HELP! Short Naps - What Do I DO?!

I know I have posted about this a million times, but I am so desperate right now... I need to post yet again.

Here is the deal:

I have surgery coming up in a month, and other people will be caring for my babies (other than nursing them) for 2 weeks. I am dreading it in every way, but especially naps. I need a system that works for naps, despite trying for months and getting NOWHERE. Other people will just let them not nap... and they need their sleep!

I read HSHHC. I kind of get it, but my boys are just now 6 mo adjusted age, so I haven't done much CIO (only a couple times at naps). For the record, I do NOT like CIO but sometimes that's all I can do (when they want to "play" for 3 hours in the middle of the night...).

Our naps are horrible though. I watch for sleepy signs, I don't ever let them be up for over 2 hours. They go down great, within 3 minutes of being put down most of the time. They seem to be deeply asleep, but then they wake up (WIDE awake) after 20-40 minutes. For 2 months, it was 40 minutes on the dot every time but lately, more like 20-30. Since I don't let them be up for over 2 hours, this means that they nap about 4 times per day- WAY too much for this age!!! However, they need the sleep. They are often crabby very shortly after waking (though they usually wake in great moods) and don't shake it again until they wake from the next nap. I don't think I am napping them too often or when they are not tired-- they are definitely tired.

Bedtime is between 6 & 7 pm depending on the day's schedule, waking happens between 6 & 7 am. They don't STTN. Jake is my worse sleeper and eats a lot at night... Jack only wakes at night when he's teething.

What should I do? These are what I see as options...

1. Make them CIO for the entire hour every nap for as long as it takes. They can really cry and have cried for over an hour on most CIO occasions. The few times I tried at naps, they cried for the full hour and never napped.
2. Let them wake and continue the insanity.. maybe that's just "how they are"? I was almost buying this at 40 mins, but not at 20-30!
3. I've tried rocking/soothing them back to sleep but that does NOT work at all.
4. I can't justify forcing them to stay up for like 4 hours between naps which are "scheduled" (9 & 1 for instance) because then they'll be overtired and won't sleep at all.
5. I was going to try to come up with something witty to put here but I am just too tired....

Please offer me your honest thoughts on my situation and ANY advice you may have. We need real naps!!!!

Thanks!!!!

 

I haven't tried it, but there is something in the Baby Whisperer book about anticipating right before they wake up (usually at the 45 minute mark) and gently arousing them just before that point, so that they stir but don't completely wake up, they will then fall back to sleep. Like I said, I haven't tried it to know if it works.

Hugs.

 

No good ideas, just :hug99: - I could have written your post (except for the surgery part). When I've posted on this in the past at least one person said that their own twins had gone through a similar phase which they grew out of around 7 months...

 

My Lily has to CIO for everynap. That is just the way she is. Luckily she does not usually go more than 20 min. max but she does scream. If I did not let her do this she would never nap. Also, she goes through stages where she wakes up after 20 or 30 or 45 minutes consistently for a couple of days or a week. I remember right around 5 or 6 months she would wake up after 45 minutes EVERY time and it drove me nuts. If it is 20min. or so I will often leave her in there to see if she will work it out for herself. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. Are they learning a new skill? Lily and Jack are 7 mos. and for the past month or so Lily has been enamoured (sp?) with her new ability to sit up. The first thing she does when she wakes is bolt up into a seated position. She will do this when she is in between sleep cycles almost automatically and there she is stuck sitting up when she wishes she was still sleeping and it ends up in a crying mess and a very short nap!

My husband always reminds me that all I can do is put her down in a nice sleep environment and the rest is up to her. That always makes me feel better when it starts to stress me out.

I would also try to play around with it a bit. Let them stay up longer than 2 hours and see what happens. Put them down earlier and see what happens. Is there something in their room that could be waking them. I noticed that if Lily's music CD is on to loud there are a few places in the CD that will wake her up and it will happen consistently until I turn it down.

Basically, from what I have learned. When they wake at those time periods it just signifies that they are having trouble transitioning between sleep cycles for whatever reason.

HTH,
Amy

 

I think some kids are just short nappers. I also read Weissbluth's book. It does have 1 paragraph where it talks about 20% of kids who are short nappers (he calls the sleep periods "snaps") and says most outgrow it by a year. Mine are and have always been that way. They have always taken 30 minute naps, but they have needed about 4 per day. They are starting to occasionally sleep longer now and reduce the number of naps they need, but it is just now happening. I finally decided not to stress about it and let them nap when they need to. It has meant that at least 1 nap per day occurred in the car . I know that's not ideal, but it's the only way I could ever get out to get anything done. On a positive note, they are generally very happy kids and sleep well at night (6:30 - 6:00 )Maybe yours are like mine. Good luck with your surgery!

Suzanne

 

Yikes! That sounds exhausting! :hug99:

My DS used to be a really short napper, but when he was much younger than your boys...

Now, both babies tend to take shortish naps, but I can almost always count on 45 min, and many days they get in a longer one too. I've tried everything too to make the naps longer - CIO, soothing back to sleep, etc - and nothing works, so I figure that's just the way they are.

However - I don't put up with anything under 45 min. If they wake up after 30 min, I either don't go to them for 15 min, or I'll just give a quick cuddle and put back down (unless it sounds like something's really wrong, like if they pooped or something). I've been consistent with this, and it's paid off.

Good luck, both with the sleep and with the surgery!

 

I have the same problem with my ds. My dd is great and sleep two naps a day, for 1 to 2 hrs each, at the same time every day. My ds however, is not a good napper no matter what i try. Generally, he sleeps for about 30-40 minutes at a time. If i'm lucky, i'll get an hour out of him (although today for some strange reason, he slept 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon, go figure!). I put him down at the same time as his sister, but since he wakes well before her, i don't have much down time. He almost always needs a third nap in the late afternoon/early evening or he won't make it to bedtime.
After trying about a million different ways to get him to sleep longer, i have finally accepted that i have a kid who just likes catnaps.
Don't give up yet. Play with the times for a bit. But, you just might have to deal with short naps! Good luck!

 

((HUGS)) -- I don't have any advice -- mine are the same way -- and it's driving me (and them!) insane (they are SOOOOO Craby when they wake up!!)

I have had SOME sucess with soothing back to sleep -- what SOMETIMES works is NOT trying to acutally get them back to sleep, but rather just calm them down (I sometimes turn on their moble -- which is part of our "winding down" routien for naps) -- and they will sometimes put themselves back to sleep (they still only sleep another 30 minutes - but thats something!!) -- if this works - its for nap number 3 usually (mine can't be up for more then 1.5 hours - usually less so they get 5-6 naps a day) - (its usually the 1:30/2pm nap time -- when they are REALLY tired and crabby) -- it's something for now!

Good luck -- and if you figure it out PLEASE let me know..... <_<