30 min naps!

[herbst99]

Hi - I hope someone can help. (I have read the posts on extending 45min naps - no luck) Lise (5mth Spirited) wakes up after 30 min!!! every nap!!! (she puts herself to sleep initially) - then she will either cry or fuss! I am able to help her back to a drowsy state but JUST as she is about to close her eyes (anything from 5 -20min into the selfcalming) she will suddenly startle herself and be MORE awake. Wrapping her does not help this either. Her routine (usually)
7:00 awake and bottle
9:00 Go down for nap
9:30 AWAKE - I get her up if nothing else works ... we then play etc but she is usually cranky
10:30 another nap ( she usually is exhausted by this time
11:00 Bottle
1:00 Nap
1:30 AWAKE
3:00 bottle and then nap ... See how this throws of the 4hr routine!!
3:30 AWAKE and then usually REFUSES anymore naps untill she is to exhausted for anything else at
6:30 when it is bath, massage (IF she is content) bottle, bed
10:00 DF
I hope someone has some MIRACLE cure for me and my spirited one.
THANX - Nikki

[Jamom]

No miracles here, but I just posted a similar post.  My ds (13 weeks) does the same thing.  Self-soothes himself to sleep and generally wakes up after 30 minutes-- if I am lucky, he'll make it to the 45 minute mark.  Everything I do to extend doesn't work.  I've tried changing his routine, pat/shh, etc. and nothing!! I know it is frustrating and I will be watching this thread to see if anyone offers any help to you as well.  Know that you are not alone.  It is so perplexing that they can self-soothe to sleep but then can't do it after waking up 30-45 minutes later.  I thought the self-soothing would take care of that.  Guess I was wrong.  :?

[HeatherC]

Gosh, is this not all too familiar!!!  Kelsey was a notorious 20, then 30 minute napper.  I tried it all.  Then several mom's (on this site, and other friends) told me to put her down for 1st nap one hour after initial wake up time.  Well, I did, and it worked within 2 days.  She started taking 2 hour naps.  I assume that since she was so rested from the night's sleep so could sleep easier, then so rested from the morning nap, then second nap was better.  She will just every now and then cry for less than 10 minutes at the 30 minute mark, but I've learned not to go in there, and she totally goes back to sleep.  Sometimes she even sleeps through without waking at all.  Now, she's up 1.5 hours or a bit more before 1st nap, but the second she acts tired I put her down no matter how long it's been or else she's overtired and won't be able to resettle herself.  I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes since this is a bit un-BW, but it honestly helped me, and maybe will work for you.  Oh, and if she has both of these good naps, sometimes she won't have an early evening nap and go to bed for the night at 8 with minimal wind-down.  Here's our schedule:
8-8:30 wake and eat (6-8 oz and a bit of cereal with fruit)
10-12 nap
12-12:15 wake and eat (same, sometimes add veggie)
2-3:30 or 4 nap
4 wake and eat (same)
6 maybe a 30 minute nap around here, then a bath afterwards
7:30 eat (bottle only)
8-8:30 bed

If we are out in the afternoon, the nap is only 30 minutes still, but if we're home it's long.  I hope I don't jinx myself, but she's been doing this for 2 weeks or more.

[hannah hynes]

Hi-14 week  old was slleping brilliantly at naps, on 3hr easy tking 90-120min naps. in the last three days has gone to 20-30 or 45 mins naps, please help???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, also she needs me to help her get to sleep. I did ten days solid of pu/pd when she was 11 weeks and it worked to the point that i could just put her down and she would self soothe herself to sleep, but now i don't know what's happened i feel so sad all my hard work has gone down the drain. I think she could be having her 3mth growth spurt, if so will naps get better once this stops??
I am going to try to put her down one hr after waking in the morning as you have suggested, is that whether she show's signs of being tired or not. How long do you do this for and is for all naps???
Sorry so long but desperate to know what i've done wrong!!!!!!!!

[Jamom]

I just posted a longer version of your question on this board -- it's entitled something like "Multiple Nap Questions-- Frustrated".  Seems like there are plenty of us in the same boat.  My lo is also 14 weeks and is just a horrible napper lately.  The advice I got to my post was to try to extend his awake time.  We are going to try that in the next few days and see if it works.  I am so perplexed too -- self-soothing  and naps have gotten worst and worst when they should be getting better.  I, too, think we are going through a growth spurt at 14 weeks.  My ds has been hungrier than ever and last night he woke during the night, which he hasn't done since mid-July.  Check out that other post too!!  Hopefully we can all figure this out.

[HeatherC]

I'm not really the person to help you best.  I was just offering a suggestion as to what helped me.  I put her down an hour after waking for the day, regardless of whether or not she showed me "tired signs".  She slept well because she was so rested from the night's sleep.  The next nap comes 2-2.5 hours after waking from first nap, but that's just my lo, everyone's babies have different tolerances for A time.  Hannah, you mentioned great success after 10 days of pu/pd down.  Matthew's Mommy (a nap board moderator) often mentions the possibility of regression even after success, and suggests that you stick with it and not to give up.  But I agree that the growth spurt could have something to do with it.  Even with my success at the schedule I posted earlier, Kelsey has started having 30 minute naps again.  I just do my best to help her go back to sleep without taking her out of her crib unless I have to.  I usually put my arms across her's and her legs to help keep her still.  I also shhh her a bit and calmly talk to her (it's nap time, it's okay, go back to sleep).  Even if she doesn't go back to sleep, she possibly still gets some quiet time to rest (that's if she's not crying).  I don't pretend to know much about nap problem-solving, but like I said, I'm just trying to help.

[Jamom]

Heather, thanks for your helpful tips.   

Some times I am torn between knowing whether it is because he is overtired that he is not napping longer or whether he needs more activity.  I am just going to have to try it and see whether it is because he is overtired or whether it is because he needs more activity.   I can only hope it is something that my ds grows out of or that the helpful tips you and others have shared work.   I have to say that today, I lengthened his activity time and he still woke up at around 30 minutes but he did go back to sleep a lot quicker and stayed asleep.  I don't know... it seems that what works one day does not work the next!!!  :?

[kmama]

DS is 14 weeks (textbook/angel) and great sleeping through the night.  Goes from 7pm to 7am with no feed or waking (he's almost 18 lbs!).
But he is a clockwork 30-45 min. napper.  Lately, I have been able to resettle him by giving him a pacifier and patting - will this make him dependent on the pacifier?  And, he's on a 4 hour schedule, but gets tired- really tired - an hour after waking up - eye rubbing, burrowing his head, whimpering.  So it doesn't seem like extending his wake time would help.  Any auggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
 :roll: