Trouble napping? I have a solution!

GreenEyesinNC · September 2012

I just figured out the key to getting my little guy to take great naps and figured I would save some of you a headache if possible. Make him sleep more! I had always heard/read that if a baby gets overtired, it's harder for them to fall asleep, but had no idea just how true it is.

My 2 1/2 month old son has been fighting naps, waking up 30 minutes into them, cat napping all day, etc. I am a big time planner/scheduler and apparently needed "guidelines" to help me. I read not to let your baby go more than 2 hours awake and dont' accept any naps less than 1 1/2 hours (ie: if they wake up before that, let them cry/fuss back to sleep until it's been 1 1/2 hours...). This may not jive with all of your parenting styles but this takes the stance of the parent dictates the schedule, not the baby, but turns out I know what my baby needs more than he does at this point, haha! Oh my gosh - immediately my baby started sleeping during the day (night was never a problem) perfectly! Here I was keeping him up because he seemed happy and content playing, but after 2 1/2 - 3 hours, he would become so tired so quick, that he wasn't able to fall asleep on his own and couldn't transition from the first stage of sleep to REM sleep which usually occurs between 30-45 minutes which is why he can't waking up and taking such short naps. I'll admit, this does get tricky to figure out a schedule if he's eating every 3 hours and napping every 2, but I figured it out and he is SO much happier, I am getting so much more done around the house and my arms are thanking me for not having to jiggle him back to sleep for an hour each day!

So, moral of the story is DON'T LET YOUR BABY BE AWAKE FOR MORE THAN 2 HOURS AND DON'T ACCEPT A NAP LESS THAN 1 1/2 HOURS. I hope this helps someone as much as it did me!!

ovechkium · September 2012

How? My LO was up for five hours last night while I tried to rock him to sleep. He just stared at me for all 5 hours like "what are you trying to do?"

Rhianna1981 · September 2012

Are you breastfeeding or formula feeding?

GreenEyesinNC · September 2012

Breastfeeding... he eats every 3 hours during the day and sleeps 9 hours at night (which is very new... within the past week.... although night has never been our issue - just daytime naps were a struggle!) To the post with the 5 weeker - good luck, it will get better. We went through that too.... this is probably for 6 weeks+ is my guess.

Grk_Natasha · September 2012

I had this problem with my first and want to avoid with my second down the road. I just don't have the time for endless rocking/walking with two kids!

So my question is, you basically just leave him in his crib even if he wakes up?

unaveragejane · September 2012

Congratulations, OP. Just know that your theory of not letting your child go without napping for x amount of time and not accepting a nap less than x minutes does not work for everyone. I am glad that scheduling is working for you, but speaking from experience, it is not a "solution" to expect your child to sleep a certain amount. I dearly wish it was. Now if you've got some new ideas on getting your baby not to fight a nap and/or getting him back to sleep when he wakes from a nap, I am all ears. (I apologize if this sounds like a snarky reply. I don't mean to sound mean. I blame it on my sleep deprivation.)

lovemybaby918 · September 2012

This sounds great if LO was older.. At this point if I don't go to him when he starts fussing it will only get worse. Though I don't have problems sleeping atm.. This might be extremely helpful later on though

Trouble napping? I have a solution!

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