7 week old 25 min naps - help!

[teamholly]

Can anyone help with this extremely short nap problem. We are following the EASY 3 hour and our LO sleeps well at night but cannot stretch beyond 25-30 mins on daytime naps. Tried shush/pat for up to 20 mins at a time but to no avail, she still wakes up regular as clockwork after 25-30 mins. Help! Mum needs a break to make lunch etc now Dad is back at work.

[Taylor's Mommy]

how long is she up for at each interval?  perhaps she is getting over tired so is having a difficult time making it into deep sleep.
so far does she seem to be spirited/textbook/angel?
does she use a pacifier? 
Is she swaddled?
Is the room dark and do you use white noise?

At this young age they will really need your help in learnign to fall asleep and trransition into deep sleep and then into the next sleep cycle.  You may need to stay with her for the entire 20-30 minutes each nap time to help her.  I know this sounds tedious and it is (I've been there  :? ), but it is so worth it in the end.

please answer the first couple of questions for me so I can try to help you figure out a plan.

[teamholly]

Thanks for your reply, in answer to your questions she is up for an hour for the feed and winding then 20 mins activity time followed by wind down. We have been looking for the signs of tiredness and think we are spotting them okay. Yes she is swaddled but to be honest we don't recognise her as a specific baby type yet. We are not using a pacifier yet but are considering introducing it. Yes the room is dark but we don't use white noise.

What should we do as the end of the 25-30 mins approaches? We have just tried the 'hands on' to prevent the jolt waking her and it seems to have worked, she has been asleep for over an hour now (hooray!).

We do also have concerns about her becoming distraught if she misses nap after nap as we try to work thru the shush-pat - it seems really tough on such a little one. What do we do if we go through an entire days nap periods and she has not slept at all - isn't it cruel and can it harm her?

Thanks for your help, we really want to improve things for her and us.

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Holly,

It sounds like her Awake time is a bit too long.  Typically at this age most babies can handle no more than 45 minutes or so of total awake time including feeding.  So she may be getting very over tired and making it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Try cutting back her awake time and contine wiht the pat/shush for the next 3 days and see if that makes a difference.  Take a look at the general sleep issues forum for a post at the top of the page from Theo's Mom.  It is titled pat/shush for babies under 3 months old.  That post really helped me a lot, so have a look.

Remember that your lo is still very young and this teaching independent sleep thing is a process.  My dd didn't truly learn to fall asleep on her own till she was about 14 weeks old.

HTH!

[teamholly]

Hi Taylors Mommy,

Thanks for your advice.  We cut down the activity time as you suggested and this definitely seems to be making her happier at least.  We are also now using white noise (waves, running water, etc. CD's) and this also seems to have a calming effect.

We've had a bit of a breakthrough with the last two mornings in the first nap of the day as she has fallen asleep in her basket herself after being put down when calmed.  We leave the room and it then takes her about 5-10 mins to fall asleep during which time she is just talking away to her self and not distressed in any way. She still wakes up after half an hour or so but still this is a huge advancement as we hope this means she is learning to get to sleep on her own. 

We are still having problems with the other nap times but are keeping up with the pat-shush as this nearly always stops her crying and calms her down even if we can't get her to sleep.

Will keep you posted and thanks once again.

[Taylor's Mommy]

that is definitely a breakthrough and one with which you should be very happy and proud of your lo!!
The first nap is the first to get settled, and then come the afternoon naps, so it makes perfect sense that the morning nap is improving.
good luck!