Babies: 3 - 6 Months

Napping tips for a 5 month old

ddembinskaddembinska member
edited August 2014 in Babies: 3 - 6 Months
My son is about 5 1/2 months old. He has always needed to be swaddled to ever sleep. Whenever he wasn't swaddled, it was an all day and all night cry fest.
he has just recently begun this ritual where he busts out of the swaddle, rolls over, then gets pissed because he's on his stomach.  He doesn't enjoy being on his stomach too long, especially when he's sleepy. Issue is, I can't keep him from rolling, so I have to just keep going in there and turning him back over until he finally stops doing it. He won't take naps in his swings or on his playmat. He sleeps HORRIBLY with no swaddle. we have tried long sleeved sleepers, short sleeved onesies, long sleeved onesies with legs exposed, short sleeved onesies with long pants. We were afraid that him being cold or hot was the issue, but that doesn't seem to be it. We put his pack n play in our room, put it in his, used white noise, used no white noise, none of it helped. He only takes 10-15 minute naps during the day, so that makes for a cranky, sleepy baby. Is there another sleep idea that I'm missing? He doesn't sleep any better in our bed...I have tried.
he sleeps through the night technically, but we get up a few times a night to him crying because he rolled. pretty much the same as the day time, just more spread out.
any advice is appreciated.
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Andrew Karol-4/10/2010
Jase Eli-3/10/14



Re: Napping tips for a 5 month old

  • She still gets upset a bit, but less and less as she's getting closer to crawling. Also, she can roll back to her back on her own now so that has helped some, but she likes to sleep on her side and belly now. Although this makes me nervous, everything I've read says once they can roll on their own, there is no (SIDS related) need to turn them back on their backs.  She's not a good napper either (30-45min), and I've heard that swaddling after 4mos is not in their best interest as far as needing to move in their sleep due to growing bones, joint development, etc. I know that doesn't "help", but hopefully, if you're in the same boat we are, he'll settle down as he gets used to not being swaddled and tummy time muscles strengthen... Good luck mama!

  • I wish I had advice other than this: it sounds like "one of those phases" that will pass with time. My 5mo old had about 2 weeks where she would get pissed about rolling onto her belly (playtime, naptime, and bedtime) and I'd have to assist her and usually settle her down. (sorry, the beginning of my reply didn't submit... weird)
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  • We just went through this and we finally got our little boy (5 months) sleeping through the night with a transitional swaddle called the zipadeezip (https://zipadeezip.com/). His arms are not stuck in but they are covered so he can't pull out his pacifier and scratch his face. We started with him in it at nap time and then moved to nights. The first few nights we swaddled him as normal in a halo swaddle for his first "big" sleep so he wasn't so fussy day after day that he couldn't learn something new.  The velcro on the halo sleep sack makes it impossible for him to escape (good and scary if he rolls). Then we increased the time each night in the ziapdeezip until he was sleeping normally in it. I also read to swaddle with one arm out but our son HATED it. Just enough time to scratch half his face and pull and throw his pacifier.

    Here are some other tips that worked for us:

    1) He needs to nap every 2 and 1/2 hours. When he doesn't we have no hope for night time sleep. Our son was also a very poor napper but we eventually got him to take three naps a day.  Even if we can't get him to sleep we kept trying by rocking, singing, playing white noise and laying him down for the entire hour. It took a lot of patience. At first he'd scream if we tried to lay him in his crib, so we'd hold him and place him in it when he slept (creating a bad sleep association). When he woke up 10 minutes later, we'd repeat until it was an hour. In the beginning it was up down, up down for an hour three times a day. Eventually he came to accept he was going in the crib. Once he was willing to be in the crib we started putting him down awake and holding his arms next to his side (like they were swaddled) until he fell asleep. Today he goes down with no issues, unswaddled three times a day (VICTORY!)

    2) We didn't want to do the "Cry it out" method so instead we used Dr. Harvey Karps Happiest Baby on the Block sleeping techniques book. (Both the book and the White Noise CD is worth it's wait in gold). We would feed and snuggle him until he was all the way asleep and then lay him in his crib and do a quick wake up, enough for him to look around and see he was in his crib and then soothe him (in his crib) back to sleep. This was also a test of patience. Several times the "Wake Up" would wake him all the way back up and we'd have to try again. The thought being that a baby who falls asleep in your arms and wakes up some where else is confused and will cry. Also, the baby isn't learning to soothe himself to sleep on the initial sleep and then can't soothe himself back to sleep when he wakes up again. Every single time he woke up at night (sometimes 8-10 times) we would soothe, lay him down, do the wake up and soothe in the crib. Eventually putting him down with less and less time being held after he fell asleep making it easier and easier to do the wake up and sleep thing. Now we can put him down tired but still awake and he can self soothe.

    3) The type of white noise matters. We were using a machine from Babies R Us that worked well when he was younger but as they get older they need a hard low pitched rumbling noise. Last night we did Dr. Harvey Karps Rain Sound from his CD and the baby didn't wake once, unswaddled and in his zipadee zip.

    I know it's different for every baby but I hope this helps a little. We are not going to work on getting him out of the zipadeezip!
    Married 4/24/2009 TTC 1/01/2013 BFP 7/1/2013
    TTC #2 01/01/15 BFP 4/24/15
    Healthy Baby Boy Delivered in March 2014
    "Courage is not absence from fear but rather and understanding; that what you desire is greater than what you fear"


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  • Most mornings I will give my sons at least one or two feedings, then I take him and our dog for a 30-45 minute walk around the neighborhood.  If it's not too hot, I put him in his Moby wrap.  This usually helps get that first nap of the day in.  I love keeping him wrapped up because I enjoy feeling him against me, and since your baby loves to be swaddled I'm sure he will love it as well.  Plus it's good exercise for mommy!
  • I'll have to look into that zipadeezip thing.  Wiling to try anything at this point lol
    I know that regardless of what we do, he's going to fight, but hopefully we can get him self soothing soon. He's clingy whether he's awake or sleeping.

    The issue with the walks is that I'm in Florida, and a typical day is around 95 degrees, with high humidity.  We love taking walks in the late evening once the temperature drops, but during the day, unless it's around 7am, it's far too hot. I walk out to my car at 11am, which is literally 15 steps away, and I start sweating! He does love his carrier. I wear it around the house when he's having a super clingy day.
      Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker

    Andrew Karol-4/10/2010
    Jase Eli-3/10/14



  • There is an indoor track at my gym and I sometimes walk that while wearing DD - is that an option for you, or the mall? Just anywhere indoors you can walk. I understand not wanting to walk with a baby strapped to you in the FL heat.

     

  • Try Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit! I've heard it's amazing! https://www.magicsleepsuit.com/ 
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