30 min Napper...any tips??

[monkeysmamma]

Hi!

I have posted a few other threads on here, but mostly about my child's napping habit along with trying to implement Gina Ford's methods.

My ds (7 months) has been an incredible napper until a few months back. He now gets to that sleep cycle where he is slightly more awake, but not able to settle back into his nap after 30min and gets so revved up that the nap just goes to nothing! We are in a TERRIBLE cycle and SO overtired!! I have been putting him to bed earlier to try and compenste for those lost hours of sleep, and am seeing a bit of change. But would love any other tips in trying to extend those naps and get him back to getting the sleep he needs. I know he can learn to fall back to sleep on his own since he does it for his night sleep. Has anyone been here and conquered this?
Thanks!

MY DS (also 7m) only naps for 30 mins at a time. I like you have tried and failed to extend it. Does he sleep well at night? Is he overtired or is it just you? My DS naps 30 mins for up to 4 naps per day and isn't too bad at night. When I tried to use GF with DS1, I got so disheartened I gave it up. What I would say is, if he's sleeping OK at night, don't worry about the daytime. You get more exahusted trying to fit a baby into a routine that doesn't suit him than anything else. Just go with the flow and thingd should improve! (she said ever so slightly confidently...)

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mine often wake after 30-40 minutes and cry - but if left they will go back to sleep and sleep for another hour. It is worth leaving them for a bit, or going in and calming them and telling them it is still sleep time.

Thanks SO much! Yes...I leave him after he wakes up after 20-45min, but it just gets nowhere! I end up getting him after an hour -1.5. That is where I think cc'ing should step in...

I think I am going to go for some cc'ing - we HAVE to break this! He is so overtired and we are a mess by the end of the day - even after trying 3-4diff naps!

Bloss -
could you give me an example of what you did that(LONG!)day?? Did you start those long 3hrs of ccing after he awoke after those 20min? Or was it throughout the day and his other short naps? Hope that makes sense!

Thanks!! I am desperate to get some more rest into him and see my happy-go-lucky ds back!

I cured my 20 month old of this at the nighttime sleep by going back in and saying sleep time, and giving a cuddle if necessary to calm down. For a couple of days I had to sit on the floor and talk to him every time he cried (ie sleep time, go to sleep). And gradually move out of the room. After a few days he stopped getting so upset, and after about a week he gave up.

Maybe something like that would work for you.

Great idea TRobin - I will try that. So you would go in after they awoke after 20-40min (give them a few min to see if they would go back to sleep)and then go in and tell them Night Night etc? Did yours ever awaken after that short power nap and be "hyper", happy, chatting? He doesn't always cry when he wakes up, but even on the trial days of going into get him after this short nap (thinking that may be all he had needed..??), he ends up getting fussy and rubbing his eyes within a 1/2 hour of me getting him up - obviously telling me he needed a longer nap time ! So now, I wait to see if he will go back to sleep - but sometimes he will stay in his crib the whole nap doing just that - talking, playing, getting his 2nd wind. Did you ever run into this??

yes ocassionally mine (22 month old twins) will play happily in their cots instead of sleeping - at least they are getting some quiet time. But if they are noisy I go in and say go back to sleep, etc, and usually after a while they go to sleep. They need to learn that it is time for sleeping - once they figure it out they tend not to fight it unless they are really ready to give up the nap.

Hope you work out something that works for you.