We are having a few problems with DS day sleeps. He cant seem to sleep for longer than 20-40 minutes during the day. His night sleeps are pretty good, goes down at 7-8pm, dream feed about 10-11 awake at 4-5am for a feed and back to sleep till 7-9am.
Is he having trouble sleeping during the day because of the good night sleep? Has anyone got any tips for making that day sleep longer? I am starting to try and have him self settle as he is coming to that age where sleep associations start being formed (so im told) and so I want to do the right thing but im out of ideas.
Sounds like you are on the right track to me and doing a great job with your little boy. Lovely night time pattern there! RE day sleeps. There isn't a way of actually getting them to sleep longer that I know of, but what I do know is that at this age, sleep patterns do change (in fact they changed every few eeks for me up till about 9-10 months) and also, having 40 minute sleep cycles is very normal and common. It is up to you if you want to start self settling but I think there is plenty of time for that and he may still want/need your help to get to sleep. What happens when he wakes after the 20-40 mins? Do you pick him up straight away? I am only thinking that at 20 mins he may be may making 'awake' noises but isn't awake, just stirring. Or perhaps he is crying loudly? Let us know what he does. Keep up your terrific work with your little man.
I have been a bit more concious of leaving him a little while to see if he goes back to sleep after he wakes as I do think that I sometimes pick him up a bit quickly. On occasions he does go back to sleep for a bit longer but that is rare. I have also tried sneaking in and patting or rocking him as he starts to make those awake noises but that doesn't really work as he knows that I am there and wants to be picked up.
If he only has these 20-40 minute sleep cycles would it be reasonable to expect that he would need to go for another sleep after an hour or so of awake time??
My now 8 month old was only ever a cat-napper (still is!) so I can't help you with that I'm afraid. One thing you could try is for a couple of days keep an eye on how long he is sleeping so you can get a better idea of the lenght of his sleep cycle. Then, about 10 mins before you know he will wake up, sit down outside his room - as soon as he moves even the slightest bit, so well before he is actually going to wake up, go in quietly and pat/sshh him until he settles down again, this should hopefully get him going thru to another sleep cycle - apparently you only need to do it for a week and then he should be doing it on his own - however, this didn't work for DD - if I didn't go in, she would wake.
as to learning to self settle - I was told habits did't really form until 12 weeks or so, so you've got a bit of time before you have to worry about this. (although don't leave it until 8 months like me coz we're having big problems with this now! lol)
Thanks for the idea SammyRo, ill give it a go tomorrow and see how he goes. DS is 12 weeks on Wed so I have one more day of being slack
DS had a better day with day sleeps today, managed one sleep of nearly two hours but now he is fighting his night sleep which was usually his easy to settle sleep If its not one thing its another. Oh well at least it got me out of watching DH basketball game tonight bub is much too unsettled to go out!
Isabel - the only advice I can give is what worked with my DS. We wrapped him for his sleeps as he would startle and throw his hands around, and wake himself up. And we played soft music in his room to block out any outside noises. We also have a music box that plays a tune for either 5 or 10 mins, so if he woke I put that on and he would tend to go back off to sleep. Otherwise it was a good indication of how long he had been awake for if he wasn't back to sleep when the music stopped. My DS probably started sleeping well from about 12 weeks on wards.
Any tips for longer day sleeps. Help needed
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but now he is fighting his night sleep which was usually his easy to settle sleep 
If its not one thing its another. Oh well at least it got me out of watching DH basketball game tonight 
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