HELP! Textbook baby became Grumpy! Move to 4hr EASY or not?!?

[SamMartins]

I've posted a question regarding short naps, and looks like my baby is signing he's ready to move to 4hr EASY routine - short naps (30, 40 min), erratic night wake-ups. But I'm still not sure if he's ready...

Today's routine:
E 5h30
A none
S 5h45-8h30 (GOOD MOOD)
Y --

E 8h30
A none
S 9h - 11h (woke up around 10h, put him to sleep again - GOOD MOOD)
Y --

E 11h30
A 11h50
S 12h30-13h30 (woke up around 13h, put him to sleep again - BAD MOOD)
Y --
'A' 13h30-14h30 (massage, bath, play)

E 14h30
A 14h50
S 16h30-17h (BAD MOOD)
Y --
'A' 17h-18h (play)

E 18h
A 18h15
S 18h50-19h20 (BAD MOOD)
Y --

...

Keypoints:
It's amazing how his afternoon naps takes exactly 30 minutes...
After these short naps, he always wakes up in a terrible mood
After eating gets him 30, 40 min to start getting tired... This is why I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep him awake fo 2hours!
When I get close to his bedroom, he starts crying loud, when I get close to his crib, then he starts crying REALLY loud...
It's taking me around 30 mins to put him to sleep. He cries a lot...

He used to be a good humored baby, till last wednesday, and the only 2 things that used to put him in a bad mood were when he was sleepy or hungry... And now he spends the whole day (except morning) bad humored...
This is why my reading is that he is sleepy... but could this be something else, like teeth ?


Please help...

[*Mona*]

hi

I must say I don't really understand your routine...
why is he sleeping until 11am with only 30min brake for feeding
and in the afternoon- his A time is from 1:30pm to 4:30pm, which is 3 hrs so no wonder his next nap is 30 min as he's just way overtired!
the same goes for last A time- over two hours which is obviously too long for him after such a short catnap.

how old is he exactly?

what you need I think is CONSISTENCY and not letting him sleep that long in the am. AND not keeping him up that long in the afternoon. if you want to move him to 4hrs easy remember his A times shouldn't be longer than 2 hours in the beginning.

here's the link to the transition info:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

hth
Monika

[SamMartins]

I've started w/3hr EASY the day we arrived home, and it was very easy. After E, he used to be awake for 30, 40 mins, then easily went to sleep, and his naps used to take around 2 hrs. As he was growing up (he's 4 months and 2 weeks old), his A time became longer, and his naps became shorter. The only nap he kept exactly the way it used to be was his morning nap. And I left it this way because it was so difficult to put him to rest in the afternoon that I thought it would do him good sleeping more in the morning... is this completely wrong?!?!!?!?

Regarding the afternoon routine, in fact his A time ended at 14h50, when he started to give me signs that he was tired. But then I've spent approximately 1h trying to put him to sleep, with no success. Then I gave up, walked with him a little, and finally at 16h30 I managed to put him to sleep... By that time I know he was exhausted - so was I ;-((
But this is were I'm probably doing something wrong, I'm having a terrible time putting him to bed in the afternoons...!
And when I think he has probably gave up and will finally rest, we wakes up 30 mins after!!! And obviously still in a bad mood...
Things were a little better in the next nap, because I could put him to bed just a little while after breastfeeding, but since he had waken up 1 h before the eating time, he was tired... and again took another short nap...
The last one was even worse, because he woke up 19h20, and was crying until I breastfed him...

When I'm trying to put him to sleep his room is almost completely black, so that he doesn't get more stimulated, I sit in chair with him, when he's too excited we swaddle... I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong, just can't figure out what...

[*Mona*]

hi

I think that actually you have to 'remodel' his routine completely. I know it's tempting to let him sleep LONG in the am but it's in the am when babies are in their best moods, not afternoons, so if you want him to be happy throughout the day you have to make sure he naps both in the morning and in the afternoon [at his age that would be 3 naps a day].
it's very common for babies to wake up after only 30 minutes of their nap if they were overtired before.
I suggest you give him proper A time in the morning [1,45~2hrs] and put him down for nap afterwards. and stick to more or less 4hrs routine throughout the day. it may not work straight away but it will, be consistent and sure that what you're doing is good for your baby.

here's the link to typical routines for his age: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=10385.0

good luck and come back to us whenever you should need it