I'm looking for some advice from my fellow moms out there. Nicholas has become a fantastic nighttime sleeper, going to bed around 7-8pm and sleeping for anywhere from 7-10 hours before waking up to eat. For a three month old, I realize that is pretty stellar. However, he is a terrible napper. He'll take 2-3 naps during the day, but they are never longer than about 45 minutes. Some are as short as 30 minutes. Often, he'll wake up screaming from his naps, and I can tell he's just exhausted and should be sleeping, but he fights it and rarely goes back to sleep. Based on the baby books, it sounds like he should be taking two 1.5-2 hour naps a day. I've read a little bit about the "45 minute intruder," which basically talks about how babies' sleep cycles are about 45 minutes during naps, and they often wake up in between cycles when they should continue to sleep for another 45 minutes or so.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips or advice on how to give the "45 minute intruder" the boot? My little guy is dying for some better quality daytime sleep... and Mommy is dying for some time to get things done around the house... or shower... or eat. You get the picture.
Help!
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I remember that naptime can be a struggle. When he wakes up, do you automatically run up to him? We had a few times when our little guy would wake up, make some noise, and then if we held ourselves back from running up immediately, he would surprisingly soothe himself back to sleep (but if he's screaming bloody murder, I wouldn't wait). The Baby Whisperer was my main reference for sleeping and feeding. Have you read any of her stuff? They have a great forum that you can read for advice (or post a question there too): http://www.babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=41.0. Sometimes disrupted sleep can have a cause too -- like teething, or for us, reflux and ear infections had disrupted sleep too.
ReplyDeleteSleeping and feeding really stressed me out until he was on a pretty set schedule -- I was always trying to figure out if he was eating/sleeping enough/too much/etc.
Feel free to email me if you have more specific questions. I'm no expert by any means, but I know it can be helpful to connect with other new moms who remember what it feels like to figure everything out!! (emilybrooks22 at gmail dot com) Good luck!!
We also had a 45 minute napper for awhile. Agree that you could try to let him soothe himself back to sleep. You could also try going in and trying to rock him right back down. I was able to do that a handful of times, not as good as a solid 1.5 hours but better than nothing. I think the naps got better once we had to resort to sleep training, i.e. putting them down for the night awake and letting them put themself to sleep. Once they can do that at night, he should be able to start doing that for naps. However, they don't recommend sleep training as young as 3 months so you may have to tough it out awhile longer. :( I feel like we tried a million strategies for getting better sleep and I still don't know if any of them actually worked or if she just figured it out for herself eventually. Either way, it helped to feel like we were trying new things. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteJen
I think it could be a little early to settle into the 2 long naptimes. I remember that becoming routine when Camille was 8 months, and Natalie isn't there yet. But they never woke up screaming. Do you think it's possible he has some acid reflux? Owen (Kristy's baby) developed it around that age. It usually develops at 3-4 months. With AR, the baby has burping/spit-up that burns their throat, which makes them wake up and scream, and not be able to get back to sleep. The only thing that's weird is that he doesn't do it at bedtime (Owen did it then too). A couple ways you can tell it's AR -- if he arches his back after eating, if you can hear gurgling sounds in his throat (like air bubbles). AR is worst if they are laying flat on their backs. I would recommend putting him down for naps in his car seat (doctor's say this doesn't hurt their backs or anything) and see if he sleeps longer. That would help if it's AR. If it's not AR, the car seat might keep him sleeping longer if he feels snuggled in. GOOD LUCK!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you got some great advice already. Also, know that some babies are just short nappers (my sister has had a few like that). Try what the others mentioned, but if nothing's changing he might be one of those. :) Babies are so tricky--good luck!
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