Hi all, I wonder if I'm the only one with this problem: even though I feel like I'm reading his cues correctly, and I'm getting him prepared for a nap at the appropriate time, my LO cries and cries even when we're doing the nap routine (closing curtains, singing lullaby and rocking a little bit).... Meanwhile he's yawning and seems drowsy.
I try to soothe him down, but often it doesn't work. And when it does, he sleeps for 20-30min. I'm at a loss. I don't know why he always cries as I'm trying to get him to nap!
(He's a pretty decent night sleeper btw). So sometimes he cries and cries and never settles down and I have to abandon the nap.... What do I do??
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@BabyTsMom: i would try to put him down about 10 minutes earlier than you are. With my lo, if he is already yawning he is close to overtired. When he was really young if i waited that long naptime was a mess. How old is lo?
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Agree with @mrs. lion, I would try even earlier. If you track when you see him make those tired cues, you might be able to identify approximately how long he can stay awake, which will help you try to put him down 10-15 minutes sooner.
The more tired my guy is, the more he fights sleep and the worse his naps are. And then it makes bedtime a nightmare too. I get it wrong A LOT so don't feel like it's something you're doing wrong. It's so much trial and error.
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@Mrs. Lion: Interesting, because I've been waiting until I see LO yawning and he is struggling through naptime all day now too. I've been wondering if he's overtired/overstimulated.
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@spaniellove: yep, my biggest clue that he was getting tired was decreased attention span. He would start moving very quickly from one thing to another. He still does this...when he starts getting tired he wont play with anything for more than 30 seconds. Shortly after he starts yawning and fussing. Now that he is older it isn't such a big deal if he gets overtired occasionally, but when he was really little it would be awful. Lo also really hates being rocked when he is tired. It overstimulates him even further. I found that just holding him tight by his crib with his paci, giving him snuggles and singing for just a minute helps him settle much better, and i put him in his crib awake. He flips around in his crib for a minute or two to get comfy and goes to sleep.
In the early days though, if he would get to that overtired point i knew the only way to get back on track was sleep by any means necessary. We did a lot of car rides back then...he would almost immediately fall asleep in the car.
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This was the story of my daughter's first year. Napping was always a struggle, but nighttime sleep was quite good. There are lots of well meaning suggestions, but for us, none of them worked. I couldn't get my daughter to nap like a baby her age was "supposed to". Instead, I finally just learned to go with the 30 minute naps. The most reliable way to get her to sleep in the end was to get her moving -- in the stroller, baby carrier or car seat. Some of her best naps happened in coffee shops, restaurants, and other loud places. At home nothing worked.
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@mrs. Lion, he's 9wks, almost 10. I don't know if I can pick up on his cues other than him yawning... His attention span is already short as it is, lol! So like you, sometimes I resort to sleep by any means necessary, which usually means holding him, or I end up just not trying to nap him anymore. I try to start our nap routine 1-1.5 hrs after his last nap but it OFTEN fails..... I feel like all I do all day is try to nap him.
@skibobrown: I feel the same way- I'm trying all these things that are suggested but nothing seems to work....maybe I should try to get out with him more. Maybe he'll nap better outside too! -
@BabyTsMom: I tried everything all the timing differences etc and nothing worked. He naturally started napping better around 5.5 m. He is just a low sleep needs kid and always have been. With future babies I'm just going with it because fighting him all the time made us both miserable and he certainly didn't sleep any more because of it
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@BabyTsMom: my lo had a very very short awake time at that age, but he also went through a phase where everything about the world was amazing so sleep just didn't happen. I was terrified of n overtired baby and did whatever necessary. That's the age he started taking all of his naps in the swing. He did that until about 5 months.
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Some babies (like mine) think sleep is for the weak. No matter what we did LO would fight sleep and only nap for 20 minutes. She's 9.5 months now and naps are still a fight and way shorter than I'd like. I hope your LO figures it out!
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@scg00387: I totally get what you're saying. Feel like I'm trying but....maybe it's him, and not me?
I also wish I could stop bring miserable about it all. I envy the mothers that just go with the flow. I need to learn from them because my fixation on this does make me miserable....
@Mrs. Lion: I'm terrified of an overtired baby too! That's why I'm so fixated. I should just be thankful he gets decent sleep overall...
@MapleMoose: lol! Maybe that's what my LO thinks too! At least naps anyway. Did you ever try nap training or is that not your thing? If my LO keeps it up by 4mo, I think I'm going to try nap training but I know that's a personal decision... -
@BabyTsMom: Just remember that it is most likely a phase. I know that these suggestions don't work for every baby, but they work for enough that they float around out there
Most babies really do need a lot of daytime sleep....but just because he isn't sleeping now doesn't mean he won't be soon. My lo still sleeps 4-5 hours during the day if I let him, so this phase was definitely not an indication that he was a low sleep needs kid. I just want you to know, month two was the hardest month of them all for me up to this point (lo is 16 months now). This link is to my personal blog update for that month....lots of pictures of desperate ways we tried to get him to sleep that month...pretty funny to me now
http://mrunion10.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/2-month-update/ Good luck momma! I know it is hard to go with the flow sometimes, but just remember that everything comes in phases. It will pass
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@Mrs. Lion: you're right, a lot of the suggestions are good ones. I just wish they'd work on my LO! I really hope my guy can get to napping like yours... His first 6 weeks he was awesome, then something changed! how did you get your LO to nap how he does now??
But yeah, I know he's not on a schedule yet so maybe once he figures it out or I help him figure it out, I won't be as stressed and miserable. Thanks for sharing your blog post! -
@BabyTsMom: I just typed this huge response out and hit a wrong button ugh! But yeah his sleep legitimately changed my personality because I was forced to come to tea that I simply wasn't in control. He wouldn't even sleep in a carrier or csrseat; we still joke about wanting to jiggle strollers with sleeping babies in them!
Hopefully it's just a phase but there are some advantages to low sleep needs! Mine dropped his second nap early and we have lots of time to explore
and he isn't bent out of shape if he skips his nap for whatever reason.Hang in there!
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Are you using white noise? I think 9 weeks is pretty early to have any sort of successful routine that works every time. I'm sleep at all costs especially in the first 12 weeks. My 5 month old only recently started taking consistent naps in her crib. Prior it was in our arms, the swing, car, stroller...
They're constantly changing up their routines at this save. Once you get used to one way, they completely change it
On you. Just keep responding to his cues, let him lead and adapt! You're doing great! -
@BabyTsMom: we didnt have a solid schedule for a really really long time. I mostly just tried to follow his cues, and we did a loose eat, play, sleep routine. We had plenty of ups and downs, with periods of 45 minute naps which were so so frustrating. I had to play around with his wake time, and that really seemed to be the biggest factor. From what i have read, if baby is taking 20-30 minute naps their awake time is too long and they are overtired. If they are taking 45 minute naps their awake time isn't quite long enough (baby sleep cycles are 45 minutes long...if baby wasn't quite tired enough to go down they will have trouble transitioning into the next sleep cycle. They may also have trouble transitioning if you rock or bounce them to sleep, as they don't know how to fall back to sleep on their own).
I am by no means an expert....but for us, wake time was the biggest factor that would affect how well he napped. The second biggest factor was milestones....any time he gets close to mastering a new skill, or goes through a wonder week, his sleep is always affected.
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The only way I can get my 7-week old to reliably nap is to put her in the carrier. I usually put her in after she's been awake between 1.5-2.5 hours and she usually falls right asleep (sometimes crying a little first)
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@BabyTsMom: Nap training just didn't work for us. Nighttime sleep training took a month of CIO with extinction and even now it's still not ideal. Now that she's mobile I keep hoping she'll wear herself out and nap better. I try to keep her active.
I also wish I could stop bring miserable about it all. I envy the mothers that just go with the flow. I need to learn from them because my fixation on this does make me miserable....
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