Short naps

mcdoug211

So she fights sleep so much until she's screaming mad and then it's even harder for her to sleep restfully. When she finally settles she rarely sleeps more than an hour if that, I read she needs atleast an hour to go throgh all cycles to actually feel rested. I make sure her wake time is short it was 2 hours now were barely at 1.5 hours before she's overtired and screaming. I literally spend my whole day working to get her to sleep so she's rested but she's still waking up fussy. She took an hour 40 min nap today , only because I layed down with her and she was on her stomach which she prefers, which she hasn't done in over a month and still woke up grumpy. I am extremely frustrated and feeling defeated. Anyone have any tips...

gipfish

Some things that help Jane fall asleep when she is overtired are:

- White noise. I play the "Strong Hairdryer" track from The Happiest Baby on the Block CD. I learned about it in this board. You can get it for free on Amazon Music if you have a Prime Subscription.

- Babywearing. If being tired is the only thing she is upset about, babywearing works every time. But I have to get walking at a nice steady pace. She won't fall asleep if I stand still.

- Rides. In the stroller or car.

- Her sleepy spot. The chair in her nursery is where I hold her when she falls asleep at bedtime. Sometimes she will nap better if I take her there.

I'm interested to see what other moms say about keeping babies asleep. Jane tends to take some short naps, too.

Good luck!

kdoak2015

Is she full before she goes down, I always top my DD up before she goes down for a nap. Maybe 1.5 hrs is too long. Sometimes my DD is 45mins sometimes 2hrs. 2 hrs is pushing it.

cupcakesforbreakfast

This isn't helpful, but I thought it might make you feel better to know that my LO also screams and fights sleeps these days, and when I finally get him to sleep...he makes it 30 minutes if I'm lucky. Soooo exhausting!

AmoLovesAud

I don't know how 'normal' this is, but my kiddo only naps 30-40 mins at a time, so I try to get her to nap after being awake for just an hour.  First yawn or eye rub, strait to the 'nap corner' (ie the office, which I keep dark and quiet all day), play some white noise, give her a binky and her deer plushie, and settle in.  If after 30 mins or so she just won't nap, I do a diaper change and feed her and settle back in, usually does the trick.  Unfortunately I haven't mastered putting her down somewhere to nap, so they're all taken in my arms (or the moby wrap, like a PP said wraps have magic sleepy powers), but we'll work on that when she's taking fewer, longer naps.

doodleoodle

After an hour of wake time I start trying to get LO to sleep as well. She typically sleeps for 30-45 minutes. An hour is considered a great nap these days. Sometimes she will go back to sleep if I quickly get up and start walking with her. I have a woven wrap that she absolutely hates, but if I can get her to settle down in it she takes longer naps. I have to walk the entire time though. If I sit down she wakes up. So worth it though!

rachswi

I think I've mentioned this elsewhere, but the yoga ball I bought while pregnant has become the best thing ever. I bounce with LO on the ball and he's almost consistently out in 5-10 minutes. It makes my back sore but it's a lot less of a fight and less tiring than pacing the whole house.  Lately he's taken to "fake sleeping" so when I put him down he pops back awake but I just pick him up and bounce a little longer and he goes back to sleep. (Lol I actually popped the first one from bouncing on it so much so DH and I went out the next day and bought 2 more so we wouldn't be without it)

wulfpackgirl

Do you have a swing? My little man will just about always take a nap in the swing if he's tired. I usually let him nap in that in the mornings. I try not to use it too much though. My mama says all babies love a swing.

poupoule

 Stopped putting her to sleep for her naps. After 1 hour of awake time I will go for a stroll or I will place her in her rock n play with her pacifier and she will fall asleep by herself while I cook or do some ironing. She loves the stroller for naps.
She will nap from 20 min to 2 hours. Most of the naps are around 40 minutes.

Ceridwen77

I think 30-40min naps are pretty normal. I second the strong hairdryer track from the happiest baby on the block cd and bouncing on a stability ball.  Maybe your DD is miserable because she wants to play vs being over tired? If you're putting so much focus into getting her to sleep maybe try putting a lot of focus into a fun activity after her short nap. My DD will cry now when she wants to play, and playing helps tire her out. 

mcdoug211

During her wake time we do play or I read or sing to her. She used to nap in the swing but she really dislikes being put down these days. I remember talk about the balance ball and don't remember lol I will try all your tips ladies!!

lanire

My LO has been resisting the naps lately I am managing exactly one nap per day (which can be 2hrs or so), but it seems like too little sleep for a 3 months old. No amount of bouncing on the ball/rocking/swinging seems to convince him to go to sleep at other times even though he looks tired, yawns, and rubs his eyes. 

rachswi

lanire said:

My LO has been resisting the naps lately I am managing exactly one nap per day (which can be 2hrs or so), but it seems like too little sleep for a 3 months old. No amount of bouncing on the ball/rocking/swinging seems to convince him to go to sleep at other times even though he looks tired, yawns, and rubs his eyes. 

Have you tried white noise in a darker place? Your LO may be too stimulated by everything he can play with and doesn't want to sleep because he thinks he's going to miss out. 

My my lo has been resisting naps too. I've gotten him to nap more times but he never sleeps more than 45 minutes even though he's waking up tired and clearly needs to nap longer

natalknitter15

My baby hardly ever naps during the daytime. Today, I managed to get him to sleep in his swing. 10 minutes later, my cat decides this is the time to be hyper and runs full speed into the swing. Needless to say, that was the end of my baby's nap.
On an unrelated note, would anyone like to adopt an adorable and very badly behaved tuxedo cat?  

mcdoug211

Ugh my dogs are the same way. When she does finally go down they start barking, running throgh the house or wrestling and I have to yell

smnewby

I found a cheapo bark collar on amazon that works like a charm!  I was always opposed to bark collars but when the dog wakes my poor overly tired baby the gloves come off...

doodleoodle

Does anyone else have a baby that will ONLY nap at home? My LO will only nap at home. It's so bad that she won't even nap in areas of the house that we aren't typically in. She's too interested in checking everything out. It has to be dark and quiet and I have to be holding her. Once in a blue moon she'll nap in her swing. With needing to nap about every hour this is making me feel trapped and lonely. Can anyone commiserate or offer advice?

rachswi

doodleoodle said:

Does anyone else have a baby that will ONLY nap at home? My LO will only nap at home. It's so bad that she won't even nap in areas of the house that we aren't typically in. She's too interested in checking everything out. It has to be dark and quiet and I have to be holding her. Once in a blue moon she'll nap in her swing. With needing to nap about every hour this is making me feel trapped and lonely. Can anyone commiserate or offer advice?

While not quite as bad, Zeke usually only naps in places familiar to him. I had him in my wrap for almost 2 hours this morning walking around target and he took 2 10-15 minute cat naps in that time (when usually the wrap is guaranteed solid nap time)... He's actually gotten to the point where he only wants to nap in his crib and we have to do the whole nap routine in the dark in his room. He used to nap well on top of me in the recliner (so I would watch tv while he slept) but now he's too interested in his toys and other things in our living room to nap (regardless of whether or not I have the tv on).  

Does se your LO get grumpy if you're out and about and she's not had a nap in an hour? I have to put LO down after an hour or so of play time here at home but he hardly fussed at all when we were walking around target. He didn't really need the nap because he was happy to just take it all in. If yours is the same way you may not be completely trapped 

cdepperschmidt

I know not everyone likes this, but I nurse my kid to sleep at night so if he won't nap I do it during the day to. I also agree that wraps and carriers have magic sleepy dust. 

Edit: Also agree with PP, 30-45 minutes is DS's typical nap length.

doodleoodle

rachswi said:

doodleoodle said:

Does anyone else have a baby that will ONLY nap at home? My LO will only nap at home. It's so bad that she won't even nap in areas of the house that we aren't typically in. She's too interested in checking everything out. It has to be dark and quiet and I have to be holding her. Once in a blue moon she'll nap in her swing. With needing to nap about every hour this is making me feel trapped and lonely. Can anyone commiserate or offer advice?

While not quite as bad, Zeke usually only naps in places familiar to him. I had him in my wrap for almost 2 hours this morning walking around target and he took 2 10-15 minute cat naps in that time (when usually the wrap is guaranteed solid nap time)... He's actually gotten to the point where he only wants to nap in his crib and we have to do the whole nap routine in the dark in his room. He used to nap well on top of me in the recliner (so I would watch tv while he slept) but now he's too interested in his toys and other things in our living room to nap (regardless of whether or not I have the tv on).  

Does se your LO get grumpy if you're out and about and she's not had a nap in an hour? I have to put LO down after an hour or so of play time here at home but he hardly fussed at all when we were walking around target. He didn't really need the nap because he was happy to just take it all in. If yours is the same way you may not be completely trapped 

When we get in the car to go home she loses her mind. Depending on how long we were out she will be miserable for up to two days afterwards

rachswi

doodleoodle said:

rachswi said:

doodleoodle said:

Does anyone else have a baby that will ONLY nap at home? My LO will only nap at home. It's so bad that she won't even nap in areas of the house that we aren't typically in. She's too interested in checking everything out. It has to be dark and quiet and I have to be holding her. Once in a blue moon she'll nap in her swing. With needing to nap about every hour this is making me feel trapped and lonely. Can anyone commiserate or offer advice?

While not quite as bad, Zeke usually only naps in places familiar to him. I had him in my wrap for almost 2 hours this morning walking around target and he took 2 10-15 minute cat naps in that time (when usually the wrap is guaranteed solid nap time)... He's actually gotten to the point where he only wants to nap in his crib and we have to do the whole nap routine in the dark in his room. He used to nap well on top of me in the recliner (so I would watch tv while he slept) but now he's too interested in his toys and other things in our living room to nap (regardless of whether or not I have the tv on).  

Does se your LO get grumpy if you're out and about and she's not had a nap in an hour? I have to put LO down after an hour or so of play time here at home but he hardly fussed at all when we were walking around target. He didn't really need the nap because he was happy to just take it all in. If yours is the same way you may not be completely trapped 

When we get in the car to go home she loses her mind. Depending on how long we were out she will be miserable for up to two days afterwards

Do you have any kind of car seat cover? I started putting a cover over his seat so that it was dark and there was no stimulation and he's started falling asleep in his car seat again. (Before he was losing his mind the second he got strapped in)

rachswi

cdepperschmidt said:

I know not everyone likes this, but I nurse my kid to sleep at night so if he won't nap I do it during the day to. I also agree that wraps and carriers have magic sleepy dust. 

Edit: Also agree with PP, 30-45 minutes is DS's typical nap length.

I nurse to sleep both at night and occasionally during the day too. It seems to get LO calm (sometimes. Other times he's gotten mad that I'm trying to feed him because he wasn't hungry)

RaisingJulian

Andrew doesn't sleep well during the day at all. Mainly because big brother Julian isn't exactly silent. He'll usually fall asleep if I lay him down & leave him there for a while with no one around him but I've noticed that if he doesn't take a lot of naps during the day he sleeps almost 12 hours at night which is always great. But I honestly would try putting on white noise like a hair dryer or vacuum. There's 10 hour long videos on YouTube with just white noise. I swear by it!

doodleoodle

My MIL has made me feel like a terrible mother for LO's short naps. LO will only nap on me and MIL said I'm probably disturbing LO and she isn't getting enough sleep. LO usually gets 14-16 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. From everything I've read that is a good amount of sleep for her age. MIL said it doesn't matter because the naps are short she isn't able to get through all sleep cycles to be rested. Maybe I am disturbing her, idk... But she doesn't like being by herself and I'm going to trust my instincts and not let her cry it out. It just doesn't feel right. LO sleeps with me at night and she sleeps just fine then (knock on wood). I've tried laying in bed with her for naps and she naps about the same length of time as when I hold her. Is this really the huge deal that she is making it?

smnewby

@doodleoodle that sucks. My mom made me feel that way about a lot of our parenting decisions. My LO only takes hr long naps during the day and gets the same amount of sleep as your baby over 24hrs. She is happy and very alert when awake. Go with your instincts.

rachswi

I don't think so. I know lots of ladies wear their babies for a majority of their naps. I've actually heard/read they may nap better on you because you can help them transition to the next sleep cycle. If you are fine with your LO sleeping on you then do it. What works for you is what you should do. 

I usually put LO in his crib for naps but occasionally I hold him because he either refused to stay asleep in his crib or because I was in the mood for cuddles. Naps usually end up being the same length of time and he seems just as zonked out on me as in the crib