new here - is A time too short?

[PeepersMom]

My 4mo old DS seems to get really drowsy sleepy after only being awake 1 hour.  I have always attributed it to his short naps, and have tried EVERYTHING to lengthen them.  Then I came across this site today and am wondering if I need to try to lengthen his activity time even if he is tired?  I have always had a fear of missing the sleep window so I put him down right away and with a pacifier he goes to sleep rather easily.

His naps are 30 -45 min starting 1 hour after he wakes up.  He generally sleeps from 1830-630 with 1 midnight or so feeding.  After about 4:30-5am it is several pats and pacifier replacements to get him to sleep until 6:30.  Sometimes it takes up to 45 minutes.

We sometimes have up to 5 fitful naps a day! :shock:

Any thoughts?  Thanks

Meg

[albertasweetpea]

Hi Meg and Welcome!
Have you checked out the EASY forum on how to switch your LO to the 4 hour EASY? How often is he eating? You could try lengthening his activity time by 5 or 10 minutes each day, aiming for 2 hours.
It really helped me to read other people's 4 hour EASY schedules to get an idea of where I was headed when Molly was ready.
HTH and keep us posted on your progress.
 :lol:

[Taylor's Mommy]

Hi Meg-ditto what Michelle said about checking out the EASY forum.  It is full of great examples of schedules.

So to answer your question, I think your lo may be ready for a bit more than an hour A time.  It is kind of like a vicious circle because he only takes a 45 minute nap because he has only been up for an hour, but can only stay up for an hour because he has had a 45 minute nap! 

You want to go real gradual with increasing A time so you don't get him overstimulated.  Also do very mellow activity for the extra time as well as a good windown.

There is a post in this forum titled how Tracy helped Josie beat 45 minute naps that gives some excellent advice on how to keep the lo awake.

Also, Tracy's newest book titled the Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems has an awesome plan for strething your lo out to a 4 hour routine to increase Awake times and the length between feeds.

Let us know current routine and how else we can help!

[PeepersMom]

Thanks for your help! I did look at the easy forum and will need to spend some serious time there! 

This is his routine now.........

Up 6-630am
eat 4-6oz
A till 7-730 (an hour usually depends on when he wakes up)
S 45 min sometimes closer to an hour
A about 30in-1 hour
E 9-9:30 4-6oz
A 45min
S 1030 - wakes up after 30 min and I soothe him for up to 45 min to sometimes get another 30-60 min (we're both exhausted now)
E 12:30 4-6oz
A till 1:30-2
S 200 = again wake up after 30-40 min soothe soothe soothe and sometimes get a few more minutes
E 4pm 4-6 oz
A 4-6pm (seriously stretching him out here)
E 6pm 4-6 oz ( cluster feed)
6-6:30 bedtime routine
6:30 -6:45 bedtime
He usually wakes once to eat then we have to do a ton of soothing after 5 am to keep him asleep till after 6 am.

I hope this schedule makes sense. New here so I am not sure what info you want.  His naps have been like this for at least a month.  I have had an occasion where he will take ONE solid nap in the middle of the day, but hasn't happened in about a week.

And I would like to see if his naps could end a little later in the day - like actually last nap finish around 4:30-5 so that he can stay up till 7 pm.  I think if I can lengthen his awake time it will help.  6:30pm is just so early.  We never have enough daddy play time when we are already quieting down at 6pm!

One more thing- I should not worry about his first morning nap being short?  I should be happy with 45 min in the first nap?

Thanks

Meg

[KellyC]

Hi Meg

I just wanted to say that this all sounds very familiar!  I'm using the approach in 'how Tracy helped Josie' to try and extend my 3 month old DS's awake times and I'm using wake to sleep to try and extend his naps.  So far today I've had mixed success - he went down for his first nap having been awake for an hour an a half with minimum fuss, I 'rescued' his sleep after 40 minutes and he went 2 whole hours before I woke him up!  He went down well for his second nap after 1hr 20 minutes awake time but I missed him waking at 40 minutes (it was more like 35) and I couldn't settle him at all.  He eventually fell asleep in my arms (from exhaustion I think!) after 50 minutes of screaming and I managed to put him back down in his bed - I'm going to let him sleep until he's hungry, partly because my head is banging and I found that last episode very difficult to cope with!

Good luck

Kelly x

[PeepersMom]

I think the thing I find the most confusing about this is that he wakes up and is content/happy even laughing in his pack n play (that is where he naps) for 10 min.  Then he gets really fussy and crying for the remainder of the time and I think it either gets to the point where he would be ready for another nap anyway if I had just picked him up in the first place(because I have been trying to save the nap for soooo long) or he is essentially CIO with me soothing him.  KWIM?  I think to myself, why are you crying so hard, I am right here!  this is supposed to be NO cry!!  I just get so confused by it all.

 I (probably stupidly) let him get up after a 40 min morning nap today.  I just could bear it at 8:15 AM  Probably will ruin the whole day.

He did sleep better last night after taking some fitful 2 hour naps yesterday - I can hardly believe it is even sleeping he is trashing around so much, but since his night was a tad better, I guess it was........ :roll:

Meg