Naps - problem with 45-minute cycle

[marsup]

In the last weeks my ds (16 wks) has finally accepted naps in his basket. He has even stopped screaming at the idea of going down, so I can put him down awake and not walk around with him for 20 mins before each nap. So life is looking much better! however he almost always wakes after exactly 45 minutes, which is apparently a sleep cycle. It is much harder to get him back to sleep once he has woken - he gets quite upset about it - so I have to go back to rocking him to sleep before I put him down and even then he often wakes up again (twice, three times, four times...). If I get him up to play after the 45 mins he is grumpy and tired and needs to sleep again very quickly. Any ideas about how to get him past the initial sleep cycle smoothly? nb this doesn't happen at night, or I'd be locked up in a loony bin by now.

You probably need one of the GF gurus I fear, but from memory some of the tips are:-

• keep the room dark
• put ds in a sleeping bag for these naps
• leave him to fuss a bit and get himself back to sleep (if only it were that easy!)

But I do recognise the problem, and even at 15 months naps in the cot are in multiples of 45 minutes...

The 45 min. cycle doesn't go away! I still hear my 18 month ds, stir and roll over in her cot every 45 min. section. What you have to do is help your ds to sort of 'ride over it' rather than wake up. The suggestions Lady Muck made like dark room, sleeping bag etc. are good ideas, as is letting him fuss back to sleep etc. preferably if he's sleeping somewhere 'boring' so that he won't get stimulated awake as he fusses. I also found with dd that if I sort of pre-empted the 45 min. mark at say 40 min. and gave her basket a little rock until the 50 min. mark it would ease her over that moment and by the time she was 5 months or so she never used to wake after 45 mins.

DS can sleep past the 45 minute mark if I am walking him around in his wilkinet, or in the night, but not when napping! seems very odd. NB he is swaddled, so no sleeping bag; we have black-out curtains; and I'm afraid I hate GF so don't really want to apply her rules!

Hi Marsup, not much advice but lots of sympathy. My ds had three (sometimes four) naps a day each equalling 45mins to the second until a month ago(ish). He is just turning 10mo. I remember reading your previous problems, you've come such a long way. I can't remember the exact moment my ds started going over 45mins, but it's here in this thread so it must have happened! (tried to get the link to go to the exact extract so you don't have to read the whole thing!) I think I just left him after 45mins, listened carefully, it was just grizzles, and after about 1-2mins the grizzles stopped and he just rolled over. What reaction does your ds give if you leave him for say 5mins after he wakes?