Nap help for 14 week old

[jcsmom]

I was hoping for some support. We have almost conquered the 45 minute nap by extending Justin's A time. A doula friend actually said that what we were doing, 1-1 hour 10 up, 45 down was decreasing his drive for sleep so we extended to 2 hours ( 1 hour 45 sometimes) and we have 1, 1.5 hour nap in morning (actually 1 hour 20 and 1 1 hour 10 in afternoon but last nap is only 30 minutes. Since we started, he awakens a lot in the night now and coos and laughs and plays and is up 2-3 times vs. 1-2 times. I am wondering if you could help me tweak my routine so we can eliminate overtiredness at bedtime and hopefully get back on track. I know 2 hours is a lot for 14 weeks but it has produced some daytime results. However, if we shorten like we did to 1.5 yesterday, we got 1 hour 20 in morning, and 3 45s in afternoon vs 1 hour 20, 1 hour 10 and 30 minutes. Here is our routine so far this week

e-5 amish
awake 6:45 ish
s-8:45-10:10
e-upon awakening
a 10:-12
s 12:00-1:10
e upon awakening
a:1:10-3:10
s- 30 minutes
We tried for longer but it didn't happen so we tried for another short nap about 1 hour 10 minutes after 30 minute nap and it didn't happen so since  he only has 30 minutes vs. 2-45 like we did before. I think that he is so overtired by bed, his nights are now screwy.
Any suggestions for tweaking?We have tried this since Tuesday and have had 2 bad nights with the same awakenings at 11, 2 and 5. Help!

[malialeanne]

Hi there. At around 4 months many babies move to a schedule of 3 naps, 2 longer and 1 short nap. 14 weeks is a bit early for 2 hour A time and 3 naps, but only by a few weeks--I think we transitioned to 3 naps at 16 weeks. If you are having new nighttime sleep troubles since introducing the 2 hour A time, you might consider reducing by 15 minutes or so. Another thing to remember is that with a 5 a.m. wake-up he's going to need an early bedtime of 5-6. When extending A times los can often get very tired by the end of the day. Don't try for a long A time after the catnap to "increase his drive for sleep"; put him to bed within 12-13 hours of his wake time. Once you get his nights sorted you can work on a later wake time if that's what you want.

I resisted an early bedtime for a long time; I guess I was scared dd would wake starving at 11 p.m. and wake for the day at 4 a.m. Neither happened; she actually sleeps better and wakes later with a very early bedtime!

HTH!

[anelame]

my 16 weeks old son refuses to nap. he is an excellent sleeper at night and can soothe himself back to sleep easily (I can hear him over the baby monitor)
he goes to bed around 7.30 pm and will sleep wonderfully ( he may awaken but will fall asleep on his own) until 5 when i feed him. he will sleep again until 7.15/7.30am.
he will show signs of tiredness around 8.45/9am and I face the first battle to put him to sleep (will NOT sleep in his crib as well)
he will sleep for 30 minutes and then wake up.
He will get tired again around 12.15/12.30 and he can manage to sleep for 2 to 2.5 hours (on a great day) but only on me.
He will get another 30 minutes nap around 4.45

I have tried all the techniques for the past 10 days but so far I am making zero progress.
any help would be greatly appreciated.

[malialeanne]

At 16 weeks he may be able to do 2 hours A time or close to it. Around 4 months many babies show sleepy "cues" in the middle of A time, so it can get confusing. You don't want to make overtiredness worse, but if he's sleeping well at night, I would be inclined to think his nap resistance may be due to too-short A times. Aim for 2 hours (including winddown) by gradually increasing A times by 10 minutes or so every couple of days and see how that goes. You can always move them back if it doesn't work.