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Welcome To The Members Area! Forums Baby Sleep Help Cat Naps, when do these get better?? Reply To: Cat Naps, when do these get better??

  • Melina Torres

    Member
    June 18, 2024 at 3:23 am

    Hi Emma,

    I’m sorry it took me so long to reply. The catnap issue actually spontaneously resolved! I wanted to make sure that it stayed consistent before replying to you. We started solids recently so I’m not sure if that may have contributed to better naps. I do, however, want to go ahead and answer your questions because bedtime is still a bit rocky and I would love your input on that.

    1. She goes down for naps pretty easily. By that I mean that I wait for her sleepy cues (usually red eyebrows, rubbing her eyes, and alittle fussiness) then we usually do a quick activity outside (like watering the plants) where I can hold her and keep her calm just to extend the wake window a bit. Then we go to the room, I turn on the sound machine, put her in her sleep sack, pop in the paci, pick her up and start singing her lullaby while closing the door and curtains, then finally turning off the light. I will usually go through the lullaby a few times while rocking her until her eyes start to really droop and her limbs start to relax (not like limp and asleep, just drowsy but awake) then I set her in the crib. By “easily” I mean that this usually does the trick first try or sometimes I may have to do the settling pyramid one time but rarely more than that.

    2. Yes, we always do the wake, feed, play, and then sleep routine.<div>

    3. This is the tricky part. I work 4 days per week and to get her a feed and off to her grandma’s house I have to wake her at 6am. When I’m home, I really dont like to wake up that early so she ends up waking me up around 7:30am. Then we proceed as follows:

    • 7:30 wake up and feed
    • 9-10 first nap
    • 12-1:30ish 2nd nap
    • 4-5pm 3rd nap
    • 6pm solids
    • 7pm bath and breastfeed
    • 8pm sleep routine (same as for naps)

    This is where we’re having issues now. At 8:00 for some reason she is wide awake and has no interest in sleep. When I rock her she just stares at me and reaches out to touch my face. When I try to put her down anyway, even though her eyes are not getting droopy, she gets fussy quick and I usually try to go through the pyramid about 5 times before I resort to rocking her fully to sleep. Often, she will wake right back up as soon as she touches the mattress and we go back to rocking. Last night, through this whole ordeal she didnt end up actually falling and staying asleep until 10pm.<div>

    4. Once we finally get her down, she will usually sleep until about 2 or 3am when she wakes for a feed. She does NOT go easily back to sleep at this point. It usually takes about 2 hours as I do the same thing as bedtime (go through the pyramid 5 times, then finally just rock her all the way to sleep and pray she stays down). On days that I work, if it’s getting too close to my own wakeup time at 5am and she is still awake, then I will bring her out to the living room and just start the day with a bit of a play while I get ready for work. That means sometimes she starts her day at 2am with a lot of failed back-to-sleep attempts and doesnt get her first nap until she gets to grandma’s house around 7am. When this situation happens, that 7am nap can end up lasting upwards of 3 hours, then the rest of the day goes about how I outlined before. (Alternatively, when my husband takes the night shift, he will take her from me after that middle of the night feed and just rock her all night until I take her at 6am to get ready for grandma’s)</div>


    5. Yes, she is generally very well, happy, and content during the day!


    <div>6. She takes all of her naps and also sleeps overnight in her bedroom in her crib. It is usually about 74degrees in there during the day and maybe 72 at night. I have blackout curtains, but they only block out maybe 80% of the daylight so I guess it could be darker (but again, her naps have vastly improved since I originally posted!) It is pretty quiet except the many airplanes that fly directly over our house and the white noise machine, and there are no other children in the house. My husband and I try to be very quiet while she’s sleeping.

    I appreciate any insight into the bedtime situation! Overall we’re doing way better now that naps have improved, and sometimes we do get very lucky with the middle of the night wake up and she will go right back down (we have to be very, very, lucky for this to happen!)

    Melina

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