Lost with naps

[Dannii2018]

Hi, I posted a couple of times about both naps and night time sleep. Thankfully we are back to only one night wake for a feed but naps have just fallen apart.

Lo is 5 months (24 weeks) and on a four hour easy. His awake times are around 2hr 45mins. We have the same nap wind down, up to bedroom with dim light, quick story in sleeping bag, light off and into cot and can mostly settle to sleep or maybe needs a few pats. Recently his naps are very up and down- he went a few days doing almost an hour and half without needing resettled,  but now he is waking after 30 mins, 37mins or 45mins, staying awake for around 20 or 30 minutes and then finally going back for around 45mins(or sometimes just wont go back to sleep) He definitely needs longer naps as he is grumpy when waking.  He fights shush pat when trying to resettle and refuses a dummy. Tried a 3hr awake time this morning however that has resulted in him waking after 30mins.

Any suggestions where we are going wrong?

[newkidontheblock]

Hello! A times do increase quite quickly between 5 & 6 months. We too were doing 2.45 at 5 months but it jumped to 3.20 by 6 months My advice would be... If you are increasing A times, go slow and give it a few days of consistency in order to see the results. Keep things extra low key before nap time. Good luck!

[Katet]

As they start to be more mobile and interested in the world their A times can also vary across the day some babies can give better naps with a shorter (or longer) first A time & then different A times through the rest of the day.

 Sometimes when you are pushing for a longer A time, it can work well to have a long wind-down time, so they are awake but calm, Although a 30min nap often indicates that they are overtired or overstimulated... be mindful that at 5mo they can also start to get bored with an activity  & really can be looking for interaction but not busy busy times eg person talking to them in a quiet room is unlikely to overstimulate them, but loads of people in a busy/noisy shopping mall might mean the A time needs to be shorter.

[Dannii2018]

Thanks for your replies- I am aiming for 3 hour A times however if he is showing tired signs earlier I let him go to bed. I’m trying now where we go upstairs to my bed and look at soft toys for a while and then go to his room for the usual wind down routine! So far he is alsleep over an hour 🙌🏻🙌🏻 He did wake up ever so slightly at 44min mark but I was waiting and able to gently pat him back over!

Should I keep going up for the 40min mark and wait for him to wake and help him back to sleep? I tried w2s but it didn’t seem to work (gentle pat for around 5mins at the 30ish minute mark)

Thanks for the help!