How do I extend naps?? Help!

[bsparki73]

Hi,
I'm really needing some advice re extending the 45 min nap! Oscar is nearly 6 months, I've recently tried to move him from 3 to 4 hour EASY...I was basically unaware that I should've moved him by now!! Anyway, we have also recently weaned him off dummy/wrap & he's doing really well! He sleeps 12 hours at night (with dream feed) & goes off to sleep for his naps but wakes at 45 mins.

For the last 2 days I've tried to get him back to sleep but to no avail (starting with his first 9am nap). I try pu/pd & pat/shush although I don't roll him on his side as he doesn't sleep on his side & it seems to stress him?? Also if I try to block his sight he tries to grab my hand so I try to just use my voice and/or pat him on his hip. So far no success in getting him back to sleep. My problem is then dragging it through to 10.30am, then getting him up, feeding him at 11am.

My big question is, how long do I then keep him up? And then assuming that his next nap is only 45 mins as well, & the next one for that matter, how long do I keep him up? I've been trying to still stretch for 1 & 1/2 hours after he's only had 45 mins, then he goes down & only sleeps 45 mins again, so how long do I then keep him up? As the day wears on, it usually means by the end that he has to go back down again before a feed because he had to go down so soon after the last one!

What's the best pu/pd, pat shush method to be using with a 6 month old? He sometimes wakes happy from naps, other times grizzly.
So far, if the afternoon has become a mess, he still drops straight off to sleep at bedtime (after bath/dinner). He's been trying right now to get to sleep for an hour (obviously just so overtired) and it's now 5.15 so then I just think, don't bother anymore & he can just go to bed at 6.30?

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
sophie

[Matthew's Mommy]

Hi there,

I think the announcement for short napping past 6 months will help you.

I recommend not going in to extend his naps. He's at an age where it may actually work against you.

Instead, make sure that his awake time is appropriate for his age (over 2 hours), and that he is falling asleep in his crib.. so winding him down less and lying him down awake. 

Just keep at it, it will come.

[bsparki73]

Thanks Jane, I read the 'overcoming 45 min naps 6mth +'. Oscar is doing everything 'right' ie. soothing himself in bed before his nap (usually 15 mins of babbling etc), i put him in awake etc. Sleeps all night. this morning he was awake 2 hours after waking up, napped for 45 mins, then awake 2 hours after that nap. If he were to only sleep 45 mins again now though he would start to get tired earlier than 2 hours....so do I put him to bed at say, 1 & 1/2 hours or should I keep stretching him out in the hope he will extend? It's just that when I do that, he's usually so tired by his last nap that he can't get himself to sleep. But then he does always go down OK for an early bedtime (ie. 6.30pm). I always leave him when he first wakes in the hope he'll go back...I wait until he crys out which can be quite a while...once he did put himself back! But otherwise I'm not worrying now to go in & try & soothe him back...doesn't work he just gets worked up. Maybe without the exhaustion caused by me trying to get him back to sleep he will be OK with getting to sleep later in the day even if he's been up for 2 hours!
Sophie  :?