Success storys? Teaching bubs to get past 45min naps!

[hana1978]

I was hoping to get a little inspiration and encouragment with regards to extending nap times - has anyone managed to turn this around for themselves so that bubs is now sleeping 1.5 - 2 hrs?
Im desparate to get this sorted, my LO takes roughly x4 35min naps each day, they did used to be longer - it gets harder to put him down as bedtime approachs so more often than not hes awake from about 3.30-4.00 until bedtime (id love it to be 7.30 but is about 6.15) which i know is too much - he gets overtierd and hard to put down.
If i did shh/patt each time he woke, how long is this expected to take - days?  Weeks?  And how long should i expect to spend next to his crib at first - an hour or more?  Would it get less each time?   He can fall asleep independantly most of the time but can not move past the 35min naps no matter how exhausted he is.  I dont rush in, i leave him to see if he will settle but it turns in to a full on cry at which point i go in.  This has been going on about 3 weeks, so i want to nip this in the bud really before it gets worse, i think overstimulation might be partly to blame, i have playgyms and bouncy chairs that light up and play music, he also loves watching telly so i used to let him for 10-15mins spurts throughout the day  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  also i think hes body clock has just got used to 35min naps.  Hes not too cranky inbetween naps but hes certainly not himself and still rubs his eyes even if hes smileing so i know he needs more sleep.  Even if he took a 35min nap in the morning and afternoon but took a 2 hour lunchtime nap id be happy - not for me im just worried that hes not getting enough sleep. 
He sleeps okish at night, wakes once or twice but 9 times out of 10 out of hunger.  I just need a little assurance - has anyone been in my situation and improved things?

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi, I can totally understand what you're going through and know what you mean about knowing your LO can be better off with more sleep. I was exactly the same.

My ds struggled with 40 min naps from when he was 5 weeks until he was about 4 months. After trawling through the BW site, a NZ baby site and asking everyone, I discovered what was going on and how to fix it for my boy.

Like you have thought, I was overstimulating when he was awake, from under the play gym, to the jolly jumper, a bit of baby mozart etc. Never any 'quiet time' just on the floor by himself or with me. I was always giving him something to do. After 1h 15mins awake he'd be yawning and rubbing eyes to go to bed. So off he'd go, cry for about 5-10 mins then fall asleep for 40 mins exactly. He'd wake up crying mostly but would not resettle even though I could see he was tired. So, up he would be for 1h 15 mins then back to bed. This would go on all day.

Someone pointed out that due to his shortish awake time when he got to the 40 min mark in his sleep cycle which is a light sleep time, he'd wake up through the transition and think "hey, I'll wake up now, because I'm not tired enough to go back to sleep, due to my short awake time". So, I decided to keep him up as long as possible without him having a break down, but do it with really low stimulation. Infact, the whole time we did nothing 'stimulating' for him. It was just stories or walking around the house/garden. He stayed awake for 1h 45mins. Was exhausted when he went down so much so he didn't even cry, just closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He slept for over an hour! I didn't even hear him at 40 mins. I was so surprised, happy and relieved. So for the next few awake times I did really low key and kept him up 1h 30m to 1h 45 mins, depending how he was going.

He can still only do 1h 45m while at home but lasts longer if we're out.

His naps are usually 1 hour for the first, up to 2hours for middle of the day then 1 hour for the early afternoon. I also usually go in to see him smiling and laughing, not crying. Sometimes there's a few tears but only until I pick him up. Not like before.

After 2.30pm once he's woken it's a rare occasion that he will have another nap in his cot. He'll sleep in his buggy while walking for about 30 mins, but that's the only way to get him to sleep. So some days he can be awake from about 2.30pm until bed at 6.30 -7pm. These afternoon can be a little tricky sometimes, but hey, his other naps make it all worthwhile!!!

This worked for me, can't guarantee it will work for you or others, but I hope it does! I battled these naps for so long, I knew he'd be happier if he had more sleep and he is. All the best.

PS I hope you haven't fallen asleep from reading this rather long novel!  :lol:

[hana1978]

Wow    thanks for your reply, and it wasnt too long 
You know what i think overstimulation might be playing more of a part than i thought, my DS has just woken up from a 1h45min nap  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  This morning after reading your post i thought id experiment - i didnt let him watch telly or put him under his gym or in his chair, just sat with me on the bed or i walked him around.  He went down without a peep this morning, he did stir at 40mins but went back to sleep  :shock:  Probably a coincidence - hope not tho - hasnt napped that long in weeks and weeks !!!!!!!!!!
Still have to conquer the afternoon nap tho - not sure that will be so easy  :roll:
Thanks for your help 

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi - grat news, good luck for the afternoon naps!

[Aarismom]

Hey hana,

Another quick suggestion that has really been helping me. I just recently extended my lo's waking time to 2 hours exactly (she's over 4 months now), but it doesn't seem to be helping the 30-40 min waking times (except in the am now). I actually keep wondering if I need to keep her up even longer, since she often doesn't look tired even after 2 hours!! She'll go to sleep, but won't take a long nap without a little help.

What I've been doing is going in right before the 30 min mark and placing a hand on her shoulder area when she starts to stirr to keep her shoulders pinned to the matress (and she can't lift her head as a result). I'm usually in there for a good half hour before she transitions back into deep sleep. On bad days, the most she'll do is whine a little every 5 mins or so, maybe open her eyes and rub them and try to pop her head up (she's a tummy sleeper), but *usually* she goes right back to sleep, and will sleep for another 15 mins to another hour. And if she wakes after an hour, I just shrug my shoulders and know that at least she got a good hour (anything 1 hr or more at this point is restful). She usually wakes up smiling and cooing.

Just another idea, I'm sure you've heard it before, but I thought I'd mention it again

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[hana1978]

Hello and thanks for your reply - i think i might try and extend his waking times by 15mins.  Normally i start wind down 1h after his last wake up so that hes in his cot awake by the 1h30mark - hes normally asleep in 10mins - maybe i should start wind down at 1h15 instead - thing is this would be fine for the first nap but as its only 30mins an hour later hes really really tierd - should i extend the waking time anyway and hope he sleeps a little longer do you think?  Hes 5 months now but was 9 wks prem.

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hana, the first few times might be a bit messy, ie it might be a bit harder to get him down, as he's still not sleeping long enough to stay awake longer. Perhaps just try 5 or 10 mins longer. Apparently 15 mins is a long time in a little one's life, I guess 15 mins of them crying seems long to us though so perhaps that's how it feels to them?!? (I digress...)

The other thing is I've found my ds only stays awake 1h 30m after he first wakes up for the day. This is quite common, to have less awake time then. Sometimes he's awake longer, but not always.

I guess all you can do is give it a go and hope for the best. If it works for the first awake time and he even sleep 40 mins you may find it makes a little bit of difference to his next awake time. I've found the difference between my ds 40 min naps which now last an hour have helped his awake time immensly.

Let me know how it goes.

I'm trying to extend my ds to 2 hours at the moment so I know what you're potentially going through!

[hana1978]

Hello again and thanks for the advice - i did jump in the deep end this morning and extend his wake time by the full 15mins  :oops:  he took aggggggges to settle  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  bad mummy!!!!
Im going to do what you suggested and increase gradually by 5mins - i think he can have his wake time extended now and maybe the reason hes naps are so short is because its all he needs at the time due to his short wake time...?? :?   I dunno its worth a shot anyway !
Like you said even if i managed to extend to 1h that would be a great improvement for now!
hey ho - ill keep you posted!
Thanks again 

[Eden's Mum]

Now I am hardly qualified to give advice as we are really struggling to get close to any kind of nap routine at all. But I though you might find it useful to know as i did that it seems to take ds2 about 15 minutes to put himslef to sleep. What i mean by this is self soothing with no intervention from me at all. In fact if i intervene now, it will generally take him longer.

I have watched him do it, when i put him in his cot and stayed in the room at a distance and i have heard him do it over the monitor. During this time he will sound like i need to go to him. he makes lots of grunting and straining noises, will occaisionally have a few second silence every so often and then start up again, and whilst usually he will not scream if he is going to go to sleep, he will shout out. It is a sort of one off shout that then returns to grumbling, and then a few minutes later will come again. I rarely leave him to scream and scream. if i have to it is because i am desperate and have run out of options to help him.

The reason i mention it is because whilst he doesn't always do it, and doesn't necessarily sleep past 45 minutes, it is tmepting to run in and start soothing them unnecessarily which i guess is the accidental parenting that tracy talks about. in fact alot of thier noises are not distress even thought they leave us feeling axious becuse we don't know what they mean. At night this fussing will eventually lead him back to sleep again if there is nothign he needs, so in the day, that should    be the case too.

Having said all this we are all over the place and i am holding on to my confidence in his abilty to put himslef to sleep with a very wobbly grip. but your lo's might well be able to do this if they hve the space and the lack of any distractions to try it. having siad this we have been expecting ds to do this since day one, and have never done sh-pat.

I am going to give this lack of stimulation thing a go and try and stretch him out and seem if that helps. useful tip.

[hana1978]

Hi Clare thanks for your reply!
It is difficult to know when i should go in and when im basically letting him CIO which i dont want to do - i do let him fake CIO before naps and bedtime as i know hes just trying his luck and doesnt really need me - but when he wakes from a nap im not sure what to do as the cry changes - its more urgent but not a proper waaa waaa - he doesnt grunt or sound like hes trying to resettle hes vvvvv awake and alert and calling for me to get him up.  If i do leave it for a while it gets louder and louder although its still not a proper upset cry but i dont know what to do with him at that point so i get him up :roll:
The thing im confused about is i can just plonk him in his cot and leave and he will fall asleep 9 times out of 10 alone but he just can not seem to resettle which i thought would improve once i taught him independant sleep  :roll:

The lack of stimuli seems to be working tho so id def give that a try if you havnt already - sometimes he may only sleep an extra 10-15mins but hes much much easier to settle - i dont let him watch any tv now!

Are you sleep training at the moment?

[Eden's Mum]

yes we started sleep training from the start really. very gentle and kind but firm. We had awful problems with the first and didn't commit fully to sleep training until he was about 18 months. we kept doing it rather half heartedly beofre. Once we committed to it it took one night! With Noah he is so much younger we don't leave him to scream and scream unless we are absolutely 100% certain that the only reason he is crying is because he is over tired. Then we know that going in will make it worse. Otherwise he leave him to fuss and cry but not to scream with that rythmic  insistant style like you describe. We have a 10 minute rule usually but as i say it takes noah abotu 15 so i have been trying to leave him that long to make sure he has had a real chance to do it himslef.


Obviously noah is a lot younger but we figured taht if we teach him to slef sooth now it will save him and us in the long run. I actually took my own advice today and left him to cry when he woke after 45 minutes of nap time in the middle of the day. I know he needs 2 and a half hours then as he is awful when he doesn't have it and lovel when he does. I heard him wake, decided to wait a bit, so turned off the monitor as i figured why torture myslef when i have made that decision. I then checked the time and switched it back on after 15minutes. silence. He then slept for the full time and i had to wake him  he shuffled about alot during th light sleep time but we didn't go back in at all.

this after noon abotu 1 and half to 2 hours after the end of this nap i decided he was tired. dh and ds1 ahd been having some rough and tumble in the lounge and i thought after seeing this post ds2 might be over stimulated, so i took him upstairs gave him a couple of minutes of quiet time with me,a nd then just put him in his cot. hestruggled at first. he hadn't been yawning or anything, he had just seemed agitated downstairs. When i got down stairs i could hear him fussing and shouting, but not that insistant screaming so i turned off the monitor again,a nd 10 minutes later when i checked he was asleep. we hear him sout out after half and hour but didn't go back as it went quiet again, but when i went in after 45 minutes, he was awake, queit and looking abotu him in his cot quite happy.

Needless to say when we put him to bed tonight he went down really quickly as he was not over tired and had had the right feeds. Today was perfect. yesterday was awful. I just need to have the confidnce in myself that i know when my child is tired or hungry and in him and his ability ot go to sleep. when i don't and i disturb him by trying to help i actually make it worse.

apologies for the awful spelling. I am afraid spell checking all my typos is more effort than i can muster at the moment! :oops:

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi again Hana and Clare - I also thought as ds can self settle at the beginning of his naps, he should be able to do it part way through. And even though he does it mostly at night as he's now sleeping from 7pm until about 5am without waking, he doesn't do it so well during the day. 1 hour is frequently his nap time now. It is past the 40m cycle though, but 1 hour is another cycle time.

Interesting, I was at a cafe with friends yesterday for most of ds awake time, so the activity time was pretty low key. IE cuddles and bouncing on someone's knee. By the time we got back he'd been awake 2 1/2 hours. He looked really tired, but normally in the afternoon he wouldn't go to sleep in his cot at all. Well, much to my surprise he went down and out within seconds. Now I'm wondering was it the low key activity or the lengthh of awake time or both that made that happen? I'll have to try to replicate this again somehow without going to the cafe. Then again.... the coffee and cake was great!  :lol:

Well, better stop rambling now. Happy sleeping everyone and happy awake time too!

DS just had about 2h 20m awake from his first wake up. I put him down at 2 hours and it's taken him 20 mins to go to sleep. Assuming he is asleep. It's quiet. He just made calling sounds then quiet the whole time, no crying or tears. He woke up at 6.40am, then I left him there until 7.,30am. I fell asleep again and he wasn't crying, just the odd noise. Perhaps, once again the low key lying in the cot doing nothing activity helped prolong his awake time. Normally he's 1h 30mins max.

It's beginning to sound like I do nothing with my son. I can assure you, that's not the case. Although I do remember someone saying to me that even lying on the floor looking around is activity for babies. All the things to take in.   :lol:  :lol:

[Deb_in_oz]

   Now I'm wondering was it the low key activity or the lengthh of awake time or both that made that happen?

i am in the same boat. thank you for this thread - i have been following it and saw your point about the low key awake time... I had already been stretching her awake time (and we were now at 2hr 45 - 3 hrs this week) and yesterday added in the low key attitude (as much as possible with a 2 year old playing in the same house and Dh playing music DVDs  :roll: ) and for the first time we had a breakthrough with the PM nap (always stuck at 1hr 30 which woudl be fine if she took a longer am nap but that one has been stuck at 45 min for a LONG time). she was up for 3 hrs and went down without a peep (amazingly not overtired as i expected) and she slept 1hr45 or 2hrs (Dh was here and not sure of exact wake time, just that it was in that range)  WOW!

then this morning she could not make it any longer after 2hr 30 and put her down and she was asleep by the time she landed in the cot.  slept for 1hr 30 exactly!!

now i don't know if it is the low key thing, awake time or just her age, but i am going to keep more of a balance between activities and just give her suffed toys more often than i had been (they are great for exploring but make no noise apart form a little rattly sound in some)

will see what happens later today - the last time she took a 1hr 30 am nap i got stuck with a 45 min pm nap which is worse for us!

[Matthew's Mommy]

Hi there,

Just wanted to interject.

There's a difference between CIO and giving your baby an opportunity to resettle to sleep.  CIO is letting him scream and cry hysterically until he passes out after an extreme long period of time.  Giving your baby an opportunity to resettle-- is not running in at the slightest peep, more like holding back, listening (or observing), and supporting if needed. Tracy has always recommended this approach. She's mentioned about the phantom cry at the 45 min. mark.. many infants will do this cry, when coming out of a sleep cycle.

I just wanted to mention this, since CIO was mentioned.. but really it's not CIO that you're doing.  You're really providing an opportunity to self soothe :wink:

Hang in there ladies..

[Little Bear's Mum]

Debra, that's great news. Isn't it cool when things go right?! After me giving this great advice that worked for me, the last couple of days for me have turned to custard! Yesterday was 40min sleeps all day. Today started great with 2 hours, then 40m and 45m. He did have his 5 month injections though and he's so close to a tooth popping through (I hope) that it could explain why the short sleeps.

I think the 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon worked again too. Even though the sleep was short.

Good luck everyone!

[Deb_in_oz]

well - yesterday she did have a second 1 1/2 hr nap, but then today it was back to 45 min am and 1hr 30 pm so we will see.  at least with the increased length in awake time she did the second nap from 1:30-3pm so did not need the catnap.  i think we are pretty much on 2 naps as of now.  just need to owrk on making them both 1 1/2 hrs or getting the second one to hit 2+ hrs (my preference as that is where she will end up eventually anyway).

i am not sure how careful i was with the low key stuff today though - the weekend was easier with Dh here to balance me - 1 of us is then able to focus on her needs at any cycle.  when i am on my own (and mondays include commitment to Alex's daycare drop off and pick up times which dictate when i can put olivia down for both naps).  will be at home tomorrow all day so will try to see if low key + awake time = 2 longer naps as obviously awake time alone did not work this morning...

[Colesmom]

gosh, aren't we all struggling with the same stuff.

DS had his first 2 hour nap yesterday morning where I didn't have to help him at all.  Kept checking to see that he was breathing!  I kept A time at 2.25 hours for all intervals yesterday.  All naps were good (2,1.25,45 min-woke him up) but bedtime he took an hour to settle.

He slept through until 4:10am after finally going down at 9:00 (seems to only sleep through when down at 9!), i fed him, he stayed up until 5:30 then slept until 7:45 am when i woke him up!!!

What really shocked me is that he started to fuss while i was in the shower (he in bouncy chair watching me-what fun!) and it had only been 1.5 hours awake.  I figured he was bored.  got out and he still fussed while i dried off.  I've been watching the clock so intently i didn't realize he wanted to sleep!  so it took a 5 min. shh/pat battle but he went down just at the 1.75 mark!!!  He's been so good at doing 2.25 hours for days now. 

So-the more rested they are-do they need shorter awake times?  This was his best night sleep in a while :?:  :?:  :?:   These little creatures really are a mystery aren't they!

Traci

[Little Bear's Mum]

Traci, I think sometimes they just get a bit tired before the clock. Just like we do I suppose. I've also discovered that sometimes when I hear ds for the first time, he may have been awake for 10 mins before. So infact, that's when clock watching doesn't work and reading his cues do. He definitely does this in the morning.

DS had his 5 month shots yesterday. He was a bit unsettled in the afternoon, but seemed okay. Went down at 6.40pm instead of 7pm though. Then at 10.15pm there was a murmer and a minute later an all out scream! I jumped out of bed went rushing in to get him. He was really hot and sooo upset. DH had been out, but thankfully walked thru the door at that minute. He gave him huge cuddles and about 5 mins later he had quietened, just wimpering. I tried feeding him, he wasn't interested. Checked the nappy, started screaming again, temperature fine but still got the Pamol out and gave him a dose of that. Seemed to do the trick. After about 15 mins more of cuddling he went to sleep. Phew. It was pretty scary as we've never seen him like that before. I'm so glad hubby walked in just when he did. Helped keep me calmer. As it was I was shaking from worry.

DS slept thru until 4amish had a quick feed then back to sleep until 6.10am. Didn't want to be by himself, didn't want feeding, so more cuddles and about a half dose of Pamol and an hour later back to bed again. Where he's sweetly sleeping now. I even left an arm out! Yep, I'm getting brave and going to try one arm each day nap now for a while. I figured he's had a couple of unsettled days, so what's a couple more if it will achieve what my goal is, to have him unwrapped before too long.


Debra, I know what you mean about getting the nap at the right time, and how it can made a difference. If DS afternoon nap wakes after 2.30pm then he can make it thru with a bit of struggle until bed at 7pm. Ideally I take him for a walk and he goes to sleep though. But if it's before 2.30pm, and he doesn't want to nap again, life gets tricky for the rest of the day. :cry: Then I definitely take him for a walk, or sometimes have to let him cry a bit to settle down to get another nap in.

Good luck with naps and awake time today girls!

[Jack'sMom]

I have been reading advice on various posts for how to lengthen 45 minute naps.  My son is 9 weeks old and won't sleep longer than 45 minutes during the day.  I breastfeed and he is on a 3 hour feeding schedule.  We have a naptime routine with wind-down time.  He goes down for his naps really easily, but without fail, 40-45 minutes into the nap, he wakes up.  I used to think a burp was waking him up and would respond by picking him up and trying to get the burp out.  Sometimes a burp comes really easily and I can get him back to sleep.  But, more often than not now, I can't get him back to sleep.  I tried going in today at the 40 minute mark and holding him down and offering his pacifer and extended the nap by about 10-15 minutes.  Anyone have other tips for getting him to nap longer.
Jen

[Little Bear's Mum]

Jen, if you've tried other options all I can suggest is to try extending his awake time. Even slowly stretching it out by 15 mins might make a difference. This was the only solution out of the dozens that I tried that worked for my son. He was only staying awake 1h 15m and it just wasn't tired enough to get him to sleep over the 40 mins. It might not be the solution for you, but it's an option to try.

[Jack'sMom]

Thanks Little Bear's Mum.  I will try keeping him awake longer.  Are you counting 1 hr 15 min from when your lo wakes up or finishes eating?
Jen

[Little Bear's Mum]

Jacks Mom, I time the A time from when he first wakes, even if it's the morning and he may lie in his cot for 20mins first. So when he was doing 40min sleeps it looked like this.

W = wake
A = activity
C = cot
S = actually asleep


Example

W 10.00
E 10.05am
A
C 11.15am (he would take max 10 mins to go to sleep and I would time from then)
S 11.25
W 12.05pm
A
E 12.45
A
C 1.20pm
S 1.30pm
W 2.10pm

HOpe this makes sense.

[Jack'sMom]

Thanks Little Beas Mum...that makes sense.  We are working on extending his naps

[Eden's Mum]

We seem to be winning gradually on the 45 minute naps. We have had three consecutive days now where he has done 2 and a half hours in the middle of the day with a short nap of 45 minutes either side.  We have done it by not going back in. Because we have donethe same at night i think it is what he is expecting now so provided he has had a good enough feed before hand and hasn't been awake for too long after we can get through. fingers crossed something approaching a routine is starting to emerge.

[gwc1023]

Thanks everyone for this thread!  Abby is 10 weeks old and although we're miles ahead of where we were with my son at this age (she goes down awake and puts herself to sleep unless she's extremely overtired/stimulated), we're now dealing with 45 minutes naps. 

I think I'm going to try extending her wake times and see how that goes for a few days - she is often fussing and practically falling asleep on her feet so to speak after barely an hour, so I've been putting her down then as she looks so tired, but then if it's only a 45 min nap and i can't get her back to sleep, then she's way off her 3hr EASY - you know how it goes!  Will try very low-key wake times and try to extend the activity time a bit over the next few days.

Hang in there everyone - my now three year-old was an AWFUL sleeper until close to a year, and now he sleeps 12 hrs at night and still takes a 2hr nap - it's wonderful!  That fact keeps me going - if he could turn into a great sleeper, I'm sure things will get better with this one!

[Little Bear's Mum]

Dawn, good luck extending awake times. I know just what you mean about trying to do 3hr easy when there's 45m naps involved. Just keep the activity time really low key for the first few times. I've just extended ds awake time to around 2 hours and it only took a couple of days until he could happily do it himself.

[tracefo]

My daughter is 9 weeks old and I've tried to get her into the EASY routine since she was 5 days old.  The problem is that she won't sleep during the day for the 1 and half in the routine and then it's a toss up of what we should do next, let her fuss, feed her, try to get her back to sleep (I've only been able to do that once).  She falls asleep at night no problem, first nap, no problem, but after that it gets more and more difficult and the naps get shorter and shorter to the point that she is very overtired and very grumpy. I always do the four S's, I've tried starting the sleep routine at the first yawn, before the first yawn, long after the first yawn, etc and it doesn't seem to make a difference.  The most stimulating thing we do is watch the ceiling fan or the mobile in her  crib so I don't think she is over stimulated.  I've stayed with her for the duration of her naps so that I can be there when she statles or comes out of sleep but I can't seem to get her into the next sleep cycle and she gets so upset I have to pick her up.  I've tried starting the whole process again, she won't have anything to do with it unless there's been an Eat in there. (She knows the routine!)  I'm just waiting for her to get older so I can try the PU/PD thing, I know she's too young for it now.  I'm at the point where I'm not going to wake her up anymore if she actually sleeps longer than she's supposed to at any given nap or night time because it makes not difference and I feel I'm robbing her of sleep.  I try to follow the typical 3 hour EASY routine but most days it ends up being a 2 and a half or even a 2 hour routine because once she's fussy nothing makes her happy except to start again!
Any suggestions.  We don't get her to bed until 10pm (her dream feed) because she won't sleep until then!
Thanks for any help you might have.
Tracey

[Little Bear's Mum]

Hi Tracey, sorry I can't be of any help. I struggled with the same problem at the same age. I ended up with a 'snacking' baby, who wasn't getting enough to eat at one feed, so was then hungry again sooner than if he'd taken a full feed. Perhaps this is what's happening to your daughter? If she's b/fed, like my son, it's hard to know how much they are really taking. I ended up trying to hold out his feed times so he'd be hungrier, thereby doing:

EAS AEAS AEAS

I think this is quite common with a lot of BW mums who have short nappers. Perhaps put your post on the main nap board and see what other mums and the moderators etc have to say.

Sorry I can't be of any other help. The only experience I have is with a 5 month old boy who's teaching me the ropes daily. :lol:  :lol:

Best of luck.

[tracefo]

Thanks, Little Bear's Mom, I will try posting it on some of the other boards.  It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has these issues.  I did try to leave her today when she woke up but it turned into a full fledged "I'm really mad now" cry so I had to go in.  She's sleeping now though and it's been two and a half hours!  I guess I better get her up to feed!

[Matthew's Mommy]

Hana, how is everything going? Any improvements?

[hana1978]

Not so good (see above post)  :roll:  :cry:  :roll:
Not only will he not go past 45mins but go down altogether!

[gwc1023]

We're doing better the last day or two.  Yesterday I tried going in around 35-40min and staying with her over the 45minute transition, but I was in there for 45 minutes and she would scream for a couple minutes, sort of calm down for maybe a minute, then scream again.  I finally couldn't handle it anymore after about 45min and left (she woke up soon after). 

Her last nap yesterday and then this morning I just left her and she would cry for a minute or two a couple of times, and then she kept sleeping.  Much easier on me and a better result in the end too.  I don't know if maybe me being there was more stimulating than helpful?

We've been working on extending the awake times as well, she initally starts getting fussy around 45min to an hour of wake time, I've been taking her to change her diaper at that point, seems to distract her and put her in a good mood for a little bit.  Then as it gets closer to nap time I've been holding her and walking around the house or reading to my older one.  Doing this we've been going 1hr10min - 1hr 30min in the last couple days, which has seemed to help her naps too. 

Happy to be making a little bit of progress!

[Eden's Mum]

I needed a sleep today and was able to watch Noah attempt to resettle himslef without interveneing or disturbing him. it reassured me that he is fine when i don't go back in. He did resettle for a while but had had a really disturbed day for one reson and another and so eventually i had to giev in, but it showed me that in fact he can do it, and i am not harming him.

[mstormin]

My DS also takes 45min naps & wakes up crabby so I know he needs more sleep.
How many of your LO's are sleeping thru the night?  I've heard that babies sort out their night sleep before their naps so maybe that's the problem??
Of course Tracy also says in her book that good, long naps lead to a more relaxed baby who will sleep better at night!   :lol:

[Richelle]

Hi Mstormin,

My dd is now sleeping straight through the night from 7:30PM to 6:30AM (with no dream feed-she never took to it so we have never done it).  I strated her on cereal at 4 mos. but she is also 17 pounds so my ped. told me to do what i thought was best so here we are and she is doing great.

You are right that babies sort out night sleep first.  My dd has always been great at night, only 1 night waking since she was 4 weeks old, but a horrible napper.  Once i really decided to sort her out for her naps it was mainly teaching her to fall asleep independently, which took only a week or so, then it was a matter of tweeking her awake and nap times to best suit her.  She still now has a few snags with 45 minute naps but I can usually get her back to sleep with a few butt pats!

I also think that a very structured day has helped.   I needed to get back to work and I needed a schedule for the nanny, she is always at home for her naps, in her crib with the same wind down routine, even her activity time for the most part is very consistent day to day-not very exciting for mommy but it has payed off.  We do of course have a family fun day once a week and we go out in between her naps ect...which is easier now with 4 hour EASY!

Anyway-I have gone on and on...sorry!  Hope that helps!

Richelle

[jswerczek]

I thought that the re-settling would come naturally too with all the independent sleep training. My ds falls asleep every time on his own and was taking beautiful naps. He is 14 weeks old and transitioned great to the 4-hr easy about three weeks ago. He was staying awake about 1.5-2 hours and sleeping 1.5-2 hours. After the 45 m. mark I would watch him wake up put his legs in the air, make a bunch of noises but then eventually fall back asleep. Well no more. For the past week he has not been able to re-settle himself and getting him back to sleep is just not working. It seems he has regressed in the amount of awake time, I can't seem to push him at all. He just seems bored and fussy all the time. Maybe I am overstimulating him? After about an hour of awake time, no matter what I do, he seems to just cry and act tired. Maybe if I used less of the gym and chair and other things, he would last longer. I feel I give him plenty of quiet play, I've begun to turn off the t.v. and just interact with him. I suppose I should try an even lower stimulating time so we can get longer naps. I am just not sure what has changed in him.

What about doing the wake to sleep method for the nap? Has anyone had any luck with this? Do you actually wake him or just wait for him to first stir and then hold down his shoulders?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[jswerczek]

I just noticed there are more pages to this thread! Silly me, I am sure I will find more answers if I just read on....

  

[shem2005]

jennifer - my DD is likes your LO. I find it hard to push her past 1 hour of awake time.

She can go to sleep brilliantly but sometimes needs help transitioning, the first sleep of the day is usually the best. So why can she transition in the first sleep of the day and at night but not the other sleeps.

I have started trying to extend her awake time to 1.5 hours but don't know if this is causing the issue with naps. I am so sick of naps and having to resettle, which only works sometimes and doesn't seem to be getting any quicker - still takes 20-30 minutes.