Can someone come and talk to me about naps?

[Sarahlou8]

My DD is 15 weeks old, she has a good bedtime routine, is usually asleep around 8pm and sleeps till 7ish.

I'm struggling with daytime naps though, they seem to be all over the place! I'm trying to break the 'feed to sleep' association and am managing to put her down in her pram, but a typical scenario is she'll sleep for 20 minutes, wake up crying, I end up feeding her, she nods off on me, I put her down, she sleeps another 20 minutes and so on and so on...
This goes on 4 or 5 times a day, when I'd really like her to have two or three decent sleeps.

I understand about sleep cycles and self soothing but wonder how she can sleep all night long and get through this, and yet can't manage a good sleep in the day.

Would she be better napping in her cot? She's such a good sleeper at night I'm worried I'll confuse her as I have always tried to keep day and night clear.

Or are my expectations just too much and should I just wait a little longer to find her own pattern?

She is baby no 3 after a long gap and I don't remember what I did last time!

Hi,
It's a while since my ds was a baby and at 15wks he used to sleep for about an hr in a morning and 2hrs in an afternoon. There were times when he fell asleep when I was feeding him and I would put him straight in his moses basket but he'd wake up screaming 5-10mins later what I found was he needed winding.
I was wondering if that was the problem with your dd and reason for her waking every 20mins?

She does take in a lot of air when feeding, yes - but I'm able to get her to nod off in the pram in the first instance, after she's been fed a while and winded well. She just won't STAY asleep!

The hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon sounds to me exactly what I should be aiming for.

Were his naps (especially the two hour one) in a darkened room?

No, I just used to let him sleep in his pram esp if he'd fell asleep when we were out or he'd sleep in his moses basket in the living room.

Have you tried taking dd for a walk maybe fresh air will help her drop off

Ds was ok for naps but I couldn't get him to sleep in his cot on a night the longest he would sleep was 2hrs then he'd be in my bed with me the rest of the night so 11hrs sleep at night is good perhaps she's just not tired in a morning after such a long sleep.

Why don't you try keeping her awake in a morning then putting her down in an afternoon perhaps she'll sleep longer than if she has 20min naps throughout morning

Dd will eventually fall into her own sleep pattern.

Yes, plenty of long walks outdoors, she is the ultimate of babies who sleep in the pram as long as the pram moves.

As soon as we stop, 'ping' eyes open!

She seems to grizzle about an hour and a half after waking in the morning, and 20 minutes then is enough to refresh her. It's lunchtime onwards when we really hit problems and its clear she really needs to sleep for longer.

Hi Sarahlou8, I personally think 15 weeks is a little young just yet to be expecting only two naps a day...they get into the longer naps when they are a bit older. At 15 weeks, I would be expecting 3 or 4 short naps and yes, personally, I always put mine upstairs in their cots in a darkened room. The nap will lenghten as they get older and then you will be able to drop one.

Don't sweat it, 15 weeks is still a bit young, give it another few weeks and try again in her cot.

I used food tbh, he went down straight after brekkie and lunch but this didn't become a habit and now he will go down when he is tired.

Good luck!