Napping Help!

emja0214 · February 2013

I have a bad napper on my hands and don't know what to do. I am able to get DD quiet and asleep with the 5 S's no problem. However she has not taken a nap longer than 45 minutes during the day, even that length is rare. She will wake up from her "nap" screaming or crying out of nowhere and will not go back to sleep. By late afternoon and evening she is SO tired all she does is scream, unless she is eating. I have tried every location, swing, me, bouncer, rock n play....nothing works for a good length of time. Any tricks or advice would be greatly appreciated!

MrsT0514 · February 2013

I don't have much advice for you on this considering I could've written this post myself. My son is the same exact way so I feel your pain!

Mom2anAngel2 · February 2013

DS was a bad napper until I started swaddling him for his nap. He now naps for 3 to 4 hours in the am and 2 to 3 hours in the afternoon.

sbevmc09 · February 2013

Hmm... trying to think of things outside the 5 S's that have worked for us...

Have you tried white noise? That was key for DS to sleep when he was a baby. We still use it with him. It's relaxing

45 min naps aren't really atypical, although you do say she seems to be tired so she must need more. Are her awake times really long? I know DS was a cat napper for the first several months, but the short naps were pretty balanced with short awake times as well so he didn't end up overtired.

Will she sleep a longer stretch if she's be held/worn? Maybe if she does you could do it for one nap in the afternoon to try to get her some more sleep to eliminate the overtiredness in the evenings.

If nothing else I'm sure it's just a phase that she'll grow out of fairly soon. Their sleep habits evolve so quickly at this point.

PrideandJoy29 · February 2013

Do you swaddle?

emja0214 · February 2013

I swaddle her all the time to soothe her. She is almost always swaddled when sleeping. She still only catnaps when I am holding her. I tried wearing her in our Ergo. She liked it the first time and then screamed the second time. We bought a white noise machine today so I will try that and see how it goes. Fingers crossed!

LovelyLou23 · February 2013

I will echo the swaddling. DS will sleep for much longer when he is swaddled than when he isn't swaddled.

bundymommy · February 2013

Sounds like the 45-minute intruder. Check out this site for tips:

https://www.babywisemom.com/2009/10/baby-whisperer-45-minute-naps.html

Sometimes these helped with my first, sometimes not. We dealt with the 45-minute intruder with DD from 6 weeks until 6 months. NOT a fun time. But eventually it stopped being a problem. If all else fails, just hang in there and it will get better!

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