Cat-napping baby...

[saffrongirl]

My dd is 4 months old and for the past few weeks has started just taking cat-naps. They last about a half hour long, sometimes a little longer and she takes 3-4 per day. We’ve been transitioning her to her crib for nighttime sleep because none of us (including her) sleep very well when we co-sleep. At night, she’ll sleep from 8PM until midnight or 1AM and then wake up again at 3 and then at 5AM, when I bring her into the bed with us.

My experience is with my first dd who took two naps per day until she was three years old and they lasted about 2 hours. This cat-nap thing is killing me. I wonder if she’s not getting enough sleep during the day because she’s pretty clingy when she is awake and mostly just wants me (obviously she’s only 4 months old too so I get that it’s okay to be “clingy”).

Is this a four month “thing?” Is there some sort of growth spurt that happens now? I’m asking because I also wonder if she’s getting enough milk. She still BFs about every 2 hours but lately I don’t feel like I’m producing enough. She weighs 14lb, 4oz.

Anyone gone through this? Any suggestions for lengthening the amount of time that she sleeps?

Amazing how easy it is to downward spiral when you’re so tired…

[odoole]

Honestly 3-4 naps seems normal to me, and I think many babies don't get down to 2 naps until closer to 7 months. But I agree 30 minutes is not long enough for a nap. We're still at 3 naps with DS who is now 6 months. He was a big-time catnapper at 4 months, but for us that meant more like 6-7 half hour naps throughout the day. When he hit 5 months I made a concerted effort to consolidate his catnaps into the three we have going now. For us, that meant either lying down with him or at least being nearby so I can help him through his light sleep stage and get into the next sleep cycle. At night, he can get through sleep cycles on his own, but for naps, he's just not as tired so he'll wake up if I'm not there to help soothe him back to sleep. I know it's not ideal, but it has done wonders fir his mood and has broken the chronic fussiness we were dealing with when he was just catnapping. I can still usually get chores done when he's napping, or I just sit next to him and read or send emails or go online like I'm doing now. An we still go out and about quite a bit. He'll sleep in the car or in the sling, and if his napping wasn't great while out we make up for it with the next nap once we get home.

[saffrongirl]

Originally Posted by odoole

When he hit 5 months I made a concerted effort to consolidate his catnaps into the three we have going now. For us, that meant either lying down with him or at least being nearby so I can help him through his light sleep stage and get into the next sleep cycle.

So when you knew it was time for a nap, you just stuck close to him and he tended to sleep longer? So you never had to "eliminate" a nap - you just made them longer and then he didn't need the next half hour one? Am I making sense? I guess I'm trying to figure out how to do this without "keeping her" from taking a nap if she needs one, kwim?

[AndtheStars]

My DS is 6 mos and he still catnaps. He takes about 3 20-45 min naps a day and has for the last 2 months at least. He sleeps really well at night though (only up once or twice) so I can't complain. He seems to be ok with it. He's not fussy or overly tired. He's engaging and happy when he's awake so I try not to worry about it. Does your DD seem cranky about the amount she's napping? My DS is clingy also but I think that's just him. He's not grumpy and wanting me; he just isn't all that interested in being put down to play/sit/lay by himself. I'll be watching this thread though to see how other mamas transistioned their catnappers successfully.

[odoole]

Yeah - basically I spent about a week writing down his sleeping patterns and keepin log of when he slept and for how long, and I modeled a "routine" based on that. For example, I noticed he always fell asleep within 1.5-2 hours of waking up in the morning. Also, he had a cluster if naps between 1-4 pm, which I ended up consolidating into one 2 hour nap. I was going to try to leave it at that, but I found he really did need one more short nap before bedtime. His bedtime schedule is pretty set, bu his naptime schedule is still pretty fluid. It tends to be one hour in the morning, two hours aroud noon, and one more hour in the late afternoon. But that can change, so that the two hour nap may be in the morning or late afternoon from time to time. Mostly, he big thing that has changed and improved is that since establishing a schedule, I'm much more aware at any given moment what he has done and what more he needs sleep-wise for the day.

In terms of helping him through the sleep cycle, it usually entails nursing him or putting a pacifier in his mouth, or sometimes just being there to hold his hand. (or if we're in the car, I'll start driving when he starts to stir, or if he's In the sling, I'll jiggle him.) tOnce I know he's in a deep sleep, I can usually get up to eat or do laundry or something, but I check in frequently and if I see him start to rouse, I intervene. I should note that he takes

[odoole]

Oops sorry trying to post from the phone. Ignore that last cut-off sentence.

[freckledgirl]

Originally Posted by odoole

For us, that meant either lying down with him or at least being nearby so I can help him through his light sleep stage and get into the next sleep cycle.

i'll second this. my 3 month old will only nap for 30-40 minutes at a time on his own, but if i'm there when he starts stirring and i rub his head, nurse him, give him a pacifier, etc., or bounce him if he's in the carrier, he'll keep sleeping.

and like the pp's lo, he sleeps fine at night, thank goodness!

[Bokonon]

What worked for us during the 4 month sleep regression was having the crib sidecarred to my bed. When Peepers started crying at the end of a nap, I would lie down next to her and nurse her. Since I didn't have to pick her up, most of the time she would go back to sleep. This was key to making sure she had decent naps. Getting her to sleep to begin with was torture, so I always tried to keep her asleep as long as possible!