting enough sleep during the day but I've been trying to get two 1.5 hour naps. It never happens...which seems obvious now that he doesn't need that much.

THanks!