short day naps, have tried EVERYTHING! will he grow out of it??

[ladypanda]

My 18 week old DS sleeps ok through the night, but during the day will only sleep for anything between 20 minutes and 45 before waking and then is impossible to resettle. When he does get up after these short naps, he is tired, and I have to get through an hour or so of tetching before another nap before he feeds. I've tried 'wake to sleep', his room is pitch black, there's no noise to disturb him, but if anything it's getting worse not better! Does anyone have experience of a baby growing into a longer sleep pattern naturally?

Hi LP

My DS (now 13 months) has always been a short napper - I think some of them are just programmed the way. It's very frustrating as it seems that they really do need a longer one but resist your attempts to help them go back to sleep. I have only managed it with my DS by getting him straight out of the cot as soon as he wakes (after 30 or 40 mins) and soothing him to sleep on my shoulder before putting him back in. He'll then do another 40 minutes or more.

Anjelika

Hi, I am happy to say that my dd has finally started sleeping longer!! Hooray! She is 6 months old and I posted about this very same issue a couple of months ago on here. I has made SUCH a difference to my day, and as she has got heavier it has made a difference to my back too as when she was crotchety through tiredness I would be carrying her around on my shoulder all the time.

She has improved only since last week but the turnaround has been quite dramatic. For us it was a combination of three things. She started properly on solids last week, I began a different way of putting her down (i.e. when awake and then letting her cry in two minute bursts if she didn't settle immediately) and she had a bit of a different session at the cranial osteopaths. All these things happened on Thursday and since then she has been Mrs. Mellow.

Before that I used to go on marathon two hour walks with her in the pram as that was the only way to keep her asleep. But that was knackering too.

It's terrible isn't it. People all assume that if your baby sleeps at night then things are OK, but getting through a whole day with an exhausted baby is draining too.

Ladypanda, in answer to your question: yes, they do grow out of it...
Both my two were dreadful nappers in the early days - 25 mins and their eyes would ping open and that was it. Every time.
DD (now 3) grew out of that around 6 months of her own accord, and went on to sleep pretty well during the day until quite recently. DS (10 mo) is less reliable all round in the sleeping department but is defintely able to sleep for longer now during the day. Still wakes after 25 minutes sometimes but can be resettled and manages proper sleeps around 80% of the time.
It is deeply annoying to have a catnapper. 25 minutes isn't long enough to go to the loo, boil the kettle and make and drink a cup of tea, which is what I used to dream of doing in the early days.

oh thank you ladies, on the whole (sorry for you Anjelika!) they seem to grow out of it, phew. He has on occasion (as in 3 times in 4 months!)gone a couple of hours and it just makes such a difference- bring on the 6 month mark and solids!