9 week old 45 min nap throws day off schedule

[Videogameshay]

Hey! So my 9 week old can put himself to sleep with the soother and minimal shush patting. My issue with the soother is it is now a prop as if it falls out before he's in deep sleep, I need to reinsert it. If it falls out between cycles, he wakes up fully. I've only ever gotten him take long (like I have to wake him up after 2hrs) if he's in my arms. I can hold him with or without paci. No rocking required. Just holding still, shush pat, and he's out until I decide it's time to wake him up.

So since the paci was an issue today I tried a nap without it. His A time was 1.15hr including downtime. I put him in crib after he fell asleep because I tried shush patting in the crib without the soother and all he did was smile and me and coo and it was going nowhere. So he woke up after 45 min very happy, so we did a small activity and I put him back down. But this totally throws off the EASY schedule.

If I hold him for his naps, we can stay on schedule. But I can't keep doing that. And I can't continue with the soother in his crib because then I need to reinsert it and the soother is the only way I can do shush pat without him smiling. Once I take the soother out, he's just a happy camper. Lol

What do I do to get those nice long naps?

[becj86]

This can absolutely 'just' be developmental. I would say he may be a slightly more awake baby from what you're describing so you could try a slightly longer A time (I'd not go any more than 1.5hr, though).

Do you have a wind down? By that I mean 1-2mins of doing the same things pre-nap each time to give him the cues that its time to sleep. Its worth establishing if you don't have one but if its super long, that can make a baby undertired because often they're not terribly stimulating and baby is not getting as tired with a long WD as with playing up until 2mins before nap time.

I would recommend against allowing time for LO to fall asleep - again, putting him down undertired can not only make it tricky for him to fall asleep because he's not tired but also prolong the time you're spending trying to get him to go to sleep.

So he woke up after 45 min very happy, so we did a small activity and I put him back down.

Here, I would just get him up, feed him and crack on with the next A time (its a routine, not a schedule) and see if he sleeps a longer nap the next time. If so, that's a really good indication that he needs more A time. If not, its maybe suggesting that he just doesn't know how to get himself through that transition from one sleep cycle to the next without you holding him/the dummy being there.

[Videogameshay]

We do have a window. I put him in his swing for a few minutes so he can just be alone to calm down, suck on his hands, etc. Then I go get his swaddle, I pick him up, tell him it's naptime, then swaddle and give paci, walk to nursery, turn off lights, close blinds, and sing one lullaby while patting. Then I start shushing. He likes being cradle held not over shoulder, I usually nestle his face in my arm so he can't look around. He falls asleep almost instantly arms. If I were to hold him for the whole nap, he would sleep indefinitely. If I do this without a dummy, he fusses and it takes me about 15 min to put him to sleep (again on my arms) but again he will sleep forever as long as I hold him. He will wake up during jolts in my arms and fuss for dimmy but if I hold him super tight and shush louder he will calm down.

Now I've attempted to put him down during deep sleep, he will only make it through one sleep cycle, with or without dummy. I'll try to stay in room next time for whole nap to hold him down and see if I can help him through. I did run in once when I saw him wake up at a 60min nap last night, he sort of tried to stretch in his swaddle, spat out dimmy, but his eyes were open and when I came in he just smiled.

If I shush pat while drowsy but awake if he doesn't have the paci he just stares and smiles and coos and won't stop making me laugh and if I shield his eyes he gets mad. If I do with with paci, I need to shield his eyes, he will fall asleep that way. But then the paci becomes and issue because if it falls out during the process of light sleep he wakes. So I have to shield and hold it in and pat him. It's quite the acrobatics!

[Videogameshay]

I'll try pressing on after his 45 min nap with feed and normal A time and put him down. I'm hoping it's just him needing more À time. I love when he's awake, he's so smiley and fun. By the way, even though he has these poopy naps, I'd say he's a generally happy talkative baby. He's always looking at things and smiling and content. Has just a few fussy episodes. Mostly he hates having his diaper changed lol. And he sleeps pretty well at night conserving his age. He goes down easily, wakes only twice to eat, and maybe once for some help re-settling but after his feeds he's right back to sleep we don't have much of an issue with him being awake at night. So it could very well be developmental, but I would love for some long naps so that I can get things done around the house!

[Videogameshay]

Ok so we woke up at 7am, feed, down at 1.15 A time. He had 3 yawns at 1Hr À time so I just rolled with it. I did shush pat in arms without paci. He was out within 10 min. He woke up at 50min all happy. So I decided to do a feed and A time as suggested. He happily stayed awake for another 1.15A time. Actually I put him in the crib swaddled at 1Hr bc I had to do something in the other room and he seemed to start dozing off on his own but then he started freaking out so I went in, shush pat with paci, he drifted off. I put my hand in him to hold him through the jolts but right at 20 min he opened his eyes wide and saw me still there and he just started smiling again and sticking his tongue out and being all cheeky lol. So I shielded his eyes and he got mad. I picked him up, shush pat toll his eyes got heavy and put him down and he dozed off again and I decided to just leave the room so he wouldn't see me and smile. Again he only slept for 20 min and he started crying so I went in and he saw me and again he was just a happy baby. So I gave up, fed him and pressed on with A time.

I don't know what to do lol. If I'm there he gets distracted, if I'm not he's mad.

[becj86]

I found rather than shielding DS' eyes, I could close mine and that would help because he couldn't engage with me and I wasn't as tempted to laugh then.

Those 20min naps sound like he was overtired which isn't too suprising but its not the end fo the world. I'd suggest getting some good naps into him in the morning and trying for some more independent naps in the afternoon. Keep in mind that if he falls asleep nice and comfortable in your arms, when he wakes, things have changed and he doesn't know he's nice and safe to go back to sleep. If you can put him in his cot and shush/pat there, you're on your way to him learning that his cot is a safe place to go to sleep and therefore to go back to sleep when he wakes from a sleep cycle. Eventually, he will join those together but first he has to learn that he can safely go back to sleep after he wakes, then he'll reduce how much he wakes.