November 2015 Moms

Napping

My baby sleeps through the night no problem! Naps are more challenging! She is still taking cat naps throughout the day. 30 mins tops and about 5 of them! I want to get her on the 3 nap schedule but not having any success. We are also trying to get naps in the crib but isn't going so well either ( she sleeps at night in the crib no problem) they say not to let your baby cry before 4 months so I'm at a loss how to trai her. any one else experiencing this?

Re: Napping

  • My LO is the same way. I think it is the stage they are in. I'm sure they'll start taking normal naps when they are ready without any training. If she just needs to sleep or you just need to get things done, wear her, like @VexedMommy said, and don't push the nap training thing.
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  • We have a similar issue, and I just let her nap when she wants, usually on me, occasionally in the Mamaroo or on the lounge pillow next to me on the couch. I haven't managed to get her to nap in the crib for long during the day, but she sleeps 6-8 hours at night in the crib. I'm not too worried about it at this point.
  • I just let him do his thing to be perfectly honest. Night time we have down to a science, and that's good enough for me. Momma gets a good nights sleep, so I can accept if my little dude isn't on any sort of schedule for sleep during the day. It will happen. I'm already noticing that he seems to nap at similar times, so I can see it eventually turning into a routine. They're still young and learning how to function, there's only but so much you can "train" them to do.
  • The only way I can get mine to nap is on the swing or right after BF. 
  • We're in the same boat, I'm starting a new job next week and she'll be home with my husband, so we'd like to get her on some kind of schedule too. Mostly I've just been trying to get her down every day for a nap at the times we'd eventually like her to sleep throughout the day and then go with it--sometimes she sleeps and sometimes she's not into it, and I still feed her on demand and let her continue sleeping if she falls asleep at another time. I figure if we keep it up, she'll eventually start to get sleepy at those times, or she will figure out her own schedule and we'll work around it. 

    She has been sleeping at night in the pnp next to our bed and usually during the day she sleeps in her bouncy chair or on us. I'm not planning on transitioning her to the crib until about 6 months, but I've been trying to do at least one nap a day in the crib so that it is not a total mess when she's sleeping there at night in a few months. 
  • 3 naps isn't very realistic at that age.  My 5.5 month old still occasionally needs a 4th nap some days.  As baby gets older wake times will increase, they will naturally drop naps and consolidate the ones the keep resulting in longer, less frequent napping.  IME it isn't something you can force and if you try to you will likely end up with an overtired cranky LO.

    The cat napping is also related to age.  A lot of babies struggled to make the transition into deep sleep and will wake at the end of their first cycle.  This is part of a sleep maturation process that is largely developmental.  An 8 month old who cat naps may have a sleep issue, a 2 or 3 month old who cat naps is a regular baby.  However, this is why I don't recommend pushing crib naps until later.  In a lot of cases LO will sleep longer while being held, worn or in a swing or bouncer.  This is because the movement is soothing them at the end of the first cycle and allowing them to transition into deeper sleep successfully.  Both of my kids napped in their swing until they were much older and neither had any issue when I finally moved them to the crib. If yours does, it is possible and fairly easy to wean from.  I literally just moved DS2 to his nursery for naps last week and his sleep has not change in the least. 

    Nap issues including ones dealing with circadian rhythms don't always translate into night sleep.  I tried everything under the sun to get my first son to take longer naps.  I read a million articles, tried several different methods but nothing worked until he was developmentally ready. I finally gave up, let him nap in his swing and we were both much happier and more rested. 
  • Sorry to thread jack. My LO has been getting super cranky later in the afternoon but will not nap for the life of him. This last week, he started falling asleep at 6:30 or 7 and staying asleep for 5+ hours (aka going to bed for the night) so we moved his bedtime routine to 6:30 so he'd be in bed by 7:30 at the latest (before that he wouldn't go to bed before 9 regardless of what we did)... The first few nights he did his first stretch of sleep in his regular clothes because we didn't think he'd be going down for the night... He gets himself so overtired that he does his long stretch of sleep without doing any of the bedtime routine (not even nursing!).

    Now he fell asleep at 5:30 (in his daytime clothes) and it's looking like he may be in for the night. I really don't want him to be in bed this early because then he'll be up for the day at like 5 am. I don't want to wake him up though since nap time has been such a struggle. Any tips on what I can do to get him to nap earlier in the afternoon so he stops going to bed earlier and earlier? He only occasionally will allow himself to nap in a swing or bouncer or anything like that. This kid is already incredibly strong willed....
  • ElleMF728ElleMF728 member
    edited January 2016
    Does he nap at all during the day? How old is he? What time does he wake in the morning if he goes to sleep at 6:30? My first was an incredibly difficult napper so I have a few tricks you might try.  

    ETA: I'll check back.  Some things will definitely change based on what you have going on already and how many weeks old he is.  @rachswi
  • ElleMF728 said:

    Does he nap at all during the day? How old is he? What time does he wake in the morning if he goes to sleep at 6:30? My first was an incredibly difficult napper so I have a few tricks you might try.  

    ETA: I'll check back.  Some things will definitely change based on what you have going on already and how many weeks old he is.  @rachswi

    Sorry. Mom brain forgot all that. He's 10.5 weeks. He's all over the place but usually he wakes up around 6. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep till about 8 other times he's up for the morning. I can usually get him down for a 30-60 minute nap in the morning (sometimes 2 30-45 minute ones on days he didn't go back to bed). But then afternoon is a total fight. I'm lucky to get a 45 minute nap around 2 or so but he almost always wakes up from that acting like he should still be asleep. Even if I'm holding him and trying to pull him back to sleep at the first sign of stirring. Then he pretty much refuses to nap after 2:30-3:00, but he obviously needs sleep because he's screaming and showing signs of being overtired (most of the time right away because he should have napped longer but won't go back to sleep).

    Thankfully it was apparently a nap this evening and he woke up about 7:30 (so a 2 hour nap), and now we're doing the bedtime routine and he'll probably end up not going to sleep till more like 9:00 again.
  • One thing I learned with my daughter, who was an extreme nap and overall sleep fighter, was at the very first sign of tiredness I had to start getting her ready for a nap. But the second or third yawn she was already over tired and would fight it.
    Can you really watch him and try to anticipate when they will get tired? It took some really close watching but after a week or so I cold get my daughter down for at least an hour morning nap and then a long afternoon one. The afternoon was only longer because I would sleep with her.
  • ElleMF728ElleMF728 member
    edited January 2016
    Thanks! He probably is overtired which is why he is fighting sleep so hard in the afternoon.  Okay, this is my prescription for a crap napper.  I can't guarantee a change since all babies are different but my first was a rough one and these things worked for him. 

    Picky nappers tend to need strict wake windows.  If you are waiting for tired cues he may be up too long already at that point. At 10.5 weeks his wake window is most likely between 1 hr-1 hr 45 minutes.   Typically, the window is smallest in the morning and longest right before bed.  This means that baby should be asleep no later than 1 hr and 45 min after waking and includes time spent soothing.  Overtired babies not only have a harder time falling asleep they have a harder time staying asleep.  LO's total sleep for the day should be between 11-15 hours, I'd argue closer to 15.  

    If you have an easier time getting him to nap in the swing or bouncer go with that.  There really isn't a need to make things more difficult (in my opinion at least).  Preciouslittlesleep.com has a great write up on what she calls the Varsity method for swing hating babies.  It worked like a charm for DS who absolutely hated the swing but refused to nap anywhere except in my carrier.  Basically, white noise, swaddle (if LO will tolerate it), with the swing off use your wrist to jiggle the handle back and forth rapidly so that his little head wiggles back and forth while at the same time swinging the swing manually.  After a bit DS1 would start to doze and I could turn the swing on high and get some stuff done.  I realize this sounds really obnoxious but once you get it to work for a bit LO will need your help less and less until eventually I was able to just pop him in the swing, turn it on and he would fall asleep.  

    DS would easily fall asleep in the swing but I realized that this method works for him as well.  If he started stirring after a shorter nap I could just sneak in behind him and jiggle him back to sleep easily.  He got on a pretty good schedule of 3 shorter naps a day and one longer one which seemed to work for us. 4 short naps per day may be enough for LO if he is sleeping 12 hours overnight.  As far as bedtime and morning, you will probably have to play around with it a bit as you start getting him to nap a bit more consistently.  Usually around 10 weeks bedtime is closer to 9pm.  With DS2's longish nap an earlier bedtime kept putting him over 15 total hours and led to early morning wake ups.  Once he dropped down to 3 naps his bedtime naturally moved earlier. 

    Check out Preciouslittlesleep.com for some amazing sleep tips.  She saved my sanity when DH and I were at a loss with DS1.  I seriously print out a bunch of her articles and make sleep books to give with my gifts at baby showers. We call her our sleep guru. Good luck!

    ETA: Sorry so long.  Baby sleep is one of my passions. I have all this crap floating around in my head after reading millions of articles and books trying to find a solution for my oldest child who came out of the womb allergic to sleep. PS He is an awesome sleeper now :)
  • SJFTCASJFTCA member
    edited January 2016
    @rachswi, at this age, babies' sleep cycles are 30-45 mins. If he can learn to soothe himself back to sleep, he will be able to nap longer. We're currently working on not rocking LO to sleep and placing him in the crib "drowsy but awake" (recommended by pedi). This way, he learns to get himself TO sleep so he can get himself BACK to sleep when he awakes. Right now, it typically takes him anywhere from 5-20 minutes to fall back asleep. If he is still not back to sleep by 20 mins or so, I get him up. If I just run in to get him the second he makes a sound, he's just pissed bc he really still wants more sleep.

    ETA: this applies more to naps than nighttime sleep
  • Thanks for the tips, @ElleMF728 and @SJFTCA. He's able to put himself to sleep in the middle of the night (usually he's mostly asleep after a nursing and he wakes up when I put him back in his crib but can get himself back to sleep pretty easily)... Unfortunately he gets angry right away if I put him down when he's drowsy but awake any other time. Lol we inadvertently got some great tummy time when he was supposed to nap earlier today (he will only sleep on his belly which I think is why he's not usually a fan of the swing and won't stay asleep long in it if he does fall asleep). I'll check out the preciouslittlesleep site for tips! Thanks!
  • Also, much like we have a bedtime routine (bath, jammies, Mom singing, read a book, feed, sleep sack, white noise, rock briefly w paci (while I say my prayers silently...when LO is older, I plan to do prayers together), down in crib), I have tried to do a nap time routine. I've just done sleep sack, white noise on, rock w paci while I read a book, then down in crib. Obviously, sometimes naps happen a bit more organically (or erratically), but the routine seems to help.
  • I'm in a similar nap boat at @SJFTCA we have been helping LO to sooth himself back to sleep during naps so he can fall back asleep after the 30-45 min cycle. He's 9 weeks so we still swaddle since he seems to like it. So tight swaddle, white noise on and I rock until drowsy and put him in his crib. Some days he has to go in the RNP depending on his mood. But I don't pick him up if he wakes up and fusses I give him 20-25 min to get himself back to sleep and then if not I'll check him for burp,diaper, re-swaddle and rock back to drowsy

    Doesn't always work but I feel like I'm setting good habits to help later on.
  • I'm in a similar nap boat at @SJFTCA we have been helping LO to sooth himself back to sleep during naps so he can fall back asleep after the 30-45 min cycle. He's 9 weeks so we still swaddle since he seems to like it. So tight swaddle, white noise on and I rock until drowsy and put him in his crib. Some days he has to go in the RNP depending on his mood. But I don't pick him up if he wakes up and fusses I give him 20-25 min to get himself back to sleep and then if not I'll check him for burp,diaper, re-swaddle and rock back to drowsy

    Doesn't always work but I feel like I'm setting good habits to help later on.

    I totally had to do this earlier. Sometimes he will go back to sleep on his own, but I can only let him CIO (or in today's case SIO) for so long. I actually got him up and put him in swing first and tried to hold him, but he wasn't having either. So I took him back to nursery, put back in sleep sack, turned on white noise, and rocked until drowsy again. He fussed just briefly after I left the room but then settled and slept another 45 mins. Just gotta figure out what works!



  • When you let them fuss for 20-25 minutes, why level of fussiness are they getting to? My little man escalates to full on screams within 2 minutes and I don't feel like I can leave him there. If he's just crying a little bit I'll hold off on picking him back up and soothing him, but usually he's screaming at the top of his lungs (and he has QUITE the lung capacity).
  • rachswi said:

    When you let them fuss for 20-25 minutes, why level of fussiness are they getting to? My little man escalates to full on screams within 2 minutes and I don't feel like I can leave him there. If he's just crying a little bit I'll hold off on picking him back up and soothing him, but usually he's screaming at the top of his lungs (and he has QUITE the lung capacity).

    I guess the timing depends on the level of crying. I won't let him do the screaming cry for 20 mins straight, but sometimes the crying escalates then dies down or stops for a bit and starts again. I just try to give him a reasonable amount of time to work it out on his own. Sometimes it works. Other times, I might not make it the whole 20 mins before I head in for the rescue. The thing is, I know he wants and needs sleep, so if I go back in, I work on soothing w a paci and/or rocking again for a bit to get him back in sleep mode.

    For the most recent nap, he woke up crying after 30 mins again, but my daddy was over and went in to rescue very quickly. I tried to explain that he really needs and wants to nap and not play. I also instructed him to try to get him back down to sleep soon or else he will prob be a terror. We'll see if that happens. My daddy and MIL are watching LO when I return to work in a month and I really need them to be on board with working on the naps. Nighttime is going beautifully (for now), but if he's not napping all day, I'm going to come home to a very cranky baby every day :-/.

  • ElleMF728ElleMF728 member
    edited January 2016
    Most babies at this age genuinely don't know how to self soothe.  That doesn't mean that some won't fuss for a minute or two and then fall back asleep, just that it is the the exception not the norm.  A 30 minute nap really isn't unusual for a 2 or 3 month old.  Most pediatricians don't recommend CIO methods until 6 months. 

    ETA: Word change. "Is" is not "isn't"  and really changed the whole meaning of what I was actually trying to say: it isn't unusual for a young baby to take short naps.
  • I read these posts and think something is wrong with my LO. She sleeps great at night. And sleeps pretty much all day. 
  • I read these posts and think something is wrong with my LO. She sleeps great at night. And sleeps pretty much all day. 
    As long as she is waking to eat, gaining weight, and having good diaper output, I think I'd just consider yourself lucky ;-). 
  • @rachswi my LO has 2 modes. He does his fake crying which I know nothing is wrong he's just testing me so he will usually do that for 10 min and pass back out. Then he has his actual fussy cry, usually that comes near the end of the 20 min mark after he's wiggled and kicked and whimpered. That's usually when I know he needs something to help him fall back asleep. 
  • I read these posts and think something is wrong with my LO. She sleeps great at night. And sleeps pretty much all day. 
    My LO is the same way.  She was born at 36 weeks and is still catching up in size.  I am guessing that the extra growing is making her extra tired.  I just try to enjoy the little awake time I get with her.
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  • @rachswi my LO has 2 modes. He does his fake crying which I know nothing is wrong he's just testing me so he will usually do that for 10 min and pass back out. Then he has his actual fussy cry, usually that comes near the end of the 20 min mark after he's wiggled and kicked and whimpered. That's usually when I know he needs something to help him fall back asleep. 
    Zeke has a "mildly annoyed" cry he uses sometimes when I put him in the swing but many times he still escalates that pretty quickly when I don't respond and pick him up
  • smnewbysmnewby member
    edited January 2016
    My LO goes from tired to overtired very quickly and doesnt like to go down on her own. My routine includes placing her in my ergo after yawn number 2 or 3 at the latest. If my choirs are such that she doesnt get in the way I wear her the duration of the nap. If however I cant keep her on me i wait about 20-30 minutes and then place her and infant insert into the rock n play. She stays warm and sort of bunched up and tends to stay asleep.  
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