Extending cat naps

Elizabeth Pantley's "No cry sleep solution" is probably one of my favourite sleep books that I have read. I have also read "Healthy sleep habits, happy baby"- which is CRAP and not Weissbluth's book "Healthy sleep habits, happy child" (as I was expecting), "Save our sleep" by Tizzie Hall ( is quite regimented and I find her advice dubious due to lack of qualifications and her saying to do things that is against regular SIDS advice) and I am halfway through "The secrets of the baby whisperer" by Tracy Hogg (It's really long, anecdotal and most of the book is for parents to be to learn all about breastfeeding etc). Not to mention the countless internet articles and sites I have read.

She has a way of "extending naps" which means to do ANYTHING you need to when they wake up after 30 mins (or how ever long your baby naps for) and eventually they will learn to go back to sleep themselves. For Pichan, sometimes I could pat him back to sleep but ONLY if I was in the room the whole time he slept so I could jump on him straight away and soothe him before he got too worked up. Most of the time though, he would need to be nursed back to sleep. With that, I had about a 75% success rate, and very, very sore nipples; he liked to nurse for the whole hour.

So, up I would go with a book and after 30 mins, I would nurse him and usually get at least an hour and a half. Sometimes, I would get almost 2 hours (providing I didn't move, or turn any book pages). Once I even got 3 hours. It might not be ideal, but certainly a nice way to force myself to rest for a few hours each day.

The idea is that if he can get past the 30 mins then eventually he will like it so much that he'll keep wanting to do it on his own. Whether or not it is permanent, I am not sure. The day before yesterday he did two, hour and 10 minute naps by HIMSELF!!! But then he went back to only 30 mins yesterday (and only got past the 30 minute mark with nursing, once out of the three times).

Now that he is in his own room, and napping on his own today (with just a shush pat), he woke up at the 30 minute mark the first two naps, his third nap though.... an hour and three minutes on his own! Then I nursed him while sleepy and then he did another 20 mins (including nursing time). I am not sure if I am messing him up with sleep training by nursing him back to sleep during the day. I really hope not, as I really want him to get all the sleep that his growing little body needs.