Ok, I have multiple questions as I have become very frustrated and perhaps confused too this week. Two weeks ago, when my lo was 12 weeks old, I stopped doing pat/shh and tried just laying him in his crib. He did some mantra crying and fussing and fell asleep. As the week went on, he seemed to get better, doing less of the mantra crying and falling asleep and naps were going OK. We would still have 45 minute naps but I would generally get a good morning nap out of him to start the day off. Well, then he got sick, and it all went downhill. Toward the middle of last week, things looked better again and in fact, one day, we had the "perfect" day, little or no fussing, and no 45 minute naps. Since then, the last 3 days have been horrible. He seems to be doing more and more mantra crying and generally cannot make it past 30 minutes and some times makes it to the 45 minute mark. I tried extending his awake time-- but then it seems he is too overtired to self-soothe. I tried doing exactly what I did on the "perfect day", and of course, that didn't work either. I am wondering if I have done something to make his self-soothing worse and what I can do to lengthen these naps. We generally follow the 3-hour easy plan and his awake time varies from 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. I get him to bed on the first yawn and do about a 5 minute wind-down routine where we listen to a lullaby and I tell him a story while he stares at the dim light (we have a dimmer). I thought we were making progress and now I am getting concerned. Most of my concern stems from the fact that I go back to work in a few weeks and I was hoping that he would be able to self-soothe because i don't know if the daycare provider is going to have the time to be able to do a whole wind-down routine. It seems like his naps are getting shorter and shorter.
Sorry this is so long, but I am getting frustrated since I know he can self-soothe. He sleeps through the night.
Today, much like the prior 2 days, DS took 3 45 minute naps. I let him lay in his crib after he woke at the 45-minute mark and he fussed. He put himself back to sleep only 1 time and that was after 35 minutes of fussing. Then for what is supposed to be his catnap before bed, he made it past the 45 minute mark! This is the 3rd day in a row that this pattern has occurred and I don't want it to become a habit for him. So, here are my questions:
1. Should I be laying him down when he is more drowsy? Right now, I lay him down and he is usually pretty wide awake (although I know he is tired because he is yawning and showing other signs).
2. Should I go back to doing pat/shh to see if that helps to soothe him easier than letting him do the mantra crying and letting him get himself to sleep? I am concerned that the mantra crying is getting him worked up and that may be why he has the short naps?
3. If I do try to extend the awake time, now that he is 14 weeks old, how do I make sure that he is not too overtired so that he cannot self-soothe-- e.g., how do I strike that balance?
4. Will it eventually help to extend his naps when I have him lay there after the 45 minutes and let him fuss and/or play instead of taking him out of the room? (BTW: PU/PD really doesn't apply because he doesn't go into a "real" cry).
Thanks for any suggestions. I would like to get this licked at least a little bit before daycare starts so that I don't always have an overtired baby to come home to.
Erin