Shush patting and lengthening naps

[perfectpanda]

Any other shush patters out there? I've been patting my hard to settle ds for his naps, since he was a few weeks old. We had a lovely month or so when he could self settle for naps , and then he hit 4 months and that went tits up.

Anyhow we're approaching 5 months now. He settles himself sometimes but is still doing 30 minute naps. I try to extend his second nap and can pat him back to a light sleep but unless I feed him, he doesn't go back to a deep sleep. I'd rather he didn't get used to getting milk mid nap. Has anyone had success with patting back to sleep for naps? I'm wondering whether to persevere.

I did it with both of mine and yes it’s hard work but it was worth it in the end. Takes a while but my two soon learnt to get past that dreaded 30/45 minute cycle themselves.

Dare I ask when that happened?! (I'm typing this with a baby on top of my dead left arm, half lying in the snuzpod cot).... my older girls got the hang of long naps by 3 months I think.....

Dare I ask when that happened?! (I'm typing this with a baby on top of my dead left arm, half lying in the snuzpod cot).... my older girls got the hang of long naps by 3 months I think.....

A good few weeks between 4/5 months with the first, longer with the second though as I couldn’t always get up to him to pat through with a toddler around. They both sleep beautifully now though and I’m sure it’s because we worked so hard at teaching them to self settle.

Thanks. That's the kind of motivation I need as I'm so over this patting business!

Do you use white noise?

Yes but not sure how much it helps.

Never did it. Had twins didn't have time!

I did this too. I remember having family over for a bbq and spending most of the afternoon shush patting in the bedroom! Think she was able to settle / extend naps independently by about 4 months, however at the same time, night time sleep went to pot with hourly wake ups for her dummy! (Hopefully resolving now, thanks to a sleepytot!)

She now happily naps in her cot for 1.5 hrs or so, am so glad I persevered.

30 minute naps are pretty normal for that age! My 9 month old is only just extending her naps (and cutting them down - there are now 3 naps and it used to be various catnaps)

I think it's just something they learn by themselves when they are developmentally ready. Both my girls were 30 min power nappers! The first started sleeping longer at 8 months without me doing anything (after driving myself crazy trying to lengthen her naps to no avail).

My now 10mo started at around 7 months with a LOT of help - basically me being there the second she woke up at 30 min then shushing her for 15 min into the next deep sleep. Now she generally naps for an hour without me having to do anything. I hear her stir via the baby phone after 30min but she generally gets herself back to sleep.

Has he ever slept longer than 30 mins at a time? Eg in car, bouncer, sling etc....? Does he use a dummy/loud white noise?

Yes he can do longer naps in sling. No dummy but white noise. I suppose I'm wondering if I should stop feeding back to sleep as I'm worried I'm confusing him. But the shush pat doesn't seem to work to resettle. He's very different to my girls!

Could he be overtired? Sometimes a bit of nap-shifting can help.

I loosely followed the contented little baby and both of mine settled themselves for good long naps at lunch time as ready to sleep at recommended nap times whether at home in cot or out in buggy or whatever. Both had a decent sleep. As a baby DS had a morning sleep and also did this at night whereas DD took ages to go off at night. She is 12 years now and still gets distracted at night time.

Thanks for replies. My 2 girls also vaguely did contented baby routine and both took that long nap at lunch. This boy doesn't seem ready or able. Unless I practically get in the cot with him and feed and cuddle him back to sleep... it's a shame as that long sleep makes for a much happier baby. I know 30 minute naps can be normal but it really isn't enough to stop overtiredness, even if I repeat the nap 4 times. Never mind. He is asleep now and only took 2 minutes of patting which is the best in a very long time. Let's see how long he stays asleep!