I could have written your post ---
My LO started the 45min nap at about 3 months. I search high and low for information and found Tracy’s work, then the site. By the time Megan was now well into 4mos and I moved dc to 4hr EASY as Tracy recommends and the short naps got a bit better. I then used shh/pat, pu/pd (very little) and wake to sleep techniques to get dc body used to sleeping thru the 1st sleep cycle as by now it was a well ingrained habit. We saw improvement almost immediately (although small, but it was improvement) and I was convinced Tracy’s work was a godsend.
We worked on dc naps for 2 weeks solid and after much shh’ing and back aches we started sleeping about 1.25-1.50 for most naps.
Things were great for 2 wks after beating the 45min nap monster. But then the monster came back. I thought I would fall off the deep end. What I didn’t take into consideration was that dc was older now. So I increase dc A time by 15min and poof…the monster was gone again. At 5mos 2.25hr of A time was the magic number for us.
We have now been thru the 45min battle several times over, every time dc is ready to increase dc A time dc starts the short naps. So when that happens I know it is time to adjust dc schedule or prepare to drop a nap.
Also here are the averages for 6-8 mo:
2.5 after am wake up – usually 1.5-2.0hr in length
2-3hr after end of am nap – same as above
Hope that helps!
