Anyone else trying to help their baby nap better using gentle methods?

[mumiloo]

Hi anna, I thought I might see you here after your post about short sleep cycles!

Sounds like a good idea to "sling it" for a week if last week was pretty stressful. Does she sleep for long in the sling? My DS used to sleep for a couple of hours in the hugabub, it was great! I would just pop him in and go to the shops and we'd both have a good day. Unfortunately now he will only sleep about 20 mins in any of our carriers (even less than he usually does in the bed) so I need to try something new...

Well yesterday I spent about 1.5 hours each time to get him to sleep for 40 mins! Doh! I think it might be a good idea to sling him through for about 1/2 hour before nap time as it does seem to calm him down a bit.

This morning even though he seemed tired and was getting sleepy on the boob after about 15 mins he perked up and wanted to roll around instead. We went out today so I just got him up and got on with things. He slept 20 mins in the ergo while we were out. When we got home I tried to put him to sleep as he had been yawning etc. Basically I spent an hour getting him to sleep but tried to make it really chilled out so I wouldn't get too stressed. I put the music for dreaming on (this was the first time I had done that) and settled down on the mattress with him. He fed on and off but would roll around a lot too. I read him a book about sleepy time. I had a little break after 40 mins to text DP and get some toast to fortify myself, then went back in. He finally (relatively calmly) fell asleep.

At 45 mins I heard him yell and he had rolled off the bed!

He's done this a few times now (it is a mattress on the floor) and normally he doesn't even notice he just smiles and keeps rolling, but I think he must have gotten a shock.

I cuddled him and he calmed down and fed and then went back to sleep and has now been asleep for almost 1.5 hours now! (i keep checking on him though as I really hope he did not hurt himself rolling off the bed and that is why he is sleeping... but as he has done the same thing before and not even cried, and he calmed down so quick, i think he is ok)

[Arcadia]

Hi mumiloo,

Thanks for the reply. 1.5 hrs! Thats a great nap!!

For me its still all about the dreaded catnaps...all that settling for a 30min nap. It seems you know ALL about it!!

WRT the hugabub - DD used to sleep in the hugabub for hours, but she seems to have stopped that too...I only got 30 mins out of her today.

I was going along ok because night times were getting progressively better, with 5 or 6 hour stretches most nights, but yes the last week has been awful. Last night she woke almost hourly after 3am...Arrgghhh!

I have decided to try the "Pantley gentle removal technique" to try and reduce DD's suck to sleep association. Pantley recommends doing this in the night, so I will have to stay awake through the night feeds

I think I am going to write up a plan based on a few ideas in the NCSS to see if I can get some regularity to her settling/sleeping, such as some sleep cues and varying the methods by which she goes to sleep. So far though I have struggled to find anything that settles her like my bbs...people keep telling me to pat or stroke her in her cot, and they honestly don't believe me when I say, she HATES it. Yep, will scream her head off!

She has to be in our arms to settle.

Your plan with a music cue is a good idea. I might try that too...

[Kristin27]

Hi, my DD is 9 mths old so older than your bubs, but I have spent the last month breaking the feeding to sleep habit. I decided to do it gradually. I refuse to do CC despite being told I HAVE to. Anyway I digress.

I now put DD in her cot sleepy but awake and she will most often go to sleep on her own.

Here is what I did:

Continue BFing to sleep but removing her before completely falling asleep. Once she was okay with that I moved to BFing her, then waking her and rocking her to sleep in my arms, then no BF just rocking her to sleep, then started putting her into bed after rocking more awake each day.

Establish a pre- nap routine. Before naps I sit her in her bouncer for 10 minutes (to keep her from crawling so she winds down), then go to her room, close the blinds, sit on the couch and read a story. Then into sleeping bag, dummy in, cuddle/rock/shhh, then when she's calm into her cot. This has helped lots because she knows what coming.

To extend her nap time:

She often woke about 45 minutes into her nap, so I would wait next to her cot and when she first stirred i'd put her dummy in and pat her bottom, she would often drift back to sleep. If that didn't work I'd get her up still sleepy, (no talking keep things quiet) and BF her back to sleep. She would usually sleep another 45 minutes.

This was quite easy, no tears and she has adjusted really well because I haven't just suddenly changed things on her. Although it's not an overnight solution so you need to be committed.

And you're so right Mumiloo, if something isn't working or stressing either of you too much, BF him to sleep or do whatever you need to to get him to sleep for that nap. Then next nap try again. HTH.

[mumiloo]

Hi Anna re catnaps... I found it was about 2.5 months that I first started to try and extend his naps and at that point the "waiting around till he wakes up and settling him straight away" thing seemed to work, but then stopped working recently

Good luck with night time, I sort of tried the "Pantley Pull Off" as well when DS had a few nights of waking 5 or more times... it seems to help, although I am not sure if I do it "properly" as he has his eyes closed etc by the time I do it. Sometimes I find it less tiring to fall asleep when he feeds, even if it means waking up more times. He still has the odd night where he will wake up many many times, but usually around 3 times or so which I am ok with. He just seems to have these more tricky nights every now and then but usually it gets better without me neccessarily doing much, hoping it is the same for you?

Writing up a plan sounds like a great idea, it helps to actually decide on the ideas you are going to try I think because otherwise I get a bit overwhelmed and confused with all the different ideas.

Kristin thanks so much for writing in here and telling us about your experience I am glad it has been so successful for you guys. I had a question- Did you think it was essential to stop feeding to sleep in order for DD to have better naps?

(I am not neccessarily wanting to stop DS feeding to sleep, I would just like him to settle down easier and sleep longer)

Great idea about the prenap routine I think we really need to do something like that too. We have a set bedtime and prebed routine at night and it works really well, usually no matter what the day has been like he is asleep by 8pm. That's why I thought I would try get a bit more routine to the day as well, because it seems to work well at night. My problem now is his days are so chaotic that I have no idea what time he should be sleeping- I'm trying to watch for tired signs and track it so i can see if there is a pattern. It's hard because he wakes up at different times in the morning and sometimes has long, sometimes short naps.

Did you find DD had a set nap pattern or did you just decide on a time and start putting her to sleep then? With DS's bedtime we noticed he naturally seemed to go to sleep around 8, so started the bedtime routine at 6:30pm. But cos his days are a mess, I wouldn't know where to start.

The bouncer idea is a good one too, DS is very active at the moment and I think it would chill him out a bit, that's why I tried reading on bed because he will lie still for me when I'm reading.

I don't use a dummy at the moment, he had one for a little while when he was little but never really took to it, do you think it is essential to use a dummy?

And you're so right Mumiloo, if something isn't working or stressing either of you too much, BF him to sleep or do whatever you need to to get him to sleep for that nap. Then next nap try again.

Yes yes yes!! This morning was a shocker... not sure if I read the tired signals wrong or what but I spent the whole morning trying to get him to sleep and he had 2 naps of 10 and 20 mins... (and rolled off the bed again ) so I picked him up and HAB'ed him for a walk...

[Kristin27]

Hi Mummaloo,

No BFing to sleep didn't cause any problems with DD's naps, the reason I wanted to stop feeding to sleep is because I have to go back to work so others need to be able to put her down for naps/to bed.


To get your days naps in order, I would get bubs up at about the same time every morning (say within 1/2 an hour). DD is up between 7am and 7.30am, so she is always tired by about 9am-9.30am then goes down for her morning nap. I'm not too fussed with routines, but I find DD likes to have one, I worked it out by watching her tired signs which turned out to be the same times each day. Having the same start time in the morning really helps to make the day more predictable. You could get up 8am-ish if DS goes to bed at about 8pm? That would give him 12hours in bed at night.

When DD was five months old she would have three naps each day.
1: 8.30am-9am
2: 11.30am-12pm
3: 2.30pm-3pm

I usually don't let her sleep past 4.30pm so she's tired for bedtime at 7pm.

At five months I worked with about two hours being her limit of time awake. Most naps were one hour long, now that she's having two naps per day she's started sleeping longer on her own, up to 2.5 hours. If she wakes under one hour into her nap, I get her up quickly before she wakes fully and BF her back to sleep, this only works 60% of the time, if it doesn't I get her up and don't worry about it. She usually only wakes early from a nap if she's over tired, which doesn't make sense but she does!

I don't think it's essential to use a dummy at all, great if he settles without one!
i just find DD needs a 'prop' for sleep and I decided to use the dummy to replace the boob. Once that's sorted I'll get rid of the dummy.

[Arcadia]

HI Kristin and Mummiloo..I just had to brag...DD SELF SETTLED tonight!!

I have been doing a few things recommended for newborns:
- always putting DD down to sleep
- trying to get her to nap in a variety of places (i.e. stroller, car, rocking to sleep)
- using the Pantley's gentle removal technique (basically removing the nipple while DD is almost asleep...it takes quite a few go's...say six, but she gives up in the end).
- having more of a "routine" at night with sleep cues (I have been slowly implementing this over the last week)

So tonight I fed DD well and put her down when she was drowsy, but awake and instead of screaming, she just lay there and smiled up at me!! I thought..oh god this is going to end badly...but crept out and stood outside listening to her grizzle away until...ASLEEP!!

I know its probably a one off, and she might be up all night (she had her vax today) but I HAD to tell someone.

Also, thank you for the advice re- resettling. I tried that this arvo and she slept for 2 hours!!!!

Such success! It will probably be completely different tomorrow, but I feel like its a step forward.

Hooray!

[Kristin27]

Congrats Anna! Isn't it great when you walk out thinking theres no way she'll fall asleep without help, and ... she does it. A 2 hours nap is brilliant! Hope tomorrow is just as good.

[Kristin27]

When DD was five months old she would have three naps each day.
1: 8.30am-9am
2: 11.30am-12pm
3: 2.30pm-3pm

I just wanted to clarify this from my last post, sorry if it didn't make sense - the above times are when she went down for the naps, not the start and end time of her naps! So she would go down between 8.30am and 9am for her nap. Sorry bout that.

Mummaloo, sometimes DD won't re-settle either, such a pain but theres nothing else you can do. I think giving him the wind down time before every nap like the sling is a great idea, lets him know whats coming up.

Do you get him up at 5.30am? Maybe you could try leaving him in his cot an extra 10-15 minutes each day until 6.30am or whenever you want to get up?

DD is also more tired in the morning and often went back down at 8am for a nap at 5 mths old.

[mumiloo]

Thanks Kristen yeah I figured she was sleeping more than 1/2 hour!

How long do you guys try to put your little one to sleep before you give up?