Tummy Sleeper

Aedan has been a great night time sleeper since about 6 weeks. He now sleeps from about 8pm to 7/7:30am and always wakes up cooing and smiling. His naps were great to until he hit 2 months (literally the day he was 2 months old). Then our house was visited invaded by the 45 minute nap intruder. He would wake up exactly 45 minutes after falling asleep at every nap. He was super cranky and it made for very long days. Then a couple of weeks ago some of his naps were becoming only 30 minutes long. When I would go in an get him mid nap, he would almost always close his eyes and seem to fall back asleep until I tried to put him back in his crib. As soon as I laid him on his back his eyes would open and he would start squirming around.

I have Aedan on a eat/play/sleep routine throughout the day and I didn’t think he was getting overtired (which can cause short naps) since I am pretty sure his optimal wake time is about 1.5 hours. I did realize that I hadn’t been doing a wind down routine before naps. Instead I was just taking him straight from playing to rock for a couple of minutes and then to bed. Now we slow things down and I carry him around in the carrier or we bounce on the yoga ball  for a few minutes before going down for a nap. That seemed to help a little bit, but he was still waking up at 45 minutes.

Then a few weekends ago Jon was putting him down for a nap and he noticed that Aedan seemed really uncomfortable on his back. We have know he has had some reflux issues since he was born but we hoped he would grow out of it quickly. Since he has always eaten fine and gained weight we weren’t very worried. Well a few weeks ago we decided to take Aedan to the doctor because we felt like his reflux wasn’t getting any better, in fact it seemed to be getting worse. The doctor agreed with us and said that sometimes reflux can get worse around his age because they become more active. So we got him on some medicine and I am happy to say it seems to really be helping.

Since Aedan seemed so uncomfortable on his back, Jon put him on his stomach for a nap and he slept for about an hour (we had to wake him up because we were heading to a friend’s house to watch a World Cup game). We continued to put him on his stomach for his naps the whole weekend and at first we would hear him make some noise at the 45 minute mark but usually by the time we would go to his room he would be back asleep. Now he is usually taking 1.5 naps and a few 2 hour naps even. He is so much happier during the day because he is getting enough sleep.

I’m so glad we have been able to figure his nap issues. I think it is a combination of the reflux medicine and sleeping on his stomach. We have a much happier baby now (except when we try to give him a bottle…that is still not happening, any advice??).

-Lauren-