Sudden change in nap habits

[mtmom30]

What might cause a baby's naps to change?  My DD will be 11 weeks old tomorrow.  She used to be a great napper (three 2-hour naps/day) and very easy to put to sleep in her crib - until this week.  For the last 2 days she either cries when I put her down in her crib or will wake after only 1 hour.  I've never used any props to put her to sleep - we usually just have some quiet time and then I'll sing her a lullaby.  But now that doesn't work anymore.  Any suggestions?  Could this be related to a growth or developmental spurt?  How can I change her back to her old schedule?

[catnz]

My DD is 12 weeks and I was having the same problem.  She was an excellent napper and slept well at night too, but then her naps became short and she started waking at night.  I tried the wake to sleep thing during the day to lengthen her naps, but that wasn't working, so even though she is only 12 weeks, I decided that maybe she needed to start transitioning to a 4-hour easy routine.  I started out slowly increasing her awake time and thus lengthening the time between feeds.  She was obviously ready for it, it only took a few days, now she has two 4 hr naps and a 45 min catnap a day.  Shes alseep at night by 7:30, a dream feed at 11 and then sleeps till 7am.  I feel like I have my angel baby back.  I was really worried that she was too young to start the 4 hr easy, but obviously not.  Hope that helps.

[Meg's Mom]

I pulled this from the announcement at the top of this page for teaching sleep ... please have a look at them all but this may give you some helpful info:

My 13 week dd recently reverted to short naps. I was convinced there was something I was doing wrong and that if I could just find out what it was the short naps would be gone.
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Strategy/Result:
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Matthew's Mommy (Jane) shared some info with me that has reassured me and given me the strength to face another day of trying to extend my dd's naps.

From 0-3 months babies work on organizing their night sleep. From 3-6 they work on organizing their day sleep. What is happening is biological and is a normal blip. In the meantime, I am going to try to extend her naps with wake to sleep so that she gets used to the sensation of going from one sleep cycle to the next. I am keeping her awake time at 1.5 hours and will start moving her towards the 4 hour EASY when she is 3.5 months or so.

Jane also advised that I do a pre-wind down before all naps. So if the nap is supposed to start at 8:30, around 8:00 start walking around the house or the garden. The swaying motion of walking releases a calming hormone in the baby. Walk around until 8:15 and then start your wind down. In my wind down I rock her for a bit, turn on a lullabye, take off her clothes, change her diaper, swaddle her, and then "slow dance" with her. I may tweak the wind down/pre-nap routine but it worked well this morning.

Jane did say that it could take a while for things to get sorted out in regards to her day sleep. But I just feel so much better knowing that what is happening is not my fault and it is just biology. I also feel like I won't be as frustrated with her as it is just another part of her growing up.