DD is 12 weeks old. We have got her into quite a good night time routine - she is generally down for the night from 8pm to 7/8 am (though her bedtime tends to vary an hour or so either way depending on how the day has gone). She usually sleeps for a first stretch of 4 hours and then wakes hungry every 3 hours.
For the last couple of weeks her daytime naps have turned into total chaos however! She used to have maybe 2 longer naps and 2 shorter ones. Now she repeatedly wakes up after 25-45 min (usually after 30 min). I spend 20 min trying to get her back to sleep which sometimes works but usually doesn't. If she gets past the magic 45 min mark she can then sleep for 2-3 hours.
I've read that waking up like this can mean she's either over or undertired. She tends to be obviously tired after 1h20 min of awake time so I doubt she is undertired. I have tried windng her down after 1hr of awake time so she is asleep at the 1h30 mark but this doesn't help her sleep through either.
Any advice? I feel like I spend the best part of the day either BFing or trying to get her to nap. On a bad day she has 5x30 min naps and then goes into a total overtired meltdown at bedtime. I'm trying to follow an EASY routine with her but this goes to pot when she's awake after 30min. I'm starting to wonder if it's a developmental phase and I just need to wait for her to grow out of it?
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Daytime nap chaos!
chloechloe · 22/06/2015 10:21
I created a thread called '4 month sleep regression - oh.my.god' and separate to this we've been talking about our LO's naps who are all around this age who now take 30 minute naps. I don't know any babies at this age who do take the longer and less frequent naps recommended at this age! My DD takes about 5x 30 min naps a day and she usually goes between 1.5-2 hours between each nap. I've considered over/undertiredness and have bought nap time earlier/pushed it back and it hasn't changed anything. It seems very common at this age despite what all of the books tell you about having 4 naps with some being quite long! It's frustrating as LO doesn't seem refreshed after naps and I can't get anything done in half an hour 
Maybe consider gradually bringing bedtime earlier? We moved it from about 8pm to 6.30pm but done it within a couple of days and DD was only down 30 mins as she was confused and thought it was nap time not bedtime haha!
Babies can't usually self - settle until 6 months. I'm the same at the moment, it takes SO long sometimes to settle DD - some times longer than the nap itself!I wouldn't worry about it too much at the moment though. there's a 12 week growth spurt which can wreak havoc with sleep and settling. Hang in there it sounds like you're doing a great job
Have you tried the pick up put down method? I rock DD until she's drowsy and quiet then put her down. she then cries or fusses so I pick her up and repeat. can often take a few attempts but works well for us to be able to put her down drowsy.
DP doesn't get to see DD much either - only about half an hour tops when he gets in. unfortunately it's just the way it has to be though as DD needs her sleep. DP will bath her when he gets in so they get a bit of time together but if we push bedtime later she doesn't get the sleep she needs.
Haha that last paragraph describes my DD!
she always has a cry before a sleep when I try to put her down. it seems she just has to do it. she fights naps as I don't think she wants to miss anything! Hoping you skip the 4m sleep regression, if you do you'll wonder why you ever thought her current sleep regime was a problem haha. sorry that's not very helpful 
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