crap naps

Huahine

My baby used to be a pretty good napper.  When he looked tired, I would lay him down with a binky and he would drift off. 

Now he fights it tooth and nail.  He will be rubbing his eyes, whiny, clearly exhausted and refuse to go down.  As soon as we put him on his back he starts crying (this happens during diaper changes too).

I've started nursing him down again.  But that only works about 50% of the time.  The rest of the time he will be just drifting off and will snap back awake and start crying with the "you tried to trick me" wail.  

If we do manage to get him to fall asleep, within 20 minutes he usually manages to wake himself back up by rolling onto his stomach and getting up on his hands and knees.  I'm tempted to strap the kid down to keep him asleep. 

Just hoping this is a short phase.

-one tired mama

GingerWife

We went through that last week.  This week things are looking up!  Good luck!  Hope it's a short lived phase!

ajponder1

I feel your pain!

My DD has fought sleep ever since about 2 months (I was the same as a baby). We have her going down in the crib at night pretty good, but the ONLY way I can get her to take a nap is in my arms, and even that is like wrestling with a yelling octopus!

I think this week I am gonna have to put my foot down and make her nap in her crib, which means 15 minutes crying, 30 minutes sleep, then 15 minutes crying.....*sigh*

anhg80

I totally feel your pain!  We've been working on naps since 3 months.  It sounds like you baby might have a sleep association - if you read Ferber's description of how a baby tries to stay awake b/c they know if they go to sleep they'll end up in the crib it really makes a lot of sense to me.  DD definitely had a nursing/sleep association that we had to break, and only recently has she started extending naps on her own (we would have to wake-to-sleep, but were never really able to fade that out).

Finally a week and a half ago I decided that her naps were at 8, 12, and 4 (based loosely on her existing schedule).  Even if the nap is crappy, I just get out of the house and wait for the next one.  I feel a lot more sane, even if she's waking up at 5:00 (why, oh why!?).