https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 12 Apr 2026 03:20:24 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1385678 Wed, 29 Jan 2014 18:29:55 +0000 daniellemybelle 1385678@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all your advice. Sorry I haven't been back yet - I haven't had time, with the crap naps and all. Synopsis below &amp; then a giant list of replies :)</p> <p>Good news: We are napping in the crib without much fanfare. I don't know if what we are doing right now is full-on training, but maybe more of a pick-up/put-down method. She seems much happier about it - for the past several days she had been basically crying herself to sleep in the swing, so that clearly wasn't working.</p> <p>Bad news: Her naps are still very short, 30-40 minutes, but I guess this is just normal. I have been able to stretch them by running in as soon as she stirs &amp; rocking her back to sleep before she really wakes up, but I have to be on my toes or it doesn't work. I'm willing to do it though if it means better rest for her.</p> <p>@Mrs Hedgehog: @jetsa: @JennyD: I have been trying to rock her to drowsy before putting in the crib, but I'm not sure I'm doing it right. She cries before naps every single time (well, except for when the swing was working but that is over sadly) so her "drowsy" window means she is also super fussy. I have been waiting until she's 95% asleep &amp; no longer crying before putting her down, but she still has to settle a bit before falling asleep, so I figure she's still learning to fall asleep on her own a bit?</p> <p>Speaking of falling asleep on her own, I am still rocking her completely to sleep at bedtime &amp; night wake-ups. Am I undermining naptime by doing that? I figure she knows the difference between daytime sleep &amp; nighttime sleep, so it's okay to have a different routine?</p> <p>@Mrs. Blue: @lepamplemousse: @illumina: @.twist.: @Smurfette: @edelweiss: @Modern Daisy: Thanks for sharing your experiences! Did any of you experience worse nighttime sleep at first when you nap trained? Her naps have been decent the past couple days but nighttime has been rough.</p> <p>@Foodnerd81: It's good to know your LO's naps lengthened on their own! Also, what the heck is with people asking, "Is she a good baby?" That is the weirdest and most awkward question. I never know what to say - I usually make a little joke like, "She's a SPIRITED child!" because I don't know how to say, "Not really... but I swear I love her anyway!"</p> <p>@lawbee11: I agree - I think she was just ready to quit the swing. I have been swaddling her because she is such a wiggler, I thought it would help her not wake herself up in the crib, but she used to nap just fine in the swing with no swaddle. I'm thinking we might try a Merlin soon - I wonder if that will help her nap longer!</p> <p>@MamaMoose: @scg00387: @hilsy85: @Silva: Did I say voices of dissent, come in? ;) Seriously, thanks for weighing in. I know short naps are normal but she is "high needs" and only started being a happy baby when she started taking 1.5-2 hour naps 3x a day in her swing. Short naps = cranky baby! But I am having some luck getting her to stretch her naps by going in &amp; helping her through the sleep cycle transition.</p> <p>Out of curiosity, those of you with babies in daycare who think it is too early to nap train - what do your LOs do at daycare? Did they just adjust without CIO? I keep thinking if I was back at work right now, poor thing would be screwed! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1381749 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 13:44:10 +0000 hilsy85 1381749@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with @scg00387: and @MamaMoose: that this is very normal and developmental, and it doesn't mean that it will last forever or that her sleep is "ruined" because she only naps in the swing. </p> <p>This website has good info, I think, and lots of stuff about babies sleeping in swings. </p> <p><a href="http://www.troublesometots.com/your-nemesis-the-short-nap/" rel="nofollow">http://www.troublesometots.com/your-nemesis-the-short-nap/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1381103 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:15:29 +0000 NovBaby1112 1381103@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>so, I think there is a BIG difference between trying to put your newborn down awake to just see what happens- they might just fuss a bit and then fall asleep on their own! compared to putting your newborn down and just letting them scream their heads off until they fall asleep. i think you can definitely work on developing good sleep habits with her, and it doesn't have to be full on CIO as I do think she is too young for that and it wouldn't really be that effective as most babies that age have short, frequent naps. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380855 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 10:19:53 +0000 lawbee11 1380855@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: I do think at a minimum you should have her start napping in her crib. Around 2 1/2-3 months my LO could no longer nap in the swing because she was too alert and interested in everything around her. Even if she only naps for 30 minutes naps in the crib are so much more restorative than naps in the swing/stroller/car. Is she still swaddled? We swaddle weaned at 4 months and I almost immediately saw an improvement in the length of her naps. I do think some of it was developmental and her naps naturally lengthened. She used to nap max 40 min, so would nap 5 times a day...it was brutal. </p> <p>We nap trained at 4 months when we swaddle weaned. It was very easy. At first she would wake after 45 min and fuss for 10-15 minutes, but if we left her she would fall back to sleep (and having her hands to chew on really helped). Now she takes 1.5 hour naps and doesn't wake in between. I think her awesome naps are a combo of her just being developmentally ready and the fact that we left her to fuss and just figure out how to put herself back to sleep during the sleep cycle transition. She is such a happier baby now that she's well-rested (she takes 3 very predictable 1.5 hour naps a day). I never thought we'd get to this point! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380827 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 10:13:26 +0000 Modern Daisy 1380827@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We pretty much sleep trained from day #1. Once we learned the differences between his cries, we knew when to leave him for naps and night wakings. And I was adament about getting him into his room at night (rnp transitioned to crib) and once I went back to work we started nap training to get him in his crib for naps as well, which he absolutely hated. But he was getting so big so fast, there was no other safe place for him to sleep so it had to start happening in his crib. </p> <p>He still cries most of the time when we put him down for naps, but I wait until I see the sleepy face then I tank him up with some formula or solids and put him down on his belly, rubbing his back for a minute. He does usually fuss/cry for a few minutes when I leave, but he always falls asleep. I'm hoping with time the crying will stop, but he still only does this for naps - at night he goes down without a fuss. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380762 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 10:01:55 +0000 .twist. 1380762@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: yep, it sure can. I just kept saying "we've got things to do tomorrow and I need the sleep, I'll fix it tomorrow night" and then repeat. *sigh* I'll figure it out one of these days... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380734 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:56:46 +0000 Smurfette 1380734@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: I will add after seeing @Silva: post we napped trained to get her to fall asleep on her own. Before it would take up to an hour of rocking and bouncing. She still took cat naps. If we got an hour nap, we were jumping and down celebrating. I do agree cat naps at that age are totally normally. It was 9 months and 2 naps a day before R started giving us longer stretches at home. They are all still crap cat naps at day care.<br /> @.twist.: :sad: It is so easy putting the boob in their mouth. I think that was our downfall too. Nursing it so great but I do think that is becomes such a comfort for a baby that it can cause sleep issues as well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380716 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:51:25 +0000 Foodnerd81 1380716@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: We did. It kind of sucked but it changed all of our lives for the better. </p> <p>What worked for my baby was to sleep train for night first (just the initial falling asleep, still waking up a couple of times to eat). While we were establishing that, I tried nap training and it just wasn't happening, so I did whatever it took to get her day time sleep so she could sleep at night. Like your LO, many times that meant sitting with my boob in her mouth for an hour. Even removing it, but still holding her and not moving otherwise, she would wake up. I got a lot of TV watching done. </p> <p>Once she was comfortable with going to sleep at bedtime, we tried nap training again and it only took a day. She was about 4 months at that point. I didn't focus on nap length, just on the initial falling asleep, and her naps naturally lengthened on their own. She still has days where she wake up after one sleep cycle every time, but that's so much more bearable when at least she went to sleep on her own, vs me sitting with her for half an hour, laying her down, and her waking up 10 minutes later. </p> <p>I know it's early to sleep train, but literally nothing else was working and we all needed to sleep. We had tried nursing to sleep, rocking/bouncing to sleep, walking her to sleep... she'd either keep crying, or fall asleep and wake up the second we tried to move her. I was in a bad place (think crying in public, nice strangers on the street asking me if she was a good baby and me freezing because I can't tell a stranger my baby is bad but I can't bring myself to say yes). </p> <p>Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380713 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:50:29 +0000 edelweiss 1380713@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we sleep and nap trained at 11 weeks. i know most people think it's too early, but i felt out of options. i can't say that it was a roaring success, but i don't think that was because of LO's age at the time. we did CIO. he would generally fall asleep after 15-20 minutes of crying (if not, i gave up on the nap). </p> <p>however our other issue was that he would wake up after 25 or 45 minutes, and still be cranky and tired. so what i did was let him CIO at that point also. almost like clockwork, after about 15 minutes, he would fall back asleep. this went on for a long time. i know it sounds harsh, but i had lived with the alternative and he was one overtired cranky baby. plus i was losing it. </p> <p>i won't lie, it was hard. to hear him cry for that amount of time every day, for several times a day, caused me a lot of anxiety. however him not sleeping (carrier/stroller/pacifier/cosleeping/sleeping on me were all no-gos with him) was even worse because physically i knew it was bad for his health, so i sucked it up and did it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380710 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:49:52 +0000 .twist. 1380710@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: around 5 months he was getting up once and putting himself back to sleep. It was magical. Then somewhere along the line it was twice, but still going back to sleep easy so it was manageable. Then all of a sudden, it was multiple times a night and within the last 3 days he won't go back to sleep. I think I started doing the second feeding because I knew it would make him go to sleep and then I could go to sleep instead of hearing him fuss and cry.... My biggest mistake. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380703 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:48:20 +0000 Silva 1380703@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I know this isn't helpful, but I've read that naps don't really consolidate until later on, closer the 6 months, and that cat napping until then can be pretty normal. We held my baby for all of her naps until she was about 6 months old. Wearing her in the front pack and bouncing on the yoga ball worked really well. I watched a lot of t.v. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380697 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:46:52 +0000 Smurfette 1380697@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@.twist.: Ouch!! How long was he sleeping before? Sounds like you might have to retrain. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380693 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:45:57 +0000 .twist. 1380693@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: about 3 or 4 and not going back to sleep for ~ 1 hour for 1-2 of those. :/ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380688 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:44:56 +0000 Smurfette 1380688@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@.twist.: How many times he is waking up? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380674 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:42:27 +0000 .twist. 1380674@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: yea, we are almost at 7 months and I don't know what has been going on the past few nights but I've been crying with him, soooo something's gotta happen. Lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380672 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:41:33 +0000 Smurfette 1380672@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@.twist.: We resleep trained at 6 months. Damn teething messed up everything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380663 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:39:59 +0000 .twist. 1380663@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Smurfette: I could have written this! Except, I think we are at the point where we need to re-sleep train. He can't get himself back to sleep in the middle of the night and woke up today at 4:30!!!! I'm going mad. </p> <p>Sleep trained at just 4 months and it made a huge difference is our lives and all of our moods. You just have to be reeeeally strong for those 3 days because they are the worst! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380649 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:36:05 +0000 Smurfette 1380649@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yep! DH and I had to get some sleep. We were fighting all the time and it couldn't continue. Baby was much much happier too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380618 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:28:10 +0000 blackbird 1380618@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I half assed nap training because I basically let it work itself out at daycare and let T nap train her. I did make the effort to stay consistent with how daycare naps were. White noise, RnP in the room, then a crib. I've almost always left my LO to fuss/whine before her naps, though, because usually after about 5 min, she was out cold. She is still like this sometimes, especially if she is overtired and I missed the window. </p> <p>You never know if early nap training will work for your kid until you try, you know? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380605 Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:23:15 +0000 illumina 1380605@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: yes. We "trained" at 3mths. Some people say it's too young, infact I think most people do, but it worked amazingly well and very quickly for S and I would do it again at that age for a second, if I thought they were ready. We got to the stage where nursing to sleep stopped working long ago, she wouldn't settle in the swing, bouncer, anywhere but on me. I couldn't even have her in the ergo and get her to sleep unless I was walking quickly. Basically if we were in the house, I had to hold her over my shoulder and even then if a noise disturbed her she would be wide awake and angry again! Then around 10wks we were able to put her down awake for maybe one nap a day and she would settle herself with her thumb without crying. At nights and for the rest of her naps we still had to hold her until she was completely out and we were just getting pretty fed up with it. It was clear she knew what to do, but wasn't consistent about it. One day I'd had enough and I decided to leave her in her cot to see what would happen. She basically whined, not the full cry, on and off for about 15-20mins, sucking her thumb inbetween and then fell asleep. We did the same for the next nap and at night time and she fussed for maybe 10mins? The next day there was minimal fussing...maybe 30 seconds at most and it has been like that ever since. </p> <p>Like I said, I would do it all over again exactly the same. It changed our and her life...she's now well rested and takes lovely long naps. I did a lot of reading about training and I think it was a guide on here that said there are good and bad ages to train. 2.5-4mths was good and then after that was bad for a few months. Basically to train when they don't have too much else, like a sleep regression, going on. We are 4.5mths now and fingers crossed have not experienced a 4mth regression, which I believe is due to her being trained beforehand.</p> <p>If you want any other info, happy to chat :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380210 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 23:16:27 +0000 immabeetoo 1380210@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: I'm in the too young camp, which isn't helpful to you, but wanted to say you might find that she still doesn't sleep any longer. My LO slept 20-30 minute at that age, no matter what/where he was, and woke up happy/didn't fall back asleep. It was normal, developmentally, no matter how much it sucked, and his naps started to consolidate around 5.5 months. Now at 14 months he takes a 2 hour nap once a day and it's amazing. Anyways, just be prepared that it might not be an easy solution :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380193 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 23:03:51 +0000 MamaMoose 1380193@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For me personally that's too young for CIO training. Short naps are pretty typical around that age because baby is waking up at the end of a sleep cycle and not able to fall back to sleeps </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380186 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:57:29 +0000 lepamplemousse 1380186@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did! We did the Ferber method at around 3 or 3.5 months. Once he reached about 12 lbs and got the ok from our pedi. He became a much better sleeper after that. Best decision ever! He also slept through the night too. He's always been a big kid so we never worried about him not eating enough at night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380147 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:32:25 +0000 Mrs. Blue 1380147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: We did, and it was awesome! :happy: We sleep trained at night and for naps right before I went back to work with the goal of helping them learn to put themselves to sleep, not so much sleep through the night. We did CIO, and it sucked. We did go in and do checks at certain points, but the first night was the worst. We did naps at the same time because I thought it seemed confusing if sometimes we rocked, etc., and other times we just left them to cry. Within three days they would only fuss for a few minutes before putting themselves to sleep. I had no intention of cutting night feedings at that point, though it did result in them dropping down to only one night feeding.</p> <p>ETA: They were about 15-16 weeks when we nap trained.</p> <p>ETA More: I forgot to say that Mrs. High Heels wrote some blog posts on early sleep training (they sleep trained really early with N). I found her posts very helpful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380141 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:29:47 +0000 JennyD 1380141@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm with Mrs Hedgehog on putting the baby down sleepy but awake. </p> <p>At that age, I remember endless walking with her in the sling. Around and around and around the tiny house, endlessly, to Imagine Dragons...</p> <p>I always kept trying CIO but I couldn't take it. </p> <p>We didn't move our meme into her own room until she was bigger, maybe six months, but often I would nurse her to sleep, carefully remove my boob, let her sleep, and then put her in her own bed once she was asleep, and she never really woke up scared because she was somewhere else. </p> <p>But we did a LOT of walking around. My husband and I took turns. Around and around. And around. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380130 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:23:57 +0000 jetsa 1380130@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I asked this question too and all the responses were that it was too early. <a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-at-3-months-yay-or-nay" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/nap-training-at-3-months-yay-or-nay</a></p> <p>At 16-17 weeks I started laying him in his crib for naps and giving him 10 mins to cry provided he wasn't working himself into hysterics. He did great now as long as we don't miss his sleepy period he goes right to sleep for naps, but he's a crappy nighttime sleeper (still up every 2-3 hours) so I think that's why he takes decent naps. He sleeps 30-60 mins for naps, 3-4 times per day.<br /> Eta:I do the same as hedgehog rock to drowsy and lay down. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380118 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:19:34 +0000 Mrs Hedgehog 1380118@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We didn't nap train per say. What I did was if she only slept for 30 minutes or less I would pick her up and rock her back to drowsy and then lay her back down. Sometimes that meant we had an all day naptime. In the end it made her sleep longer because when she woke up, she knew it wasn't time to get up just yet and would put herself back to sleep. Atleast, that is what it seemed like. I also started paying more attention to her cues and general schedules. I learned that she usually is ready for a nap about an hour after she gets up, again at noonish, and again at around 3-4. When nothing made her happy but being held, naptime. </p> <p>What also helped us was learning to put her down drowsy but awake. She learned to put herself back to sleep. We also transitioned her to her crib much sooner, at 6 weeks and all at once. It was the easiest for her. </p> <p>She has had some crying fits and, honestly, I just let her cry for 10 minutes or so, if she is still at it, I pick her up and rock her until she is calm and try it again so she learned that just because she is upset doesn't mean naptime isn't going to happen.</p> <p>Not sure if any of that helps. Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1380099 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:05:24 +0000 daniellemybelle 1380099@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow, no one? *hangs head* </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-nap-train-your-3-4-month-old-please-come-in#post-1379725 Mon, 27 Jan 2014 19:35:49 +0000 daniellemybelle 1379725@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I know some think 3 months is too young to sleep train... And I'm still on the fence, but I am at a loss.</p> <p>In the early days, she was a horrible napper, always crying &amp; fighting sleep from the beginning. Then when she was about 8 weeks we figured out she would nap beautifully in the swing so we have been doing that religiously until now. She's 14 weeks &amp; now will cry for 10 minutes when we put her in the swing before falling asleep, but only sleeps 20-30 minutes. Then she will only sleep on the boob - not nursing, just with my boob in her mouth. If I move she cries, and no, she won't take a pacifier.</p> <p>Obviously we can't keep this up. We made the move from the RnP to the crib for nighttime so I'm thinking we should just go to the crib for naps too, but I know it's going to be a battle, and I'm afraid she'll never learn to sleep there without some CIO. I already will let her cry for up to 10 minutes but she is very willing to hold out longer than that.</p> <p>Anyway, if you have been there done that, please share your experience! </p>