Could there be a correlation?

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

My DS is 14 weeks, and I have been trying to help him transition into a 4 hr EASY. So far, Gage has only been able to be awake 45 min. as he gets crabby and overtired. He usually lays in his crib anywhere from 20-40 min until he falls asleep. He would be very content doing this as long as he was "laying down" 45 min after he was awake. However, he was only taking 45 min to 1 hour naps.

Since he is approaching 4 months, and I have been noticing less eating at feeds and increased night wakenings. As a result, I thought I would try to extend his his A time. For the last week I have been extending ALL of his A times by 15 min. I have been doing them all at once. Then I read something about just extending the first morning A time for 3 days. So I have also been extending that A time for an additional 15 min going from 45 min to 1hr and 15 min. After this A time his nap has been 2 hours! 

Every since this change he has been EXTREMELY crabby upon wakening and wakening more at night. In fact, I have had to put him back to bed after 15 min after wakening from a nap. I attributed this to the transition, but I just realized that the poor boy might be overtired. I think I was doing too much at once. Am I right? Should I back off? What A times should I extend? Should I go back to the 45 min thing? Will he ever be able to stay up longer than 45 min?

[deb]

Maybe just extend the AM Awake time a couple more days and then try adding the second Awake period so you're not doing too much at once. This change won't happen overniht and he may be cranky and out-of-sorts till things sort themselves out, so I'd give it a couple more days before deciding to just go back to 45 minutes, especially if you had such success with the first nap!

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

So should I revert back to 45 min for all of the other naps. Last night he was up until 1 am and then back up at 7 and would not go to bed until 10am. He hasnt ate well at all this morning.

[deb]

Well, I'd try to extend the other naps but not go bonkers trying to at first - if it works, then you have a bonus long nap!

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

Thank you so much for your help 

[Aarismom]

Approaching 4 months huh?

At around 4 months, maybe late in the third month, most lo's tend to go on a sleep strike or something. Naps shorten to around 45 mins, often night sleep is affected as a result. What's happening is day sleep rhythms are developing. This is perfectly normal, and will pass in about 3-4 weeks. But until then, you just have to kind of ride it out, start to push toward 2 hours of waking time, but do it slowly since technically they're not up to 2 hours until closer to the 5th month.  It's not an easy transition for some, and for others it's a walk in the park.

So, keep your chin up, I promise, this will pass, although you'll want to tear your hair out for awhile. When mine finally got through it I wanted to have a formal celebration!!

*HUGS*
Sonya =P

[KellyC]

I just wanted to thank Sonya for the encouraging post - though I'm sure it'll be a new phase once this one has passed!

Kelly x

[Gage and Sophie's Mom]

yes, thank you everyone for your responses. If I can just get through this day, I know tomorrow will better.