Daytime naps - help! how to lengthen naptimes/resettle easier??

[amyloveshaun]

Hi every1,

My little girl is 15 weeks old.
Now we have established a good night time routine I would like to establish a good day time one too, so ive been keepin a little record of times of the day my lo naps and have discovered she is have 5 sometimes 6 very short naps a day of 30-45mins at a push.  Realistically I would like to decrease her nap times and just have her sleeping 3 (ish) times a day for longer periods each time, rather than power napping as she is now.

She usually naps around 8.30am, 11am, 1.30 - 2pm, 3.30pm, 5.30pm then goes to bed at 7pm (ish).

Does anyone have any ideas on how to lengthen her nap times to keep her sleepin for bit longer so she doesnt have as many naps throughout the day? she wakes up from a 30-45min nap stil tired but i just cant seem to resettle her back to sleep - any advice?

she is becomin really over tired and unsettled as i dont have any particular daytime routine - we used to have quite a gud 1 with her feedin 3 hourly but now its barely every 4 hours and she doesn drink as much as she used to so not to sure what to do there...things just seem to be gettin harder rather than easier

thanks in advance


Thanks Amy xxx

[*Natasha*]

How long is she awake before naps? COuld your routine so i can get an overall view of things?

[amyloveshaun]

Hi Natasha

well she can usually stay awake 1.5hr up to 2hr before she starts needing a nap but usually starts showin signs of tiredness up to 1hr 15mins afta waking - sometimes sooner depending on how long she naps as she sometiems wakes from a nap stil tired but will NOT be resettled.

Im all new to the BW and the EASY routine so a typical day wud go (altho no two days seem the same at the min lol!)

7am - up and feed then activity til around
8.15am - when start to settle for nap - usually doesnt settle til 8.45am then sleeps for  45mins at a push - wil not be resettled!
by time next bottle is due - usually between 10.30 - 11 she is usually too tired for this but will attempt to drink it
stays awke but is ratty til about 12, when she will have another short nap - sometimes an hour at a push
next bottle about 1.30pm then usually naps from about 3.30 til 5ish sometimes half 5
wakes up and is not usually interested in a bottle til bout half6.  has bottle then up to bath and bed. 
sleeps really welll but we are waking for a dreamfeed at 10pm which she drinks v little of
she has been waking recenlty between 2 - 4am for a bottle, but some nites wil sleep thru.  was sleepin thru up until bout 2.5 weeks ago - now everything has went haywire argh!

hope this post makes sense!
 thanks amy xx

[KathrynK]

just bumping this one back up

[*Natasha*]

Are you feeding 3 or 4hrly. At this age babies can handle 1.5-2hr awake time. You may be ready for a 4hr EASY. Try looking for tired signs often if you are seeing tired signs before 1.5hrs it may be that your LO is bored try doing something different with her to see if that helps. What methods have you used in the past to get her through the 45min mark?

[amyloveshaun]

she was feeding every 3 hours now its more every 3.5 hours and she occassionally (probably once during the course of a day) goes 4 hours.  She used to sleep quite well during the day longer than 45mins but only if she was in her swing chair...i started putting her in her cot to sleep about 3 weeks ago and realised she was only napping for 45 mins at a time, but occassionally she wud go up to 2 hours and more...i didnt really do anything to make her get past the 45min mark on these naps, but have noticed this only usually occurs on naps after 2pm on an afternoon so i can only presume this is bcos she is worn out from catnapping over the morning and lunchtime

amy xx

[KathrynK]

Hi Amy
I would guess it's unlikely that she is sleeping longer due to being tired from catnapping all day- usually with young babies the reverse is true- the more tired they are the worse they sleep! An overtired baby will typically wake after 30 mins and be impossible to settle. With babies as young as Lucy the more they sleep, the better they sleep, if you kwim.
I think the thing to do is try to extend her naps to more than 45 mins. If you could get her to nap consistently for 1.5-2 hrs then she would be much happier and more likely to take a good feed. 45min naps are very common in babies and there are a few techniques to try. Some prefer to wait for their lo's to wake, then get them back to sleep, others find it better to try to stop them waking at 45 mins. Have a look in the FAQs at the top of the nap board- there's a post called Teaching sleep to babies 3-6 months old and the 45 min nap. There's some helpful stuff there.
let us know how you get on.

[amyloveshaun]

Ok I will! thanks 4 all ur help
luv amy xx