Milestones and Nap Problems: Help!

Emerald27

Hello! I don't post here often, but I've run into some recent nap problems with LO, and I thought you ladies might be able to help! Sorry if this is a long post. There are just so many details...  

 

LO is almost 9 months old. In the past two weeks he has reached some fabulous milestones. He now crawls like a champ, pulls up on and cruises along the furniture, says "mama", "baba",  and "dada", and is just full of energy and playfulness. The baby that didn't want to be set down so that I could use the bathroom now reaches for the floor at all times.

Now, I realize that milestones bring along sleep trouble, but our problem has me worried. We bed share, and LO is always nursed to sleep. Sometimes he'll fall asleep on his own after nursing...he'll just roll over and be asleep, which is awesome. However, since he is crawling, when I try to lay with him and nurse him for naps, he fusses/cries and tries to roll away from me so that he can go play. I basically have to hold him down (very gently) and make him nurse, and he finally goes to sleep.

I'm worried, though, because now if I lay him down even just to nurse, he cries and pulls away. I don't want to create a negative association with nursing or naps, but I don't know what else to do!

Please tell me that some of you have been here. Tell me that my baby will still love to nurse and that it will be ok....and help me fix this! Thanks, ladies! 

Emerald27

Oh, and I just wanted to add that I watch very carefully for the first sign that he is tired. He usually rubs his eyes and gets that stare, and he gets a bit more quiet. If I miss his cues, he is very fussy, so I'm pretty careful.

Rdautenhahn

I had the same problem. I would just have to hold him really still and side lie nurse him till he fell asleep. He will cry a little and fight me, roll over and crawl away etc. when we reached the magic crawling and pulling up stage we went from 2 naps back to 3.  He seemed to always want to be standing and crawling and I think all the extra effort made him so much more tired. I just always watch for the very first sign of tired. Also now he will like act like he needs to crawl while he is sleeping. Holding him still makes sleeping much better cause he doesn't wake himself up unnecessarily. - also we bed share, so this option might not work as well for you. 

Good luck! 

AmeliaMarie

My little guy is a few weeks older then yours and we've been having similar issues. He'll nurse for a short while and then want to crawl away. I just calmly lay him back down. He sits back up immediately for awhile, but eventually he settles in. This works better for us then trying to hold him down. 

Rdautenhahn

If I dont hold mine still he likes to play watch how fast I can crawl to the bed rails. I don't like strap him to the bed or anything. I just hold him in a hug while he nurses. Just thought I'd clarify cause your post made it kinda seem like you thought I was vicious!(I promise I am totally not) I am pretty sure if I just waited him out he would never lay down to nurse cause even holding him still he still manages to roll away half the time. 

Emerald27

I tried letting him sit himself up and then laying him back down, but it doesn't seem to help much. I'm glad to know that I'm not alone. You don't think that this could create a negative association with nursing, do you? That is my buggiest fear, I think. 

Thank you so much! 

Rdautenhahn

It has not with my son at all. Also Kelly mom(don't know how to do clicky on iPad) has good infor for nursing active babies. My son is still very much a boob man and it always works to sooth for head bumps, falling when attempting to stand etc. the problem with my son is he knows it's bed time and he isn't ready to give up yet. Once he agrees he will relax and stop, although I do still get 3am antsy and crawling half asleep.  

Rdautenhahn

https://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/nursing-manners-2/ - tips for stopping unwanted nursing behaviours

 https://kellymom.com/bf/normal/toddlernursing/ - scroll down on this one and it has a section especially for "nursing acrobatics" that's where it says to tell them to stay still then hug them close. Good luck! The worst is when they are latched on well then decide to stand up whilst your nipple is still firmly latched... Ugh 

TiffanyBerry

At some point, DD stopped nursing to sleep.  Then came about two weeks of every time she tried to move off the bed, I would pick her up and lay her back down.  Sometimes all of two seconds apart, and sometimes more than four dozen times that night (only at the beginning).  If you are SUPER consistent, and give your kiddo the time to learn that anything they do besides laying down will cause them to be layed down, they will eventually not bother getting up.  It can take a long while (a week for some kids, three for others), but it will eventually work.  But you must be 100% consistent, or you instead teach LO that there is some magic thing that he can do to get out of laying down and he will work stubbornly to figure out what it is again and again.

Emerald27

Rdautenhahn:

https://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/nursing-manners-2/ - tips for stopping unwanted nursing behaviours

 https://kellymom.com/bf/normal/toddlernursing/ - scroll down on this one and it has a section especially for "nursing acrobatics" that's where it says to tell them to stay still then hug them close. Good luck! The worst is when they are latched on well then decide to stand up whilst your nipple is still firmly latched... Ugh 

This is great info! Thanks so much! 

Emerald27

TiffanyBerry:

At some point, DD stopped nursing to sleep.  Then came about two weeks of every time she tried to move off the bed, I would pick her up and lay her back down.  Sometimes all of two seconds apart, and sometimes more than four dozen times that night (only at the beginning).  If you are SUPER consistent, and give your kiddo the time to learn that anything they do besides laying down will cause them to be layed down, they will eventually not bother getting up.  It can take a long while (a week for some kids, three for others), but it will eventually work.  But you must be 100% consistent, or you instead teach LO that there is some magic thing that he can do to get out of laying down and he will work stubbornly to figure out what it is again and again.

Good points! I'll be sure to remain consistent about him trying to sit up. I have probably made the problem worse by giving up and letting him go play. Thanks! 

AmeliaMarie

Rdautenhahn:

If I dont hold mine still he likes to play watch how fast I can crawl to the bed rails. I don't like strap him to the bed or anything. I just hold him in a hug while he nurses. Just thought I'd clarify cause your post made it kinda seem like you thought I was vicious!(I promise I am totally not) I am pretty sure if I just waited him out he would never lay down to nurse cause even holding him still he still manages to roll away half the time. 

I didn't think you were being vicious!  I just thought I'd mention it because when mine first started to try and get away I held him in a hug too. We both would get really frustrated and just letting him go and then laying him back down works better for us. I didn't mean to make you feel bad at all, just let you know what works better for us.