Getting past the sleep cycle

[amberj]

Peter sleeps great at night, and generally goes down well for naps during the day (I am VERY lucky). But his daytime naps tend to only go for 40 minutes or so, when he wakes from his sleep cycle. Its then a real chore to get him back to sleep. He takes three naps a day, and, from what I have read etc, his naps should be about 1.5 hours each. Is this right? Or should I just get him up after 45 minutes? If not, any tips on resettling him to get him past the sleep cycle bump?

[Visitor7]

If he's only sleeping for 45 minutes, then he can't get through to the next sleep. There are a few different things you could try.
After about 30 minutes (or when he starts becoming restless) gently pat him on the back, pop in the dummy, turn some music on etc. You'll need to be in his room and watching him, waiting for the signs. Or you could give him a bottle of either EBM or formula (which ever one he's on), just enough to get him settled and back to sleep.

Nina used to do this, and these things helped with her.

[MamaPan]

I tried lots of things to get DS to sleep more than the 40 mins in day sleeps - none of them worked for me... I ended up giving in and just going with the flow and a few weeks ago he started to stretch his sleeps.. he now has about 1.5 hrs in the morning and 45-60 mins afternoon (he is 11 months). I woud def say try all the things suggested above, they seem to work for lots of ppl but also try not to stress too much about it, it will sort itself out over time..sounds like he is doing really well!

[rufalina]

Jessica - I am in the same boat... But my DS struggles to get to sleep in the first place in the day, When I do finally get him down, he will sleep for maybe 30-40 mins then is wide awake again. Have you tried any of these ideas? How are you getting on now?

Jodi - Going to try out your tips. Thanks!

[Sammiejane]

Same here!

CMHN told me that because MJ can sleep all the way through the night she is able to settle back to sleep... i have tried everything and nothing works during the day
The CMHN said that she probably is getting enough... MJ has usually 3 x 30-45 min sleeps per day and then sleeps 12hrs at night (not on formula)

try the other ideas, hopefully it works, but imo everyone is different, some babys need day sleeps more than others it is just a bit harder to get things done when they dont sleep for extended periods

[rufalina]

it is just a bit harder to get things done when they dont sleep for extended periods

Oh that it is!!!!! Maybe my DS (and I) gets enough sleep at night... But it would be nice to have an hour or two in the day to do things like housework or cook, or relax...

[MamaPan]

yep thats what i thought as well - he was getting sleep at night and wasnot always exhausted... so i didnt worry about it, but i was so jealous of ppl who had 'time off' in the day... i nearly murdered a friedn who told me she watched a movie on foxtel each day...

[amberj]

Rufalina- I'm not really any further along! The "problem" is that sometimes he does sleep longer and I think "ah ha! he's learned to break the cycle". And then the next day we will be back where we started, waking after 40 minutes. I was spending forever in there, patting, rocking etc and sneaking out when I thought maybe he was asleep. But now I just go in, pop the dummy back in, give a quick pat and walk out. Peter is quite capable of settling himself, so I think all the 'soothing' is a bit counterproductive iykwim?

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I do try to keep him in bed for an hour, even if the last 20 minutes are me going in and out sticking the dummy in. I have a vague idea that maybe this will give him the notion that he needs to stay in bed longer....but then, its probably completely arbitrary to him and he just knows if he whinges long enough he eventually gets up!

[Charlyfrog]

I think you're doing great amberj!

Both my girls went through stages of doing the same and it is just a phase that, if consistent with your response, will get a longer nap time out of him eventually. You seem happy with the self settling idea so maybe just extend how long you leave him to self settle (monitoring him of course for harder cries etc) but if its just a general whinge, he could actually be in the transition between lighter sleep back to deep sleep so you probably don't want to stimulate him too much with fussing iykwim? Just a thought then, it could take him a good ten minutes to settle himself so if after this time he is still fussing, you could do all the necessary checks, eg nappy, hot, cold etc and keep your visit quiet and quick and then pop out to let him attempt to settle again.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I do try to keep him in bed for an hour, even if the last 20 minutes are me going in and out sticking the dummy in. I have a vague idea that maybe this will give him the notion that he needs to stay in bed longer....but then, its probably completely arbitrary to him and he just knows if he whinges long enough he eventually gets up!

I think you're right! So another thought is maybe don't worry about the dummy as it sounds like this could be keeping him awake after all.

I think its important that you stick to your method of, "mummy decides when nap time begins and ends" as this with minimum fussing will also teach your little man how nap times work This worked great for my girls too! hth

[melskys]

hi all!
reading this thread has actually given me a lot of ideas for my little ash! he has just started to have little "power naps" as i like to call them during the day, he'll sleep for half an hour to an hour at a time, it probly doesnt help that i'm always carting him around taking him in and out of the car!
and i agree when u say it's hard to get anything done when u only get a 40min break at a time, today, what should've taken me half an hour, took me about 3 hours because i was constantly tending to a whingey baby! and then when he finally did go to sleep it was time to go!! bah!
i've spoken to a lot of other mummies and every single one said all babies go thru this stage, they should just grow out of it eventually...
babies have this uncanny ability to know exactly when and how to irritate us dont they!
tomorrow i plan to get out of the house by lunch time for a shopping trip... wish me luck!

ciao
mel