Naps

[east]

Hi

As my little one does not take long naps in the afternoon - say about 30mins if I go in and put the dummy in she settles again. Should I continue to do this to get her to sleep longer within the routine?Or is this a prop? Baby is nearly 12 weeks old and not sleeping through yet.

East

[owensmommy]

Hi there,

My lo is 14 weeks and he wakes after 45 minutes during all his naps.  He also used a paci.  I would recommend adding shh-pat to your routine.  It really helps us extend naps and although we use the paci, it's the shh-pat that really gets him to settle - he drops the paci before he's completely asleep.  Our hope is that with time we can wean the paci and continue using shh-pat, then wean the pat and then the shh

On several occasions we have found out lo has slept through the 45 minute waking on his own.  It doesn't happen often but it has gotten a lot easier to send him back to sleep and with time (as he develops and his nervous system matures) I think he will do so more often.

[east]

Great Thanks - do you try and extend the naps to the 1.5hrs?

[owensmommy]

I sure do - sometimes it wors and sometimes it bombs

I tried wake to sleep but he is such a light sleeper that he just wakes up.  I listen for him to stir and then go into his room.  I usually give him his soother back as he's rooting for it with his eyes still shut.  Then I use shh-pat.  Sometimes he falls back to sleep, other times I have to pick him up for a moment until he settles and then I put him down and begin shh-pat.  Other times he just rolls onto his back and looks at me like I'm crazy for thinking he's going to nap longer!

Overtime, about 3 weeks, we've made progress.  Just this week we've seen more progress and yesterday we got a 1.5 hour nap, a 1 hour nap and a 2 hour nap.

There have been many times when I felt like throwing in the towel and some days I just let him nap for 45 minutes.  In the long run it's been worth the effort (all the effort)

[albertasweetpea]

Hi East...just wondering - do you swaddle your LO? We found with our DD when we swaddled her tightly she slept so much better, often able to get over that 45 minute jolt on her own.
Just a suggestion anyways, good luck!

[owensmommy]

Swaddling was also key to our success - he's almost rolling over so we'll have to wean the swaddle soon but so far it has really helped.

[east]

Hi

Thanks for getting back to me.

Yes we do swaddle which does help a lot. May try the wake to sleep but once again she is a light sleeper.Tried with her today to get her off this afternoon and she took nearly an hour to settle and then only slept for a short time. I try to keep her up for only an hour and 15 mins and sometimes she has sleepy cues before then so I try to act on them as well but then when I lay her down she is sprightly.

Trying to get the naps in so that it may help with the night time I also think it affects how much she will eat at one time.Will keep going and hopefully get there soon.

She has been coming out of her swaddle lately so invested in a swaddleeze today so will see if that works - trying everything. Any further ideas let me know

East