Nightmare Naps!!

[scarletts mum]

I hope someone can help... I am at my wits end with my dd.. she is 11 weeks old and only sleeps for 45 mins at a time... She was sleeping for 20 mins and I started to swaddle her after stopping and that increased the nap time by about twenty mins.. but thats it!!

She wakes up after 45 mins in absolute hysterics.... I try pat shush.. and after 30/40 mins she may go back to sleep but on the whole I normally give up after 30 mins of crying and take her back downstairs when she is still yawning and very cranky..

Any tips!!  I am beginning to dread nap time now!

Thanks
Lizzie

[Mariefugere]

Hello,

I'm sorry I don't have any tips. I've tried everything that I can and my seven week old is exactly like your daughter. It's hard and depressing. If anyone has any advise for me too, because I'm going crazy.

[Matthew's Mommy]

First off.. this is normal.  We just have to come up with a strategy to help her handle the transition from one sleep cycle to the next.

1. Take a look at her awake time.. is it too long?  Overstimulating before her nap?

2. Excellent with swaddling.. keep this up!

3. How does she fall asleep?

4. Have you gone in at the 30 min. mark? There is an excellent post by Heather 10, I copied it to the Announcement for Short Napping 3-6 months. Take a look at this post, it best describes how to do wake to sleep.