How do I extend day time naps? Going mad!

[EJat]

Hi everyone
I really need some help. My DH thinks I'm stressing for no reason but my issue is that my 23 week DD will a) only have three 30mins a day b) hates sleeping in cot, only sleeps happily in pram or being rocked.
She is so knackered by her bottle at 7 pm she does sleep well but I'm sure only cos she's exhausted! She wakes for one or two feeds between 7pm-7.30am.
Am I stressing? It is clear she is exhausted. How can I extend naps, and does anyone think I am creating problems by her falling asleep at the bottle each night?
I find the days so stressful & completely hooked around when and if she will nap. But my OH says that given she sleeps well at night we so shouldn't stress.
Please someone help!
X

Some babies are just like that. You could try a sling for naps or leaving her if she grizzles (I wouldn't leave her to scream) a bit. I think your OH may have a point.

I found Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child to be an interesting (albeit annoying!) read. It's very pro-CC, we just ignored the bits that we didn't personally agree with. It's particularly useful for data about how much children of different ages sleep and when (including number of naps etc).

Have you tried to go down to 2 naps? That might naturally lengthen one or both of them. I think a 9am and 1pm nap work for quite a lot of babies. I lengthened DS's naps by camping out in his room when I knew he'd wake up, then soothing him back to sleep.

Oh, we had to get DS used to napping in his cot too. We actually got help from a sleep specialist, which was great. We transferred his am nap first, took bloody ages, then his pm one. It was really hard work, but so worth it in the end.

Sorry, I keep noticing things in your OP . I'd try to stop the falling asleep on the bottle thing too, as ideally the routine should be bottle, teeth, cot.

I'd go with two naps that's what we do and I don't go through if she wakes and grizzles a tiny bit just leave her and she sucks her hands and drifts back off. She sleeps 2-3 hours in the morning and 2 hours maybe in afternoon and still goes 7-7 but she is only 12 weeks.
Try a good burp after the bottle so she is sleepy but awake going into her cot and gets used to falling asleep that last little bit by herself.

Purple, you lucky duck .

Thanks guys. Just telling you makes me feel better! I will try 2 naps & maybe trying to be with her to re-settle.

I would be stressed if I were you as well! 30mins isn't very long!

I would perservere with putting in the cot in the day to sleep, have a day sleep routine, so with my dd it used to include, taking to her room, having a feed, change nappy, remove bottom half of clothes (ie tights or trousers) and put into sleeping bag. I made sure the room was really dark and would put her mobile on.

She would sometimes grumble a bit but unless she was really screaming I would leave her to settle herself. If she woke after 30mins I would ignore for 10mins (and hope she would settle again) and if not would go and try and resettle.

Obv this didn't always work but generally by 6 months she would have an hour in the morning and two every afternoon - lovely!!!

I was having the same issues with 24 week old DS & then found this Tried it for a week now & has definitely made a difference.

I worked out he needs a nap two hours. I sling him 15-20 mins before the next snooze is due. I potter round doing boring jobs like folding washing. I wait for three yawns, then zip him in the grow bag & pop him in the cot.

He slept for 1.5 hrs this morning which was a first. More importantly he is self settling with this method & will drop off on his own 80% of the time.

EJat, I literally wrote the same post as yours in the behaviour and development section! So glad I found yours... My 17 week old is exactly the same. He will sleep for 30-45 mins during the day (very rarely he does over an hour) about 3 times a day and then 10 hours at night with a few feeds, from about 8.15pm-8.15 am....so about 12 hours total sleep.
I will watch your post, I think I might use the sling before bed tip as he goes in his cot kicking and flailing!
:)

I feel your pain! It is a nightmare when they wake up after the first sleep cycle at every nap and can't resettle. My son would wake after 40 mins on the dot at each nap unless he was being pushed in the buggy and often would refuse to go back to sleep despite being obviously still tired. I second what's been said up-thread about having a consistent nap routine and going in quickly to resettle when she wakes. And you may find that the napping improves when she is weaned - once I introduced protein at lunch the lunchtime nap was almost immediately loads better and he would happily sleep for two hours.

Also, like you I found the night time sleep was fine and so didn't worry about him falling asleep on the bottle before bed as I didn't feed him to sleep during the day. Eventually he was old enough to stay awake after his milk and we simply swapped to doing books after milk rather than before, which we're still doing now. Good luck!