I'm confused about Naps & Activity

[Nicola_G]

Hi there,

Yes, I am confused. I have been struggling on and off recently with 45 minute naps, but have had some success extending them once he wakes via pat/shh (well, its more a rub/jiggle shh, but whatever works, eh?! ). I am also considering extending lo's A time so that he is on a 4.5 hour EASY in the next couple of months (haven't started that yet).

Anyway, what I'm confused about is this - I have read here that 45 minute napping can be caused by overtiredness (which I am being vigilant in trying to prevent, watching his tired signs). But how then does one extend A-time (even a little bit at a time) without introducing overtiredness? Is it that my ds will start to be ready to extend his own A time, or should I introduce it and then face the potential of overtiredness and correspondingly shorter naps?

Help!

[*Natasha*]

Hi Nicola,

45 mins naps can also be caused by not enough awake time. My DD almost 6 months and was generally always a good sleeper until a few weeks ago when she started fighting first nap then second (always fought the cat nap) then bed time. Then the 45 min nap monster appeared so i decided to review her routine. I slowly extended her awake time from 2 to 2.5hrs. I started with the first nap extending it by 15 mins for a wk then i did 15 mins extra on pm nap. Then 15 mins extra am for a wk and 15 mins extra on pm nap and what a difference it made. I had to play around with the time she went down in the pm for a while but finally think i have it under control.
So she now gets up at 7am
First nap 9.30am until around 11.15 (no longer than 11.30)
Second nap 2pm until around 4pm (no longer than 4.15pm)

I hope this helps good luck 

[HeatherC]

I agree with Natasha.  You want to increase the A time slowly and give you lo a chance to adjust.  If he seems to resist and become overtired, go even slower with it.  He will naturally increase her A time on her own, and this is something else you will need to watch for.  Signs of needing more A time will include shorter naps, lenghtening his time between feeds and therefore needing more A time and a later nap during the cycle.