Should I sleep train?

homemaker5711

My little girl is 21 weeks and takes very spotty naps.  Ever since 4 months and the sleep cycle circadian rhythm change she only takes 45 minute naps and thats only if i'm lucky enough to get her to take a nap.  I'm wondering if I should try and sleep train her.  I don't have much of a heart for CIO.  I can tell the difference between her cries and when she sounds really upset I feel compelled to get her so she doesn't think i've abandoned her.  What I've tried so far is not letting her be awake for no more than 2 hours at a time, keeping naps about 1.5 hrs apart mostly.  I do nurse her to sleep currently.

Anyway, is anyone having issues with naps?  

What should my expectations be?

Can you recommend a method that has worked for you?

Should I just accept that naps are few and far between at this age?

I would love to hear from other mamas about this!! Please help!

MrsG071809

How does she sleep at night?  My DD naps very spotty as well, usually only 30 minutes or so, but still sleeps great at night (from 7-8pm to 6-7am), and doesn't seem to get over tired or fussy during the day, so I'm not worried about it.

homemaker5711

Well she sleeps decently at night. Always 12 hrs but recently wakes 2-3x a night. Before 4 months she'd only wake once or not at all.

MrsG071809

hmm, could just be the 4 month wakeful... personally I would probably wait until after that has passed to try any sleep training.  But I am not much for sleep training anyway, so take my advice with a grain of salt

homemaker5711

I am open to attachment parenting thoughts too. Do I need to just relax?

Mrs.Castaldi

No advice here, just right there with you. I've been having a hard time getting LO down at all, naps, night time, etc. at least at night once he's down he usually does ok.

VPGIRL06

My LO was taking 45 minute naps until 3.5-4 months. Then, I read something that said anything under 40-45 minutes was usually a sign of your LO being overtired,  and when they woke up after one sleep cycle they were under tired. Once i took that to heart, I extended her wake time and she started sleeping for 1.5 hours each nap.

I suppose it depends n the babies though. Right now she's up 2-2.5 hours right when she wakes up then 3-3.5, nap, then 3-3.5 bed time

MrsG071809

homemaker5711 said:

I am open to attachment parenting thoughts too. Do I need to just relax?

I am a big proponent of following baby's cues.  My DD doesn't follow the books with sleep at all, never has, so I have tried to just go with what she needs.  I can tell when she's tired, so when she gets those heavy eyes, starts rubbing them, and gets fussy, I put her down for a nap.  If she wakes up after 30 min and doesn't want to go back down, so be it.  At night the best way to get her to sleep is nursing, so that's what we do.  My advice to you would be to just keep an eye on her, and follow her cues.  I had such a hard time trying to remember how long she was supposed to be awake, vs how long she should sleep, and trying to keep her on that schedule, for us it works much better to just go with the flow.

Runnerhjd

My LO has just started taking better naps. I try to limit his awake time to two hrs and let him sleep in his crib as much as possible or pac n play if we're at someone else's house. Healthy sleep habits, happy child has a great explanation of babies sleep from 5 -12 months. I recommend it and I follow the sleep sense program.