My DS is almost 13 weeks old and mostly takes 20 mins naps and will scream awake. It is very hard to resettle him unless i hold him to sleep, but I don’t want him to get used to that prop. He has been a terrible napper since the first few weeks of life. I had attributed it initially to reflux but that has mostly subsided. Now, he’s dealing with eczema and itchy skin. Poor guy can’t catch a break. Perhaps pain is the cause of the poor sleep??
I’ve tried all I could to extend his nap: covering his eyes, shh-pat, and holding him down. But he still wakes up at the 20 min mark. (This is already an improvement - he used to wake up at 6 mins or 10 and won’t resettle). He is Able to fall asleep Independently if he’s comfortable and not overtired. But most days, he goes from super smiley to cranky within a few minutes and by then, he can’t calm to sleep without me shh-pat. .
I’ve tried to adjust his awake time but no matter what, it’s still short naps! He also seems to not want to sleep! He will just look around, smile, and I can shh-pat for 10 mins. Then he gets finally cranky from being overtired and cries and can’t sleep independently. And activity time is now way over. Then because he hasn’t napped, he will nap when eating and mess up nap schedule even more.
Here’s a sample EASY today:
6: eat
615: sleep til 7. Resettled and sleep til 830
830: had to change massive poop
9: eat
1015: nap 20 mins. Couldn’t Resettle
1130: nap 37 mins.
1210: awake
1215: Eat
145: nap 20 mins. Resettled another 25 mins
245: awake
330: eat
445: finally fell asleep for 6 mins
530: finally resettled. Nap 30 mins.
600: awake
600: eat
700: didn’t want to nap. Bath.
745: eat
830: bedtime.
1100: dreamfeed
2:00: night waking
5:00: eat
He has not extended night feeds beyond 3 or 4 hours either. Sigh.
Any help would be greatly appreciated !! Oh forgot to mention, his naps are no better in the car or stroller. Only improves with carrier. And it’s hard to do that when I have a 2 year old to care for too!
