Question re: Josie's phone conv. w/ Tracy

[kmetli]

I have been doing the same with my almost 5mo daughter. It is turning out that most times I can extend my daughters nap to an hour and a half and sometimes two hours. My question is this, how long does intervening like this take for them to overcome the short naps and is this short nap thing something they outgrow or do you have to teach them to sleep longer?

Thanks
Kate

[deb]

It took us about 7-10 days for most (maybe 80-90%) of naps to extend themselves and for the 4AM waking to go away, if that helps.....

Natalie's pretty much outgrown the short naps on her own, which is good because now that Josie's a preschooler with attitude :?, she wasn't letting me extend her baby sister's naps they way I did her own! :roll:

[kmetli]

Did you do the same thing for the 4 am waking, the go in and make sure they don't wake in the first place. When did she outgrow the short naps?

Thanks for the quick reply!!!
Katie

[deb]

Hmmm.... for the 4AM waking, I'd send DH in first to do the dirty work, since he didn't smell like the milk bar! LOL He'd put the paci back and try to get her settled. If she didn't settle after 20 minutes I'd go ahead and feed her, but usually he'd get her back down for another hour or two and eventually she'd sleep through that too.

Natalie started sleeping longer around 5 months on her own. She still wakes at night, sometimes 3-4 times, but a lot of that is pacifier-related. (That's a whole other embarrassing saga....  :oops:  :oops:  :oops: )

[Mom to M&M]

Deb - interesting to know that Natalie started getting past 45 min naps around 5 months. Marisa is almost 4 months and frequently doing the 45 minute thing - sometimes one hour.

Did you try to extend with Natalie or not? Usually when I try with Marisa it just makes her mad. Sometimes she can resettle herself - often not.

[deb]

I don't know if it would have made Natalie mad, but it sure ticked off Josie to have me not spending that time with HER. :roll: LOL I'm just glad she outgrew it on her own or I might still be combatting them..... :?

[Mom to M&M]

So what did you do before she outgrew them? Get her up after 45 minutes if she couldn't resettle herself? If so, was she totally a cranky mess?

[deb]

So what did you do before she outgrew them? Get her up after 45 minutes if she couldn't resettle herself? If so, was she totally a cranky mess?

Whether I got her up or not mostly depending on whether Josie would LET me continue trying to resettle or not. If she absolutely couldn't, I'd get her up and try to keep her as happy as possible and try again 20 minutes later, give or take - again, depending on the sometimes evil Princess Josie's demands. :roll:

[kmetli]

I am now on day 21 of no paci and I am about to go out of my mind with the short naps. I have been sneaking in her room to extend the naps at the 25 min mark and it seems to be helping sometimes, but I have been doing this for 3 weeks and she still wakes if I don't go and help her. If I let her wake and did the pat/shh she seems to respond to, would that help her sleep longer and maybe work better????? Did you say that 80-90% of babies outgrow the nap thing, because my LO will be 5 months in a couple days. I need the day naps too, she still wakes 3-4 times a night. Help?!!!! Any suggestions????

Kate

[kmetli]

We are on day 24 with no paci and I am about to go out of my mind. She can not get over the 45 min nap thing and she is still waking the same at night!!!! I am so tired!!!! I have been trying to figure out the nap thing since her 3 mo growth spurt and the same with the night wakings. She is no longer responding to the pat/shh and gets really mad when I do pu/pd. I am at a loss because I either need the night sleep or the naps during the day and I can't seem to get either!!! The only way I can get close to a 2 hour nap is if I lay in my bed with her and take one too. Other times if I do the wake to sleep I can get no more than an hour and a half. She is up to a 2 hour activity time and they are pretty low key. No singing play mat, the only thing is the tv for a while. Does anyone have any suggestions.?!!!
 
Thanks
Kate

[deb]

Kate - at this point I'd recommend that you get some help with the night wakings. I know that for me being able to send in DH was a literal lifesaver, as I was also dealing with some heavy PPD at the time. Yes, he had work to go to, but when I reminded him that I was on call 24/7 and I needed a break, he took the hint. On weekends we'd take turns sleeping in in the mornings and spelling each other for naps. Can you each decide to take a night or two, or (as my DH and I did) to each take a portion of the night?

And crazy as it sounds, you may want to (brace yourself) consider giving back the pacifier, or trying it. Natalie was driving us mad with waking for the thing, and then one day she started to work out how to put it BACK IN BY HERSELF!!!!! Now when I put her in her crib with the paci in her mouth, I lay 2-3 more where her hands can grab them if she wakes without one, and so far I've heard her wake from naps and night sleep a couple times and put herself back down once she has it in her mouth. She really is SOOOOO strongly dependent on sucking SOMETHING, and I'd rather have it be THAT than ME, especially now that she's learning to do it herself.

I think I'd also make sure she's getting enough physical activity to tire her out. Is she getting plenty of tummy time? You can put her on her tummy, put a favorite toy in front of her to lure her, and help her by pushing her feet with your hands so she gets the idea of forward motion, and then when she gets the toy she can play with it on her tummy or roll to her side.

I wonder if she's cutting teeth. Josie waited till 7 months before hers finally started popping through, but she'd been chewing on her hands relentlessly for 3 months by then, and Natalie is currently on meds to help relieve the pain of number FOUR (her bottom 2 came in at 4 months and she's working on the top 2). Does it make a difference if you give pain meds 20 minutes before naptime?

Finally, if she will sleep WITH you, maybe for ONE nap a day you might want to do that. I remember when Josie was small and I was so desperate for sleep, I'd lay her on my belly and the two of us would sleep soundly like that for up to THREE HOURS, after which I could handle the rest of the day so much better. (Just remember to pee first!)

[kmetli]

Deb thank you so much for the quick reply!! I was keeping her activity time pretty low key. She is doing tummy time but gets very frustrated on her tummy so we are working on that, I will keep her more active and do a wind down time at the end.

I was actually considering giving her her paci back. I DF her at 11 and she wakes at 3:30 and the only thing that gets her back to sleep most of the time is nursing. She takes a 5-6 oz of a bottle at the DF, so I am wondering if it is comfort or hunger at this point. It took so long to wean her from the paci and we actually stopped the swaddling at the same time. I am not getting any sleep now so why not.

I think she is teething because she constantly chews on her hand, I give her Tylenol before she goes to bed but I don't know if it helps for she is still waking up. I think at this point it is habitual. I am going to try the paci again tonight and we will see how it goes. How old was your lo before she started putting the paci back in her mouth on her own?.

Thanks again
Kate