Nap extension - by any means?

[mistressploppy]

Any experts have a view on this? DS2 is a short napper - goes in his basket after being rocked in arms til v drowsy, sleeps for 45min and wakes crying. I don't want to set up bad habits but in order to try to get more sleep into him I've taken to cuddling him back to sleep when he wakes. Trouble is, he WON'T go back in his basket so I end up holding him for the remainder of the nap.

Is this ultimately going to undo the small steps he's already made towards self settling? Would I be better to just get him up and try again for another 'basket nap' in an hour or so?

He's 10wks

Hey
I am far from an expert but I believe waking after 45 mins is a sign of over tiredness.. Perhaps put him down 10-15 mins earlier?
Can you post what a typical day looks like?

What is wrong with 45 minute naps? I used to give DS 4 45 minute naps at that age, a nap after every 2 hours awake.

Thanks both. hardboiled, that's what I'm wondering! Is there a problem here? I think there is, as he seems so crabbit when he wakes...and I can't get him down for the later naps, they have to be on the go.

laracroft - thanks for your interest! I agree - overtired, but it's so hard to avoid!

Normal day
wakes around 6.30
sometimes goes back to sleep for a cat-nap in my bed (20-45mins)
morning nap - aim for 1.5hrs after waking from cat-nap
next nap - aim for 1.5hrs after the end of the last one

then he sleeps in the buggy while we go out between 2-4.30pm. Sometimes for 45min, sometimes more, sometimes less

occasionally I manage to get him to nap for 20min in the sling before bathtime

6.15 - in bath with big brother (2.6yo)
7pm - bed. It can take an hour to settle him

I'm wondering if I should ditch the cat-nap in my bed and just try to get him down for a 'proper' nap after an hour of waking, but with a 2yo to get up, dressed, breakfasted etc, it's nigh on impossible!

Today I have 'extended' both the morning naps and he slept for ages while we were out, and bedtime has been MUCH easier (asleep now....I think) so more sleep is definitely the answer, it's unfortunately not sustainable as DS1 is getting very bored staying in half the day and playing by himself while I sit on the sofa motionless with a snoozing baby in my arms!

my LO is the same, she will only sleep for 40 mins at every nap unless we are out and about in the pram where she will sleep for 2 hrs or more. She use to get really miserable with it as it appeared she wasn't having enough sleep which sometimes made days very hard! I use to leave 2 hours between her naps and put her down when she started to rub her eyes or show signs of tiredness but this never made a difference. I also tried putting her down earlier than the 2 hour gap but again no change. She is now 4 months old and (sorry to say) still only has 40 minute naps. However, she is no longer cranky with it and is quite pleasant and playful between her naps and feeds so I can say that hopefully it will pass, hard in the meantime though with a cranky baby who wont sleep Seems that the older they get, the more interested they become in other things and she now loves her playmat and bouncer which she use to hate before because she was so tired all the time!

HTH

No you won't undo anything. Mine is 13month and I still sometimes cuddle her back to sleep if necessary, sometimes not even expecting to do it! But 99% of the time she naps in her cot. At 10 weeks she was cuddled to sleep 70% and in pushchair 30% and would have one 1-1.5hr nap most days but then 3 30 min naps. Sometimes only 4x30min. Things only improved when she dropped two of those naps at 6 months.