"The 45 Minute Intruder"

chloe12 · #1 July 4th, 2010, 08:09 AM

Jack has been the most excellent sleeper always, but now that he's 3 months, he will only nap for like 35minutes on the nose. I did some research and found this to be called the "45 minute intruder". He wakes up right after his first cycle of sleep is finished, so it's not a deep restorative sleep because he doesn't reach that point past the 1st sleep cycle. I would have no problem if he only napped for the 35 minutes and woke up happy, but he is so tired and so upset and nothing I do will get him back to sleep. I am going bonkers!!!! Anyone's LO experience this and did it go away after a while? I'm pretty sure he's not teething or anything since when he's awake during his regular playtime he is happy.

Stressed and Tired Mom.

KCMomma · #2 July 4th, 2010, 08:48 AM

I sort of remeber going through something like this...I think all we did was STAY CONSISTENT and wait for this time to pass...UGH it's soooo frustrating I remember. Just don't create bad habits. If he's been sleeping in a crib continue putting him in the crib. If you start rocking him to sleep or other out of the norm things then this will become habit and only frustrate you even more! Just my opinion. I hope it passes soon hun, it's so exhausting I remember...see why I question #2!!!!

chloe12 · #3 July 4th, 2010, 10:00 AM

Thank you Gwen! I agree, I'm going to just keep putting him in his crib for naps because I don't want to start bad habits. This morning my husband could sense my frustration and thought I should put him in his swing because then we'd knew he'd sleep, but just as you said, I don't want that to be a sleeping crutch for him. I guess we'll wait for it to pass, and hopefully it will!

Thanks again!

fromustobaby · #4 July 4th, 2010, 06:48 PM

Kaiden has never slept for more than 30-45 minutes for naps...ever...
Today, he slept twice - since 5:30am...once at around 11am-12pm...once from about 5pm-6pm...thats it...

I hope it works out quickly for Jack, but I cant help but be a bit jealous

MarinaAndCharlie'sMommy · #5 July 5th, 2010, 06:08 AM

Marina does occassionally. My SIL actually warned me about this early on. I always swaddle her for her naps and keep her lullaby CD on. This seems to really help us anyway. I hope you find something that works so you can get some rest.

Lyz · #6 July 5th, 2010, 06:34 AM

honestly, if the swing is what helps him take longer naps, I'd say go for it. Right now, he could be so over exhausted from the lack of naps that he needs to get some good rest before you can go back to the crib. I make sure Bella naps in both her crib and her swing. It's better to give variety so she can be more flexible if we are out and she needs to nap.

They say if your child is napping under an hour, you can't consider that a nap because it's just taking the edge off their crankiness. I hope you get some relief soon!

Jodi0804 · #7 July 5th, 2010, 08:41 AM

Billy went through this for a while too, right around 3 months. It lasted a while... when he let him nap in his swing he did great so we caved and that is where he ended up sleeping. Around 4 months I started the transition to his crib for naps and it went fine. And now we can't even get him to sit in his swing for 2 minutes so it didn't create any bad habits (and I was very worried about this). I agree with Lyz, it might be that he is so too tired. Good luck and hang in there!

chloe12 · #8 July 5th, 2010, 11:04 AM

Thank you ladies! I caved and put him in his swing today although I also read that sleeping with motion isn't a deep sleep. I don't know what to do!

Jodi0804 · #9 July 5th, 2010, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chloe12

Thank you ladies! I caved and put him in his swing today although I also read that sleeping with motion isn't a deep sleep. I don't know what to do!

I heard that too... we used to put the swing on until he fell asleep and then turned it off so he wasnt swinging anymore. Not sure if your little guy would wake up or not but it wasn't a problem for us until he got to about 4 months which is when we made the transition to the crib!!

karenwalter · #10 July 5th, 2010, 02:20 PM

Connor did this around 3 months too. We started swaddling for naps again and he did much better. I also started putting white noise in his room so he didn't wake up after noise in the house, outside, etc. This seemed to help. Sometimes he still takes only a short nap but he at least gets one long one in a day now.

chloe12 · #11 July 5th, 2010, 02:52 PM

I do have the white noise in his room, but nothing seems to be working. I even made the room darker. I watched him trying to fall asleep today after several attempts to put him down (I don't believe in CIO), and once I was successful in laying him in his crib, I watched him and he would just fall asleep and then resist it, and over and over he did this, until about 15 minutes later. We'll see how long this nap lasts for! I wonder what happens around 3 months to make this happen to babies...?

lttle_one · #12 July 5th, 2010, 03:39 PM

I didn't read the other responses since I have to run, but Cherie started napping 20-40 minutes around the same age and it's never stopped. The only thing that changed is that around 7 months or so it started being enough so that she didn't wake up cranky anymore. I hope it doesn't last for you! It's rare that Cherie naps longer than 40 minutes.