Babies: 3 - 6 Months
stacee55j
member
No napping!
stacee55j
member
My 4 month old has been refusing naps...just crying instead because he's so tired! He used to nap in the swing really well in the mornings but as of this week has given that up. I've tried the pack 'n' play and crib with no success. He doesn't even allow me to rock him to sleep. I pretty much fight with trying to get him down until he's hungry again to nurse. Then he falls asleep while nursing but I can't relocate him to the crib or he wakes up immediately and is up in 20 minutes if I move him to the swing. I don't know what to do! He is exhausted!
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Re: No napping!
I start by waking him up every day at the same time - 6:30 am. His first nap is around 9 am after a bottle - or a good breastfeed. Then I take him into his room , change his diaper, sit in the rocking chair and read him a book, darken his room and put him down. I do give him a little blankie he sucks on and I have to go in once it's quiet to take it because he drapes it over his face. If he doesn't sleep, I will wait a while and then go in and pretend he did sleep by saying "Oh, your awake from your nap!" and then open the blinds and bring him out. The he goes down for another nap around 1 pm after another good feed.
Just keep up with a schedule and routine and they will get it! Darken the room the best you can, put the nigh light and mobile on and leave the room. I find that the CIO method takes a good week and a half to work.
Actually the naps just sort of happened this week...but it was hell for the last 3 months trying to get him to sleep in there during the day. I think I spent a few weeks shuffling him from his crib to the swing to the car back to his crib ALL DAY LONG in hopes that he would catch a few mins of a nap! I had to teach him how to nap all over again...in his swing! Once he started getting a napping schedule down, I bit the bullet last weekend and said "That's it! I'm putting him in his crib for naps starting on Monday and I don't care if he sleeps or not!" And then he just slept! Maybe it was because I stopped worrying about it so much! They can read emotions you know!
I do find that a bottle of formula really settles him. I never had enough milk to fill him good...just kind of left him content and I think that's why he wasn't settling. I'm not sure if that's the whole reason his naps are successful...