The Dreaded 45 Minute Intruder

You know the scene... you watch the clock and start nap time routine at the exact right moment, you make sure baby is "drowsy but awake" before laying them down in their crib. Baby uses their self soothing techniques and falls asleep in a few minutes, only to wake 45 short minutes later!

What gives?

I see a lot of discussion board questions asking about how to tackle "The 45 Minute Intruder." Babies, especially newborns, commonly take naps of varying lengths. In fact, many say "short naps" are common for the first 6 months! If your young baby is waking early from a nap- it is SO important to first find out why.

Hunger?

Your baby may be waking early from their nap because of hunger. If you aren't already, I recommend following an eat, wake, sleep pattern throughout the day to help ensure baby takes full feedings. By feeding baby when they wake from a nap, instead of as an aide to get them to sleep, baby will be more likely to take a full feed and less likely to need to eat before their designated feed window. If you notice your baby has just started waking between 30-60 minuets into a nap, begin by offering a feeding. If baby takes a full feed- it is likely that this was the issue. If baby is uninterested in eating, or just snacks, you know this is not the problem! Don't forget the 3, 6, 9 rule! Most babies will go through a growth spurt at 3, 6, and 9 weeks AND months. These growth spurts can cause a significant change in feeding patterns, but shouldn't last more than one week.

Waketime?

By far, the most common reason for early waking from naps is due to improper waketime leading up to the nap. In this case, your baby's mood upon waking can be a be help in indicating which way waketime should be adjusted. If your baby is taking short naps (under an hour) but waking happy - your waketime is likely too short. If your baby is taking short naps but waking cranky - your waketime is likely too long! It is important to be aware of appropriate waketime for your baby so that you can have a good starting point in creating your schedule!

The Intruder

Ok, so you have the right waketime and you have established that baby is not waking out of hunger. Now is the first and only time, I would consider the possibility that the issue truly is The 45 Minute Intruder. What this essentially means, is that baby is having a difficult time connecting their sleep cycles. When one sleep cycle ends and baby is in light sleep (or actually technically awake) they are not able to to transition to another cycle. At this point, it is important to address why that might be. Let's think about how your baby gets to sleep. Remember at the beginning I mentioned laying your baby down drowsy but awake. Let's say you didn't- instead, you rocked baby to sleep and then laid them down for the nap. Now that baby is awake, she's probably thinking- hey mom, it's time for you to come rock me! If your baby lacks independent sleep skills, connecting sleep cycles is so much harder! While your baby is working on these skills, there are some things you can do to help! The wake to sleep method is a process of assisting your baby through the cycle change. Approximately 5 minutes before baby would typically wake, go into the room and offer some assistance in connecting the sleepy cycle by either placing a hand firmly on babies chest and using a slight rocking motion, or even just offering a pacifier so baby can utilize sucking to self soothe.

If your baby is waking early from their nap, take some time to figure out why this might be. If you know the reason baby is waking, you will be much more successful in correcting the issue. If you are consistently seeing short naps and having trouble deciding how to correct the issues; consider contacting me to purchase a support package at thesleepchick@gmail.com