Nap Time Nightmare!

[Lee-Stuart-Joshy]

He never naps for longer than 30mins! Why is this?
I always notice the tired stage and try to get him off straight away - the problem is, he will not put himself to sleep - he has to be rocked with his soother and then put on his belly with pat and rub on his back.
If i were to just leave him, he gets ratty from tiredness but wont go off to sleep.
I havent tried the PU/PD yet because he has chronic wind and is only 12 weeks old.  He is just getting over colic and now seems to have a bit of reflux, so i feel bad not cuddling him off to sleep because sometimes he is in pain and needs reassurance.
The only was he will sleep longer is in the car, or if he is out in the buggy.  Then he will only wake for a bum change or for feeding, but i cant go out everytime he needs a nap - or is that what i have to do?
It is so tiresome because i never have time to get washed and dressed properly, do the bottles or tidy up.
Any tips???!?

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi there and congrats on your new baby.

A few things:

1. At 12 weeks old your lo is still very small and it would be a miracle if he was able to fall asleep completely on his own.  Learning independent sleep is a process that takes time.  With my dd she didn't learn to fall asleep on her own until about 15 weeks...so you're almost there!   

2. 30-45 minute naps are very normal at this age...in another book I read that is just focused on infant sleep, it says that day time sleep is "normalizing" up until week 16 for some infants, so 45 minute naps are very normal.

3. To work on getting past those 45 minute naps (or 30 in your case), work on going into his room at 25-30 minutes and pat/shush or just apply firm pressure to help your ds get through to the next sleep cycle.  (read the post at the top of this page titled wake to sleep for more details).  This technique can be time consuming, but it will help your ds get more rest so he is not so cranky at the end of the day.

4. Continue to work on independent sleep by using pat/shush.  I found that once my dd could fall asleep on her own, the 45 minute naps finally went away after 7 weeks of battling them.

Good luck!