What length of time should my 15 week old stay awake

chloeval

My lo sleeps for 30-40 mins every 2 hours or less and sometimes it takes me a while to rock/calm him to put him down for a nap because he gets all worked up before he crashes. I've tried putting him in crib still awake so he won't rely on the rocking. I've tried putting him for nap earlier and later in case he was overtired or undertiredd and nothing works ! He sleeps through the night from 8 pm-730 am but he's not a good napper. How do others do nap time. Do you wait for cues, do you at certain times just stop what he's doing to put to bed? Do you just wait until he falls asleep wherever he is ? I wish he would take a long nap and be awake for longer periods. Thanks

steelerbaby29

I completely understand how you feel. My LO will be 4 months tomorrow and he doesn't nap much. I'm lucky because he takes one good 2 hour morning nap from about 8 am to 10 am every day but for the rest of the day it's little naps that average about 30 minutes. He stays awake about 2 hours at a time and then is ready to go to sleep.  I start to get him ready for nap time after it's been about 1 1/2 hours. I read a couple books and then lay him in his crib. He does cry but I give him his pacifier and rub his head until he calms down. I let him cry for 2 minutes then go back in and give him his pacifier, rub his head, and repeat this about 3-4 times, after that he ends up falling asleep. He's starting to cry for a shorter period of time now so I know eventually he will just fall asleep on his own.  My suggestion would be instead of always rocking him, which was what I was doing with my son maybe start a different routine like reading a book or singing a couple songs. My son seems to know after the books it's time to go to sleep because sometimes he will go right to sleep after only crying for a couple minutes. I'm hoping as he gets older the length of his naps will increase.

sarbieb

We follow sleep, eat, play, sleep and it works like a charm. She is awake 90 min and sleeps for 60 min. When she wakes up she is ready to eat bc it has been 2.5 hours since last eating. No offense to pp, but reading books and singing songs is not a nap routine for a 4m old baby. That's more stimulating than anything. They need to be swaddled, shhh'ed and rocked to help them soothe and if you are trying to help them learn to self soothe you should lay them in the crib drowsy (after swaddling and rocking them a little) and gently jiggling their bellies while shhhh'ing.

steelerbaby29

@sarbieb my son doesn't like to be swaddled so that doesn't work in my case. As far as reading or singing songs, it may not be a nap routine for your baby but it works for mine. This is why I start to get him ready for a nap after it's been  1 1/2 hours since he was up. It seems to wind him down versus stimulate. I used to rock my son before every nap and bedtime and I stopped because I don't want him to expect to be rocked every time. I do it occasionally but I personally don't want it to be something he needs to have done to go to sleep. I put him in his crib when he is drowsy and I have chosen to not stand there and shhh him. I want him to fall asleep on his own and not need to be rocked or shhh'd. I always go to him after he cries for a couple minutes and calm him down. Obviously what I'm doing is working for him because he is falling asleep quicker and I'm not having to go into his room and calm him down as much. If you don't want to be offensive then you shouldn't say what I'm doing isn't a routine for a 4 month old baby. It may not be a routine that you agree with or what you would do but if works for me then that should be all that matters. I thought this was about letting each other know what works for us and possibly giving others ideas not telling people what they should be doing.

kgatesy

My 4 month old follows a similar schedule.  She sleeps through the night 7;30-7 but only naps for a half hour at a time during the day.  Her schedule is sleep play eat play sleep.  I put her in her crib awake and she goes right to sleep on her own within a couple minutes but is awake pretty much to the half hour on the dot.  She's ready to go down 1 1/2-2 hours after her bottle.  I take her cues when she's rubbing her eyes that she's ready to go down.  We swaddle her at night but for naps she gets her pacifier and lovie that she likes to snuggle against her face to settle down and then I take it once she's asleep.  I wish she would sleep a little longer during the day just so I could get a couple more things done around the house but this seems to work for her for now and since she sleeps through the night I'll take whatever nap routine she needs!!

katfaz

kgatesy said:

My 4 month old follows a similar schedule.  She sleeps through the night 7;30-7 but only naps for a half hour at a time during the day.  Her schedule is sleep play eat play sleep.  I put her in her crib awake and she goes right to sleep on her own within a couple minutes but is awake pretty much to the half hour on the dot.  She's ready to go down 1 1/2-2 hours after her bottle.  I take her cues when she's rubbing her eyes that she's ready to go down.  We swaddle her at night but for naps she gets her pacifier and lovie that she likes to snuggle against her face to settle down and then I take it once she's asleep.  I wish she would sleep a little longer during the day just so I could get a couple more things done around the house but this seems to work for her for now and since she sleeps through the night I'll take whatever nap routine she needs!!

Ditto what she said.  I feel the same way, but we have to count our lucky stars for STTN!!  When I complain to other moms about her catnaps, they tell me I should just be glad she goes all night with no wakings.  One step at a time, right?