Also - when did you know you didn't have to do this anymore? I'm starting to keep a log of his naps (when he jolts and how 'awake' he gets during them) and I'm hoping this will help me know when I don't need to be there as long and eventually not at all.
think that's a really good idea
He woke at the 40 minute mark and squirmed all over and was looking at me and cooing and I thought - uh oh...I'm busted!!! He's going to think it's playtime! So I refused to make eye contact with him - just looked at the wall and closed my eyes. It worked!! 5 minutes later his eyes drifted shut again and he fell back to sleep! Yippee!
well, this is sort of what happened to us when Sophie started to grow out of it. She was 5.5 months at the time. I heard her on the monitor wake after 45 mins and start chatting to herself, and was going to go to get her but I was in the middle of doing something so left her for 10 mins. By the time I went in she had gone back to sleep! By herself! for the first time EVER! I was very excited by this, as you can imagine. So then I stopped interfering with her naps and left her to get on with it, to see if she could get herself off to sleep again. And you know what? 9 times out of 10, she did! After a couple of weeks she stopped waking at all and just slept for the full 90 mins.
They do say many babies grow out of it, and perhaps this is what happened with Sophie. But I also firmly believe that the time I spent with her helping her to get through the jolts and into the next sleep phase really helped. For some babies, it's enough to do this for a few weeks and they quickly learn to do it by themselves. For some, they always need holding or else they ping awake every time. I would keep at it for the moment, as you've only just started, and maybe sometime over the next couple of weeks let him have a go by himself- the fact that he already fell back asleep once is brilliant and means he can do it. And if you are keeping a log you will see very quickly if he can do this on a regular basis.
As far as getting comfy goes- I used to leave the drop-side down on the cot and pull up a chair next to it. It wasn't totally comfy but was better than standing. One time I sat with the cot rail cutting into my underarm but was terrified to move in case I woke her, and when I eventually decided I could creep away, I had lost all feeling to my right arm and it was like a dead weight- ow ow ow. The things we do for our lo's- we must be mad