Nap help desperately needed

albertabride06

Dylan refuses to nap which also means he doesn't sleep good at night. Please share your nap ideas with me. A lot of the problem is once he gets to sleep he only sleeps for about 20 - 30 mins. Getting him to fall asleep is another issue....please help.

Afton3

Are you on a regular schedule?  I find that a schedule really helps.  It takes about 3 days for kids to get used to a routine so I always try something and give it three days until it sets in motion.  You should decide what time his nap will be and each day no matter what put him in bed at that time.  If he cries off and on for the first day it will get better the second day and by the third or fourth day he should understand that when you put him down you're not coming to get him again for awhile and he will probably learn to put himself to sleep.

 Anyway, that's my experience.  Establish a routine and give it a few days for your baby to get used to it and figure out how to adjust.  You can do the same thing with establishing the nighttime bed routine.

That's my experience and opinion.  Good luck!

At1stsight

DS isn't much better. He does 3 30 minute naps per day. We do a schedule, of sorts. He's usually up around 7am (sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later). His first nap starts a little less than 2 hours later; I use his yawning/rubbing eyes cues and put him down. He's a fusser, but if I timed it right, he's asleep within 5 minutes. The next nap happens about 2 - 2.5 hours after he gets up from the first nap, and same for the third nap. We start bedtime routine at 6:30pm sharp; I get all the stuff together and then he's in the tub at 6:40pm, dried off and dressed at 7:00pm, bottle at 7:05, book at 7:15pm, then sound machine, lights out, kiss goodnight and I leave the room. It's down to a science; he's usually asleep with no fussing within 5-10 minutes.

I feel your pain, I really really do, bc I did routines for months and months before it finally ironed itself out into this. He still wakes twice a night (~2am and 5am usually) but at least he knows exactly what's coming each day and has gotten better at taking a nap without freaking out. Some kids are never 2 hr nappers, from what I hear. I think ours probably just are catnappers.