GNS and daytime napping problems

[RachelRankin]

Hi,

Please could I ask for some advice about my son’s daytime naps? We’re currently on Day 4 of the GNS cure, heading into night 5….last night we achieved a full night of unbroken sleep which is amazing! However, Noah’s daytime naps have not improved at all yet.

A little background: Noah is a twin (sister = Leonie) and they were born 10 weeks premature as he had restricted blood flow, he was born weighing 740g and spent 3 months in special care before coming home on oxygen. 6 months later he is down to needing oxygen only 4 hours a day and we’ll shortly be trying him without it at all. He’s never slept well (his first night home he woke every 20mins, I didn’t know what had hit me!), but things have been on the road to improvement twice before now, then he had a development leap that sent his sleep regressing back to very frequent waking (hourly). My sister-in-law is Swedish and sent me her English version of the GNS cure and we’re finally doing it. It’s been going well and night times are now lovely – lots of laughs, baths and a quick bedtime routine. I no longer lie awake wondering when he’ll next wake up and I’m feeling dazed from a couple of nights of decent sleep. I should say that Noah’s twin, Leonie, is a fantastic sleeper and has been sleeping through the night since she was 3.5months old – her choice entirely. She goes to bed without fuss and loves sleeping.

Noah’s schedule is:
06.00 wake up
06.30 milk
08.00 puree breakfast
08.30 nap in pram (on back) – 1.5hr
10.15 Milk
11.30 puree lunch
12.30 nap in pram (on back) – 1.5hr
14.15 milk
16.00 puree tea
16.15 nap in pram (on back) – 0.75hr
17.30 milk
18.15 bath, laughs, top-up
19.00 bed - on tummy in cot in own room

The problem is with the daytime naps – he goes to sleep relatively quickly and often without fuss, but he always wakes up after only a short time, like 25-45 minutes, and then will only go back to sleep (and even then not always) with rocking – I can jingle until I’m blue in the face he doesn’t stop crying, and wakes up his sister (they sleep in different rooms!). I’ve read through some of the previous posts and you’ve recommended naps longer than 45min being taken in the cot – but my question is “is it ok to move the place where he naps at this stage (Day 5) of the cure?” And if that works, will he always have to take naps in the cot or will I be able to take him out and he’ll sleep in the pushchair?

Any advice would be fantastic
Thanks,
Rachel

[mamaA]

Hi!

Daytime naps are hard to do if he´s on his back in the pram and even on stomach in prams because of the cramped space. We recommend that you take the long nap in the cot but if you want some naps in the pram it should be the short ones.

I think a shedule with 12 hours night would be better, it´s hard to have two 1,5 hour naps.
If you have 12 hour night you could have it like this:

06 wake up bottle or porridge

08 first nap 45 minutes bed or pram

10.30 Lunch puree (vegetables+fruit), top of directly after with bottle if he doesn´t it enough)

11 nap 2 hours in bed on tummy

13.30 snack porridge, puree, yoghurt etc

15 nap 20 min

16.30 dinner puree(as lunch)

17 bath;laugh, top of(17.30

18 good night

I think it will be easier to get him to sleep at daytime with this schedule but I have to warn you that naps on the back are harder to make last longer than 45 minutes so only the short naps in the pram if you want to have them there and remember to cover the pram so it´s dark if he wakes to early. I made the mistake of buying a pram that had an eargonomic seat for my oldest before I knew that I was going to put him on his stomach and that didn´t work at all. I sold the pram after a while and bought a pram with a normal seat which worked much better. I understand that it´s harder when you have a twin pram so then youre stuck with naps on the back or on the side. a tip is to have the radio, tv, dishwasher etc on whwn the babies sleep so they doensn´t wake so easily of sound or eachother.

[RachelRankin]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. We'll look at the schedule, although a 12 hour night is hard because it would mean he wouldn't really see his Dad which is why we've gone with an 11hr night so far.

So considering we're on day 5 of the cure is it OK to alter the schedule at this stage? The book really advises against this so I'm unsure of what to do for the best?

Thank you

[mamaA]

Hi

Yes I know you are supposed to wait about two weeks after the cure to change unless the schedule is totally wrong. Why don´t you try to use the same schedule for another week but let him sleep in his cot on his tummy and see how that goes.