4 mth old going from 45 to 30 minute naps ... VERY FRUSTURATING!!!

[Silas Mum]

I've posted on the naps board before & have had some great advice.  Thanks!  When I say I've tried EVERYTHING to get my 4 month old to sleep longer than 45 minutes for his naps, I really do mean everything ... but maybe there is something someone out there can further suggest to help us, as DH & I are BEYOND frusturated, as we can now see that LO's lack of naps is now affecting his night time sleep.  We've tried W2S, which helped to extend from 30 to 45 minute naps, but now LO is going back to the 30 minute naps!!  URGH!  We've tried pressure at the points, pu/pd, soother, lovie, white noise, etc ...  We find that now that he is back to the 30 minute naps, he's waking at least 7 times a night, where as before it was about twice.
Here's what his day usually looks like :

E - 700am (7.5oz of formula ... at every feed)
A - 2 hours from wake time (he starts fussing at exactly the 2 hour mark)
S - 30 minutes (the rest of the "S" time is spent trying to get him back to sleep

E - 1100am
A - same as above
S - same as above

E - 300pm
A - same as above
S - same as above

E - 700pm
A - same as above
S - same as above

DF @ 1015pm, 5 oz of formula

[Silas Mum]

When he only sleeps for 30-45 minutes, we try for the rest of the "S" time to get him back to sleep.  So, that would entail keeping him in the dark nursery while trying everything under the sun to get him back to sleep.  Sometimes he'll sleep for 5 minutes.  Once this week, I brought him onto our bed, since my back was sore from leaning over the crib, so I stretched out and laid him beside me and I just put my hand on his body and held his other hand and I hummed really low and he fell asleep for an additional 30 minutes.  When it does come time to feed, after the short sleep, we try to put him down right away, thinking that, "oh, he'll be really tired now, so let's put him to bed and skip activity time", but he shows none of his usual tired signs and then he just wants to laugh and play when trying to settle him.  Sometimes after the feed that follows the short nap, I'll take him in the car to town thinking that he'll hopefully fall asleep, but to no avail ... it's almost like the car ride keeps him awake! 

Are you thinking that we should stick with putting him to back to bed right after the bottle, even if he wants to just play and laugh?  Would we then just keep doing this until he gets sleepy and then sleeps another 30-45 minutes?  Then technically, we would spend the rest of that "A" & "S" time getting him to sleep.  So that would be like 4 hours worth of frustration??!! 

When do LO's just start sleeping longer at naps by themselves?!!

[summersusu]

When he wakes do you go to him immediately.  Maybe you should leave him alone and see what he does, maybe he will play and then go back to sleep, or play and then get tired and ready for you to come in and help soothe him back to sleep.  My DS will sometimes take short naps but for the most part they are longer than that... so I am not sure what to tell you.  Maybe you are going in too soon.  I am not a fan of crying it out but a little tossing and fussing is normal unless he is hysterical I would leave him in there for a while to see if he would go back to sleep.
HTH 

[Silas Mum]

For the second nap today, I put him down 30 minutes after feed, since he was giving the sleepy cues ... he's down now, so I'm trying really hard to do lots in my precious 30 minutes!!  LOL! 

I wonder if we should go back to swaddling at naps?  We do a one arm swaddle, only at night time.  LO does fail about alot.

We've tried not going in so quickly, but he just ends up rolling onto his tummy and since he can't roll back yet, he starts freaking out.     

[jwhitt]

I have no advice here...but I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone.  I don't know the last time my 4 month old slept past the 45 minute mark of his nap.  Actually I CAN tell you...it was about 2 months ago! lol  I too have done EVERYTHING I know to do and I'm about to give up and just say he'll sleep longer when he's ready and all I can do until then is just keep being consistent in how I put him down, etc.  We're taking up to 5 naps a day some days because of the short naps....I feel like I'm CONSTANTLY putting him down for a nap.  But I've found that when I stress about it I stop enjoying my baby like I should and I don't want that to happen...they're only little for so long!

[Silas Mum]

Thanks for your encourgement ... it does sometimes feel like we are alone!  It's even harder when friends of ours say things like, "our little one sleeps for 2-3 hours at naptime".  URGH!!  I do feel like all I do everyday is try to get LO to nap longer!  Before I know it, it's 300pm and I'm not dressed and I haven't even brushed my teeth!  DH & I were just chatting over a cup of coffee earlier tonight and saying that maybe we'll just have to wait a few more months for him to just start sleeping longer by himself.  Yes, I am stressing about this nap thing and it's affecting me more than I should let it ... it's just that when it started to really disturb the night sleep, I began freaking out!  Thanks for letting me vent.  =) 

[.:alexsmom:.]

You are definetly not alone.  My little guy turned 4 months old today and since about 12 weeks of age, we have been having the dreaded 45 minute nap.  I haven't swddled him for a while now because he kept breaking out of it.  I read a suggestion on this board abouh double swaddling.  For the first time yesterday, I got a 2 hour nap.  I'm overjoyed and have my fingers crossed that it is the solution I have been looking for.  Basically, I swaddle him once with one of his hands out and then us a larger swaddle over top.

[Silas Mum]

Thanks to alexsmom & jwhitt ... it's so good to know we aren't alone!

For the last nap yesterday, I decided to fully swaddle LO, and we got 15 minutes of sleep!  Hurray!  We are going to my parents today for a week and I am dreading the comments ... "what you're still swaddling" or "that's just for the first 6 weeks".  I know some people say it can be a prop, but at this point I'm all for safety pinning him up! 

If anyone out there is reading this, can you atest to your LO sleeping 45 minutes and then one day they just start sleeping longer? 

[Nay - Mateo's Mom]

Hiya!!

My LO is now 8 months old... and I can atest to the fact that he used to sleep about 30-45 minutes, then after some long pu/pd and shh/pat sessions he's now a great napper (of course I'm saying that as he's been rolling around in his crib for the past 30 minutes! 

Anyway, it does all fall into place one day... oh, gotta run ...no wait... he's okay now.
Good Lord they keep us hopping, don't they.

Hang in there. It does get better. Just stick to the swaddling if you need to, we did until about 5 months...

Gotta run,
Nay

[.:alexsmom:.]

I would give the swaddle a second try.  I was even more successful today: 1 1/2 hour nap, 45 minute nap then a three hour nap.  He also slept for 8 hours straight (something he hasn't done since his 3 month growth spurt).

Who cares what other people think.  If it works for you and you are OK with it, go ahead and do it.  I keep getting pressure from my parents generation as to what is right and wrong.  I refuse to give him pablum (even though he is 19 pounds now and just 4 months old as of today).  My MIL wants me to give it to my son before his bedtime in a bottle!!!  Everyone has an opinion, the experts contridict themselves.... so, in the end do what you feel is right.  This is the best advice that I ever got.

[GKirk]

hi!
my ds has been bitten by the 45 min nap bug also!! sometimes i go into the nursery when hes woken up at the 45 min mark and he is ---WIDE-- awake! There is no getting him back to sleep.. he is on a 3.5 hour easy and sometimes the only thing i can do is let him eat and have activity time.. then take a 45 minute nap.. have 45 minutes more of activity time and then another 45 minute nap!! It has worked a few times for me i ususally only use it after his 11am feed.. ive tried waiting to see if he will fall back asleep No Chance!! He is hysterical in about 2 minutes!!

[MGardner]

I've got to say this but I am hving the SAME exact issue and every post I have read on this Nap Forum about short 30-45 min naps the LO's are all between 3-4 months old and in between 3 and 4 hour EASY. that has got to be a trigger or something, mixed with growth spurt and anything else. I have tried everything from extended A times, to shortened A times, to swaddling, unswaddling, everything. Tomorrow i am goin to try wake 2 sleep. but if I wake 2 sleep do I have to do that every single nap forever?

[Silas Mum]

Oh, do I have some interesting tidbits!  Since I started this posting, I had this nagging feeling in the back of my brain that we need to start LO on solids.  He was 18lbs. at 4 months.  Last week I took him to the Dr. and when I told her he was taking 8oz. every 4 hours and was taking 45 minute naps, she said to start him on solids and the naps would improve.  Was she ever right!  The first day we gave him solids, in the afternoon, it was such a little amount, like 1 tsp. of rice with 3 tsp. of formula.  He took is great and didn't spit up anything.  The next day we did it again, but in the afternoon and evening.  Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa's and Mum said to give solids in the morning and more than 1 tsp.  We gave 1 Tbsp. of rice and he slept for 2 hours!!  The last 4 days he's done this!  The wierd part is, is that he was tired after only being up 45 minutes!  He had never shown tired signs this early before.  We also went back to swaddling, so I don't know if the combination of all these things was what did it, but I am tempted to believe it is the solids.  Yesterday we just did the twice a day of feeding solids, but 2 hours after the second bottle of the day, of 8 oz., he was starving.  He took 6 oz. more of formula!!  So, we figure he needs solids three times a day.  So far today, he's done great.  Granted, I gave a bit less of solids at the second bottle. 

So, I just thought I'd let you all know what happened ... we were SHOCKED at the 2 hour nap .... let's hope it continues!!  Off to the feeding solids board I go ... no idea what or how much to feed him when he starts to want more! I know Tracy doesn't advocate starting solids this early, but in the BWSAYP book, she does have an example of a 4 month old starting solids because he was 17lbs. 

Thanks for all the help and advice!!