Sleep cycle transitions

[Meganlee33]

I have a nearly 2 month old baby who wakes almost exactly 30 minutes after being put down for a nap or to sleep. I gather that this is because he is unable to transition between REM sleep and a deeper sleep. Does anyone have any tips about how to help him with the transition? TIA

The number one factor would be for baby to go from fully awake to asleep in the place/position baby will stay asleep.

Easier said than done with many babies at this age, but transferring and already asleep or nearly asleep baby is never sustainable for good sleep hygiene.

How does baby go from awake to asleep?

Ah you have my sympathies! Mine started catnapping dead on 8 weeks. A very frustrating time for all involved. Honestly, nothing I did helped. It seemed to be primarily developmental and around 16 weeks he just seemed to start sleeping longer. He can now do 2-2.5hr naps (he's now 20 weeks and has been doing this since about 18 weeks).

Lots I read said self settling is key to this but I really don't know how true that is or how much you can realistically expect a tiny baby to manage that. We gave him the opportunity at every sleep to try and settle himself first (as long as he wasn't getting upset), then stepped in and helped when he needed it. I don't know how much this helped.

I do know that NOTHING I did helped him resettle once he was awake. We went with a frustrating routine of max 1.5hrs awake and 5 catnaps a day, to prevent overtiredness. It helped the baby stay happier though. We sometimes managed to get a longer nap in a sling.

Sorry I can't get much help, all I know is nothing specific seemed to help and I think I drove myself slightly crazy over it, when it seems to have mostly passed in its own time. Good luck!

Just seen Fate's post. We were pretty strict about putting baby awake into his cot to try and settle himself, then shushing and patting in his cot and only picking him up when needed (then attempting to put him back down drowsy rather than asleep). I have no idea if this helped, but he does self settle very well in his cot now (won't sleep anywhere else.... but that's another thread....). Interestingly I can't settle him now, I just have to leave him to it. Rocking, shushing, patting etc all seem to just irritate him now! I just have to make sure he has a full belly, is well winded, then let him get on with it.

Oh and we introduced a muslin to snuggle and he definitely seeks it out and holds it when he stirs between cycles to settle himself.