please help...baby won't nap

sperdue

The only time my son will nap is in his swing.  Some days he won't even do that.  If he does, he will nap for about 2 hours.  I really want to get him on a nap schedule in his crib but he absolutely hates it.  He screams his head off.  I've tried letting him cry some but he cries so hard I can't take it.  He'll be 5 months.  Any suggestions???

jadabull

I wish I could help but I'm having the same problem with my 6 week old!! He naps during the day time a total of 2-3 hours max!!! Then he's hard to put to sleep at night. ?I thought newborns were supposed to sleep for 16-18 hours a day. ?I feel cheated.

candreco

jadabull:

I wish I could help but I'm having the same problem with my 6 week old!! He naps during the day time a total of 2-3 hours max!!! Then he's hard to put to sleep at night.  I thought newborns were supposed to sleep for 16-18 hours a day.  I feel cheated.

We have days like that where DD will not nap.  Today was one, and I finally got her sleepy enough to swaddle around 7 pm by nursing for nearly an hour, and then she slept for three hours.  After you get that first nap in, things are so much better.  It's so hard though because they get so overtired that they can't sleep, and then it just snowballs.

carolina1178

there was phase when ds was a little over 2 months that he would not nap anywhere but the swing!! he was sleeping in crib at night but wouldn't have it during the day.

I eventually broke him of the swing by turning if off little by little over 2 weeks time. By this time he was taking 4 naps/day..so I started with the 1st nap and transitioned that one to the cribs...took about 3 days. once he was ok with that one..I started on the 2nd nap etc. Finally by about 3 months he was taking all naps in his crib!!!

Maybe he is overtired...try keeping a log of his sleep/wake times and see if you notice a pattern. I was also doing the 'two hour' thing but then ds naps started going to crap and he was waking after exactly 40 minutes. I kept a log and found out 2 hours was too long for him! he can tolerate about an hour and 10 minutes of wake time and by that I mean...he needs to be in his crib and sleep within that time.

after I gave him the opportunity to learn how to put himself to sleep when he was 4 months...naps are great now!! he is taking 4 a day..2 2 hours one and 2 1.5 hour!!! He also doesn't wake after 40 minutes (end of his sleep cycle) anymore...if he does he is able to transition through it better because he is soothing himself back to sleep. It took a lot of trial and error but we finally figured it out. I am sure he will change things up on me soon and we will figure it all out again, lol! good luck!