Tips on nap sleep training

Re: Tips on nap sleep training

• kmama2013 member

  March 2014

  It's possible she may not need as much sleep, my MIL told me my hubby hardly slept when he was a baby let alone take naps. How long after she gets up for the day do you try putting her down for a nap? My daughter usually goes down about 3 hours after she wakes up. She used  to take a second nap 3-4 hours after she woke up from her first nap but recently she has cut out her second nap. Is she maybe going down too early for her nap and thats why she isn't sleeping? Sorry this probably isn't much help! I hope she at least starts giving you a nap a day tho!

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• skidderdo member

  March 2014

  Do you have a routine for naps like you have for bedtime? Maybe it needs to be a really obvious routine: sleep sack, same book, same music, same "lights off/sound machine on" routine. It will help give clues that it is time to rest. How long does LO sleep at night? (For example, Warner sleeps 12 hours total at night, basically 7-7, even though he wakes up 87 times to nurse).

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             Warner, our early surprise, born March 12, 2013!

          Watching You Grow Everyday, Right Before Our Eyes!

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• danuli8 member

  March 2014

  Sorry this is happening to you...I have always tried putting DS down EARLIER if I am having trouble getting him down for a nap. If he is fighting the nap it is usually because he's overtired. He goes down for nap #1 about 2 hrs 45 minutes after waking up in the morning and goes down for nap #2 about 2 hours and 45 minutes after he wakes up from nap #1, then goes to bed for the night 4 to 4 1/2 hours after waking up from nap #2. And we have a set routine like @skidderdo suggested that tells him a nap is coming.
  

  
  Over-40 parents...what we lack in vigor, we make up for with cunning.
  

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• CanukMam member

  March 2014

  No advice but we finally successfully got him to sleep in a crib for bed time a few months ago. Naps are still hit and miss but are gradually getting better. I think as he gets used to putting himself back to sleep at night he is learning from that. Also I stopped just running in when I hear him 'wake up' from a nap and sometimes he goes back to sleep

  

  

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• ToAoShesha member

  March 2014

  We have a nap routine (a miniature version of our bed time).  I use white noise during naps and bed time.  She goes down for a nap about 3 hours after she wakes up.  Sometimes she shows signs such as asking for milk, laying her head in my lap.  I know she needs the sleep and is tired!
  
  I am okay with her going down for one nap... I have accepted it.  But she fights that.  I typically nurse to sleep and put her in the crib like ninja but lately she has been waking up and I can't get her back to sleep & if I leave her in there she will cry until I get her (typically 20-30 minutes but once I went almost an hour )
  
  She goes to bed at night at 6:30/7 and is up by 6 or 7. She also wakes up a TON!  Minimum of 4 times a night but can be up to every hour.  @skidderdo our nights sound similar!
  

  

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• AnnieJar member

  March 2014

  Sounds like my DS who is now 4. He has never been a great napper but one thing that helped was teaching him to fall asleep on his own and breaking the nursing to sleep habit. Our pediatrician explained that when you nurse or rock to sleep and put them down for the night or a nap completely asleep they freak out when they wake (we all wake periodical while we sleep but mostly don't notice because we go right back to sleep) and are in a different place (ie in the crib vs mommy's arms). For us this involved a very strict bedtime schedule which we followed any time he was expected to sleep and CIO for middle of the night wakings. And we had to do the complete cold turkey ones and not go in to soothe every 5-10 minutes as that made it worse. I'm not going to lie, it was AWFUL. BUT, 3-4 nights and it was over, he started sleeping for 12 hours straight! So it ended up being totally worth it. I'd never use it as a first resort for sleep training but I'd do it again if I had another bad sleeper. Naps actually came much later but my DS did eventually start taking a nap every day once he was about 2.5 years old. Now he's pretty much aged out of them.

  

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• ToAoShesha member

  March 2014 edited March 2014

  Yeah, the CIO at naps doesn't work too short of time  
  
  I have been doing a my version if Ferber... I nurse her and rock her. Then, I kiss her and tell her how much I love her and its sleepy time.  I set her in the crib and leave.  I go in at 5 minutes and then every 10 minutes until she goes to sleep.  When I go in I pick her up and sway holding her until she calms down and lays her head down for a minute. Then, I kiss her tell her I love her and its sleepy time and put her back in and leave.  It breaks my heart to hear her cry but so far the longest it has taken is 32 minutes.  I am hoping that decreases soon (its been 4 days).  This sucks but I am hoping it is worth it in the long run.
  
  Fingers crossed we all get better naps
  
  ETA: editing this two days later   Today was a record breaking 1 hour and 40 minutes before I gave up.  I am at a loss what to do
  

  

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• audreyjem member

  March 2014

  I've been following the 90 min program with my difficult napper, and her previous single 30 min nap has turned into 2 30 min naps or 1 longer nap (1-1.5 hrs). There is a book, I believe it's called the 90 min sleep program, and the idea is that you try for naps every 90 min or increments of 90 min. I also hold my baby for naps which has been an impossible habit for me to break, but causes very little stress!

  ~Eme's mama, SAHM, BF, BLW, CD~

  
  

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