Help! - Trouble with Naptime

danielle1290

Hi Ladies,

I need some advice, DS naps great once he falls asleep, he will usually take two 2 hour naps a day. My problem is that it takes me at least a half hour to get him to sleep each time. I usually make him a bottle and feed him while I rock him in his dark room with his sound machine on, then after he eats his bottle he just lays there until he finally falls asleep. I have tried laying him down in his crib to fall asleep on his own (which he does every night at bedtime without any problem), but he won't go to sleep, he just sits in his crib and plays and "talks" to himself until I come get him. As much as I hate to let him cry, I almost wish he would do that rather than play because I know that would tire him out and he would eventually fall asleep. I don't usually mind rocking him to sleep because I know he will only be small enough for me to rock for so long and I enjoy spending the time with him, but I am due for baby #2 in September and I need to be able to put him down quickly for a nap when the baby is here, not to mention I won't be able to rock him easily with a big belly in the way! Anybody have any ideas that I could try?

yellowdaisies84

We are the opposite. It takes about an hour to get her down at bedtime but I can put her straight down for her naps. 

I don't feed her before her naps I feed her when she wakes up. I don't know if I have any advice since it sounds like our babies are not similar...but for mine I usually read her stories, change her diaper, then I tell her it's time for a rest and she and I have a routine together of turning off the light, turn on the air purifier, turn on the sound machine and then Mommy is going to put you in your Halo. Then I pick her up and rock her and sing her 3 lullabies- My Bonnie, You Are My Sunshine, and Twinkle Twinkle. Then I tell her I love her so much to the moon and back and give her a kiss on her head and then I tell her Mommy's going to put you in your crib now. Then I lay her down and quickly say 'night night baby i love you' then I leave and close the door. She always cries for at least a few seconds, usually it's more talking than crying. Even if she does a real cry I don't go back. She sometimes plays or talks for a long time, and other times she falls silent so fast. I give her an hour. If after an hour she's still up I get her up and then we skip the nap (this is extremely rare) and then try again next time. If she sleeps for 2 hours I get her up (also very rare) When she wakes up I nurse her. She naps at 10 and 2 bedtime nursing is 7:30. I get her up at 8am (but this is very rare as well she normally wakes up by 8 on her own.

I always feed her after a sleep. Up in the AM- eat breakfast & nurse. Nap- lunch & nurse. Nap- nurse (snack) Dinner, bedtime nursing session (this is looooong) then bed. 

danielle1290

@yellowdaisies84 Thanks so much for the advice! I just wasn't giving him enough time to put himself to sleep. I decided to try giving him an hour to fall asleep like you said and it worked! The first time took the full hour but he finally fell asleep, the next time took 45 minutes, then 30, and now he is usually out within 10 minutes or less! It's so nice to not have to spend an hour rocking him to sleep for each nap.

yellowdaisies84

@danielle1290 That's awesome! Hopefully I can join you soon with cutting down on our bedtime routine the way you just did with naps. I have an idea to make a change so that I nurse her earlier in the evening and then my husband does stories and bedtime! That would be amazing! I typically nurse her to sleep for 30-90 minutes!!!!!