45 minute naps

[Ayden's Mom]

I'm a little confused, and would appreciate any advice!

My 5.5 month old has a number of sleep things going on which confuses me on how to implement EASY...

Here is a typical day that starts anywhere from 7am to 8am, but let's say 8am

E 8am (will at times refuse to eat for anywhere from an hour to 3 hours later)
A 8:15
S 9:30 (45 min)
A 10:15
E  11:00
A  11:15
S  12:15 (45 min)
A  1:00
E  2:00
A  2:15
S  3:00 (45 min)
A  3:45
E  5:00
A  5:15
S  5:45 (30'ish minutes or more)
A  6:15
E  7:30
S  8:00 (and will wake to eat every 3 to 4 hours through the night)
E

So basically, my lo is doing an EASA routine because of the short naps. He wakes and is typically happy, but he used to nap a solid 1.5 to 2 hours not too long ago.  He also used to sleep from 7pm to 7am with a dream feed at 10'ish, but that reduced my milk and so has now gone back to waking alot at night.

He usually gets just over 14 hours sleep a day...should he have more?  And with four naps a day, I feel like I'm putting him to sleep alot and it's difficult to work around with a toddler in tow.  I looked at the sample routines, and it seems that others at this age have 3 naps. 

What is an ideal routine for this age, and how do I go about extending the length of naps and reducing the number of naps?  The w2s hasn't worked, and I don't want to do the pu/pd because I've already done it to remove a prop, and I'm sure both lo and I lost about 10 years of our lives while going through it!  Also, when is a good age to have lo sleep through the night with only a df? (which would mean I'd have to pump during the day but I'm okay with that).

A moderator in another forum mentioned a "45 minute intruder" in Tracy's book, but I don't recall it, is that something helpful?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Maureen

[* Paula *]

Hi Maureen,

From the looks of your routine your DS could do with moving to the 4 Hour EASY.

From the signs that you are saying is that he does not want to eat first thing in the morning, and is refusing to sleep more than 45 minutes.

Moving to a 4 hour EASY would extend his A time, and also ensure that he takes more per feed.

If he is waking in the middle of the night for feeds, this could also effect his morning intake.

Have a look at this link

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[Ayden's Mom]

thanks for the quick reply!
I looked at the link, and will move lo to a 4 hour routine.  If I do that, will the night wakings go away on their own, or would I need to also do pu/pd while transitioning? 

Also, if lo's naps are only 45 minutes, should I just let him stay awake all the way to the next S, which could then make him overtired?

And.....every night, lo breaks out into a loud cry almost exactly one hour after he's down for the night, and I go in to help him back to sleep.  Why would that happen?

thank you oh wise ones!

[* Paula *]

Good luck with the transition to the 4 hour EASY.

If your naps are only 45 minutes, I would definitely work on extending them.  You don't want an overtired lo on your hands, as this can just cause havoc on your nights.

The cry out that you are referring to is a Mantra Cry when a lo is trying to soothe themselves to sleep.  I have attached a link from the Naps forum for you to read about it.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64160.msg476654#msg476654

Good luck, and keep us posted on how you get on.