Monday, November 26, 2012

The Half Hour Napper

Finding time to blog has been nearly impossible lately.

Because we're still having some sleep issues.

The good:

Baby goes down for naps.

And I can kind of get him down at night without going to bed myself.

The bad:

NAPS ARE ONLY HALF AN HOUR.

I feel like I've tried everything to keep him asleep for longer but nothing is really working.  The best I've managed is after a half hour nap in the afternoon, he starts crying and I go up there nurse him for a bit and he goes back down...for another half an hour.

I can do this 2-3 times so that he's taking a 2 hour nap...but I'm still tending to him every half hour.

It's hard to get anything done when you only have a half hour window.

And bedtime?  Same thing.  He will go down at 7-7:30pm...for half an hour!  So, once again I'm up there every half hour nursing him back to sleep until I'm ready for bed about 9pm.

I'm frustrated.

We've tried:

Tummy sleeping
Swaddling
White Noise
Crib
Bed
Swing
Vibrating Cot

Nothing keeps him down by himself for more than half hour. 

Once I go to bed with him HE'S DOWN FOR 3 HOURS.

WHAT THE HELL, KID?

I'm sure this is all because we co-sleep and he sleeps better when mama is next to him.  And I'm still not ready to give up on the co-sleeping because for the most part it means I get more sleep at night, but I would love to be able to have this kid napping for longer and going to bed before me and without me.

Anyone else dealing with something similar?  Any suggestions?  How long do your babies nap??? 

6 comments:

  1. I'm sorry the little man is only sleeping for such short spurts... That is rough! I think sleep is one of the only things that is easier with twins, at least right now. There is always someone to sleep next to! We have found the boys sleep much better with noise... Like fairly loud music and we've also noticed one of the babies does not like it too be too dark. I hope you figure it out soon- sorting out sleep issues is no fun!!!

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  2. Our kiddo was a 20-30 minute napper for a very, very long time (we also co-slept until 6 months). Around the 7 month mark she started napping randomly for 60-90 min (with some 20-30 min thrown in for good measure). I'm not sure when she transitioned to longer ones, but at 11 months she was napping about 3 hrs total (usually 2hrs mid-morning and 1 hr mid-afternoon, thought it varied).

    The biggest thing that helped us was making sure to put her down awake at bed time (I nursed her to almost asleep and then set her down). Of course, this only helped b/c we were no longer co-sleeping.

    Good luck!

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    1. Also, here is a link to the posts I wrote (check out the comments - people gave lots of tricks in them).

      http://mycheapversionoftherapy.com/tag/sleep/

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  3. We are having the same night issues with our little man! He sleeps his first stretch in his rock n play for a few hours, but after that he will not sleep unless he's in bed with us! I never thought I would be a co-sleeper but it's the only way we're getting any sleep. Like you we've tried everything!

    I hope baby learns how to stretch his naps for you soon <3

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  4. Ugh I think my girl is turning into a 20min napper and it is driving me crazy. I have to make sure both babies eat at the same time so if the boy (who naps for 1-2 hours at a time!) wakes up and is hungry, I have to wake her up, even if she just went to sleep. Otherwise she is awake, alternating between happy and fussy, and REFUSES to be put down, which is impossible to accommodate with two babies! It's driving me bonkers!

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  5. Short naps have been the bane of my life for over half of LB's life now! :/ It's SO HARD.

    One of the things that worked for me is playing around with 'up time'. She started napping a little longer when I stretched her from 1h45 to 2h. BUT, being up for longer than 2h means her naps will get shorter (an overtired baby is a baby that doesn't sleep).

    Another thing that's helped is consistent, boring, repetitive routine. Being put down after the same length of wake time, the same nappy change, the same story, the same song, the same sleeping bag, the same comforter, and the same amount of cot time (even if she's awake). Over and over and over. It's tedious but it's a good way to re-set their expectations ...

    Then again part of me thinks it's just an age thing. As they get older, they should sleep longer. At least that's what I'm hoping!!!

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