Author Topic: Afternoon naps are nonexistent  (Read 814 times)

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Offline 3Ps

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Afternoon naps are nonexistent
« on: September 26, 2007, 19:01:25 pm »
My LO is just over 4 months old (born 5/11).  For the past month, there would be the miracle one or 2 days of good naps, but the rest of the time, her naps are almost nonexistent and when I get home from work around 5:40, she's in total melt down mode where she's extremely over tired and hungry.  We had another day like that yesterday and I stayed home today to see what was going on with the nanny.  Here's what's going on so far:

6:30: I wake her and after diaper and PJ change, she is breastfed.  She takes several breaks in between, and that's where we have our activity.  We sit and play with her doll.  After about 30-45 minutes in, I notice a yawn or two.
7:30-7:40 the nanny comes and I have her start a quiet period of just sitting with her and we start her wind down routine of lowering curtains, lights, and putting on her sleep sack. 
8:15 S
9:00 she wakes up.  We try to get her back down.  She falls asleep at 9:30.
10:00 she wakes and we feed her.  She gets 1/2 EBM and 1/2 formula, which we started to help fatten up her milk as she doesn't take much from the bottle.  She takes in about 4.5 oz, which is a pretty good feeding for her.   
10:30 A
11:10 we start her wind down
11:35 S
12:00 she wakes.  Here I think she was mantra crying, but not sure and after about 20 minutes, I have the nanny go in as she still hasn't settled.  Nanny changes her and then picks her up, and it's been nonstop crying ever since.  It's now almost 2:00 and she hasn't eaten anything except for may be 1.5 oz of EBM.  They're now out on a walk to see if the stroller can settle her. 

This is a fairly typical day.  Her naps and her feeds after her 9:30/10:00 feeds are basically horrendous.  Something like this:

12-2:30 E and A
2:30-2:50 or 3:00 S
3:00 -she's basically up with may be a 10 minute cat nap here and there.  When I get home, we give her her bath and then I breastfeed her where she'll feed for 1 hour almost, ravenously hungry.  Then it's bedtime where she'll cry hysterically for about 20 minutes and then fall asleep.  I give her a dream feed between 10-11, and she'll wake up around 2-3 for a middle of the night feed and I start the day again at 6:30 AM. 

I'm not sure what is going on any more.  Seems like the stroller/walk is the only thing that will settle her down during the day.  I'm thinking of swaddling her again with one arm out to see if that'll help.  At this point I'm willing to try anything.  Her night sleep hasn't really been affected, it's just always been her day sleep that's nonexistent, which I think causes her to not eat so well (she gets 3 bottles during the day, where she'll take in anywhere from 8 oz to 12 oz, but anything above 10 oz are rare days).  I've posted on these boards before and I'll mention that she was diagnosed with a heart defect and recently had surgery to correct it (it's been 3 weeks), which means we are even more desperate for her to get sleep during the day for the recovery.  We tried putting her on EASY but she was never on schedule (except for her wake up time and bath/bed time) and we didn't want to try to force it because of her defect, thereby feeding her on demand.  It's been a mess that I would really like to try to correct soon.  Or, is this just the way she is?  Help.       

Offline debo620

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Re: Afternoon naps are nonexistent
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2007, 02:46:16 am »
Hi there,
a few things:
definately try swaddling, it may help her get past the jolting awake at that 40min mark.
I think your day with the times etc seems reasonable.

the main issue is to extend all of the naps. I would try either patt-ssh or PUPD for this. pls look in the nap FAQ section for these methods.

she should be taking about 1.5 hrs x 2 naps and then one 40min catnap.

to be honest, we were in this exact situation at 4months old.

typically my son would be awake for 1.5hr-2, nap 40min, I would pupd for 30min, to have him sleep for another 40min, and then this basicaly brought us to the next 4hr feed time.
it was a very difficult time, but we got through it and he did learn to sleep for about 1.5hrs straight.

a key thing is that, if you are not able to extend the nap, then its get her up, quick feed and diaper change and asleep no later then 1hr after the end of the last nap.

most babies outgrow these 40min naps at about the age of 6months.

keep the late afternoon catnap at 3-4pm as a freebie if you wish, use the swing, the stroller etc.
she should be asleep for the night 6:30/7

HTH
Deborah,
Noah---January 30th, 2006
Cohen-May 22, 2008
Julia-August 14, 2013