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Help - My son doesn't nap!

LuckyBride06LuckyBride06 member
in Babies: 3 - 6 Months

I'm so frustrated...I don't know what to do. I know he's tired...he yawns, rubs his eyes, gets very cranky...but he fights off sleep! I've tried rocking him, bouncing with him, walking around with him, swaddling him, sound machine, no sound machine...and once I do finally get him to nap, he naps for 20 mins! I get, on a good day, about three 20 min naps. Is this normal for a 3month old? Based on what I hear/read, he definitely should be sleeping more. I want so badly to get him in his crib for 2 good, long naps a day, but it's just not happening.

My pedi said it's fine as long as he's sleeping at night, which he is, but he's only sleeping about 10hrs total (waking once or twice to eat). So basically, all together he gets about 11-12hrs of sleep a day. 

Anyone have any suggestions? It's so hard functioning myself b/c I can't get housework, laundry or shower b/c I constantly entertaining him b/c he's constantly awake. I feel like a zombie sometimes! 

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Re: Help - My son doesn't nap!

  • datandatan member
    Have you tried a baby carrier, like the Ergo?  My DS falls right asleep in that, as long as he's tired.  But, other than that, I don't have any good suggestions. My DS also resists naps. 
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  • mermer82mermer82

    I have to swaddle, use white noise, put him in the swing AND stick the pacifier in to get my son to nap. And even then, he stays wide awake (even when I KNOW he is tired, rubbing eyes, yawning, etc.) for about 15-20 minutes before it finally bores him to sleep.

    He just can't stand not to be a part of the action! I found that me leaving him alone worked faster in putting him to sleep than carrying/jiggling/swaying/wearing him.

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  • LuckyBride06LuckyBride06 member

    imagedatan:
    Have you tried a baby carrier, like the Ergo?  My DS falls right asleep in that, as long as he's tired.  But, other than that, I don't have any good suggestions. My DS also resists naps. 

    I haven't tried that. He does fall asleep on me, but I want to get him down in the crib, pnp, or swing or something so he's not used to sleeping on me all the time. It's good to know that my DS isn't the only one who doesn't nap! GL!

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  • staceyanseeuwstaceyanseeuw
    My DS is the exact same way. I felt the same as you, I could have written your post. But I came to the conclusion that he's not a big napper, and he STTN so I'm not complaining. Once I stopped fighting him it got better. We've got a nice little routine going on now. He wakes up, plays/eats for an hour and a half, then sleeps for 30 minutes and repeat. Just have to move fast in those 30 minutes to get anything done! But if he's happy with that schedule, there's nothing you can do to change it. Like I said, go with it and you'll feel better because you won't be stressing about it. He'll sleep when he needs to sleep. Good luck!
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  • pinkysunpinkysun

    Welcome to the club! My son takes 3-4 30 minute naps a day if we are home.  If we are out and I am pushing him in the stroller, he will sleep 45 min to an hour.  Doc also said this was fine.  My LO also sleeps through the night, about 10 hours.  I just make it a point to go to bed within an hour after him or I would be a zombie too!  My only suggestion is to go to bed early!

    GL!

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  • Jenice32Jenice32

    This was my son a few weeks ago, only he doesn't STTN, and he wakes up more at night when he doesn't nap. If I wanted him to sleep longer I would let him sleep on me and we both would take naps. That's about the time I hired a housekeeper.

    It has gotten better and he's napping a few times a day, for about an hour, an hour and a half each time. So it will get better, hang in there!

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  • fiftysixtyfiftysixty

    My DS is the same way. If I really want him to nap I have to either take him for a ride in the stroller or car, or lay down with him. Nothing else works.

    The last few days I've been making a point to take him for a walk... he usually falls asleep about 10 minutes or so in, and then he'll sleep for about an hour. 

     Do you have a bouncy chair for him? If it wasn't for that chair I'd never get to pee or shower. Haha! I just plop him in it while he's happy and set him in the bathroom with me. I put him in his Snugli sometimes too, but that makes my back tired and it's still not terribly useful since I can't very well do dishes or cook food with him there! 

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  • amoureuxamoureux

    Next time he goes for a nap, literally sit outside his door and wait for him to make even a whimper at that 20 minute mark.  Before he has a chance to start waking up more, go in and  'shush' him.   If I do that fast (ie before the whimpering turns into crying), he goes back to sleep and then often will stay asleep.  A baby's sleep cycle is only 20 minutes so he is waking and not able just to self-soothe back to sleep. 

    I don't have to do that very often anymore.  The more 'practice' he got staying asleep, the better he got at doing it.

     

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  • mom2binKCmom2binKC

    I'm in the same boat with DS.  And my DD was the same way.  All I can say is that it eventually got better.  Nothing seems to stay the same with babies -- at least that's what I've found.  My DD eventually started consolidating her sleep into three longer naps per day -- not as long as I would have liked, but as a pp said, you just learn to get done what you can in that time.  I tried several times to manipulate her schedule -- like trying to get her down to two long naps per day instead of three short, but I only ended up frustrated that I couldn't get her to conform to my schedule.  So I eventually gave up.  And she eventually set her own schedule that worked for her.

    So I expect the same will be true for DS.  GL with your LO!

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