Help with naps!!

saywhat224

My 16 week old infant has never been good at taking naps, thankfully he sleeps well at night. During the day I used to be able to nurse him to sleep, which is what I do at night, but then he started waking up as soon as I laid him down. Then I could get him to sleep rocking and shh'ing, but soon enough he outgrew that too. Then we went to swaddling and walking, shh'ing, bouncing in a pitch black room until he fell asleep. That worked for about a month but now he fights that too. I bought a crib soother and lay him swaddled in his crib. I thought we found our answer, he fell asleep right away! But that only happened once, now he just screams. I don't know what else to do, I don't necessarily agree with him crying it out despite my husband pushing for it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

KatWAG

How long is he awake between naps? Is it possible that he is overly tired? I try to put my LO down exactly one hour after he wake up in the morning. Then after he wakes up from him first nap I put him down 3 hours later (sometimes he will take a mini snooze, for 15 minutes in the swing) for his afternoon nap. That way he is never over tired.

blacktie3

I am fortunate to have a good sleeper...I guess he takes after his mommy   but have you tried singing to him?  Blaine can be crying about something and if start singing to him he quiets down and relaxes pretty quickly.  He is also super picky about postioning, he has gotten into leaning on his side abit.

Maladroit

I have a really good sleeper, but man does he fight his naps!  Best advice I have is to bring a bottle(or boob) and lay down with him, feed (usually about 3-4oz and no burp)...and for my little guy, I have to rub his hair (it's his thing).  I swaddled him for naps until he was 5 months. Rarely, I get desperate and take him for a car ride, which takes about a block for him to konk out.

TeacherVicky

Ditto PP about wake time. At that age, I made sure DD was asleep within 60 minutes of being awake. I would typically start her wind down routine at 40-45 minutes awake time.

Try settling on a calming nap routine (normally a shorter version of your bedtime routine) so that he gets used to the routine and starts to recognize it as a sleep cue. I have always brought them up to their room, diaper change, short book, lights off, sing/rock, white noise on, sleep sack (or swaddle) on, down in bed.

He's too young to CIO. I would remove the crib soother (if it's one of those aquarium types) as they are too stimulating. 

Do you use white noise? If not, it's great for sleep.