Naps and routines

arteduc8 · October 2016

I'm curious how napping is going for all your little ones. How many naps a day and what are the duration of those naps? Where do they nap? Do you have a set napping schedule and routine?

Up until now, I haven't tried to get much of a routine for napping for my DD. She would nap regularly throughout the day in her swing, bouncer, play gym, on me, in her car seat, etc. She's been sleeping through the night for awhile now. But recently she's fought naps so badly even when she's exhausted. She also doesn't like napping in her crib. I think it's time for a good nap routine and getting her napping in her crib but I'm not sure how to go about it. She's 17 weeks today. Looking for some ideas.

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

Damien has always fought naptime and bedtime, I've come to accept it. He has a loose naptime schedule but it can shift a bit here and there depending on what time he wakes up in the morning, how long he is awake in between, and how long he naps. He is typically up at around 8am and can last 1.5hrs to 2hrs. He naps on average for 1.5hrs and gets three naps a day. Every now and then he will nap for 2hrs to 2.5hrs and on the rare occasion he will do 3hrs. I used to put him down in his crib for naps but due to his reflux, he naps in his rock-n-play. It also allows me to make sure when he naps that he isn't turning his head to the left (flat spot on that side). The rock-n-play is in his nursery. He usually wakes, eats, plays/physical therapy, and then often needs a snack and is down for a nap.

I want to get him back to napping in his crib, just not sure when the best time would be since we are traveling in two weeks and then again a couple of weeks later. I suppose now is the best time and to just be consistent.

Oh I should add that one of the three naps isnless than an hour long and it's usually thr last one of the day.

egirl1025 · October 2016

I guiltily think about setting a routine all the time, but Tristan is very good about settling down for naps, in fact sometimes falls asleep while playing with me on the weekends. Fell asleep the other day with a smile on his face...I pray everyday this continues..lol. He seems to want to eat every 3-4 hours and then is awake for about 1.5-2hrs between nap times. He will get fussy when he gets sleepy, but if we take away stimulation he falls asleep very quickly. Once I get him relaxed I can pretty much put him down anywhere to sleep. Of course the mamaroo is great! My husband is sure they should be charging so much more for it...lol. I really try to stick with what they got going at daycare so as to not bother him too much. We do a wake, diaper, feed, play then sleep routine for the most part. We are going to start looking to transition him to sleeping in his own room at night in the next couple of months...it will be interesting. My husband is way nervous.

Lizbeth86 · October 2016

We're not doing very well with naps here and I'd also like to see how others get their babies to sleep during the day!

DD gets up around 7 and has a nap a little while later, that can last an hour or 1.5 hours. That's the only nap I can be sure will happen without too much effort. Her afternoon nap will usually only happen if i take her out somewhere in the stroller or the car. Its duration depends on what we do- if i walk for 3 hrs, she'll nap for 3 hrs, otherwise she may wake up when we get home or just stop moving somewhere. If her naps haven't gone well that day, i can usually get her down in the late afternoon by nursing her to sleep. And then i need a nap too!

We don't have a crib yet bc we just closed on a house (yay!) So I'll deal with crib transition in her new room. She's still on our room with us now.

laurendiaz02 · October 2016

egirl1025 said:

I guiltily think about setting a routine all the time, but Tristan is very good about settling down for naps, in fact sometimes falls asleep while playing with me on the weekends. Fell asleep the other day with a smile on his face...I pray everyday this continues..lol. He seems to want to eat every 3-4 hours and then is awake for about 1.5-2hrs between nap times. He will get fussy when he gets sleepy, but if we take away stimulation he falls asleep very quickly. Once I get him relaxed I can pretty much put him down anywhere to sleep. Of course the mamaroo is great! My husband is sure they should be charging so much more for it...lol. I really try to stick with what they got going at daycare so as to not bother him too much. We do a wake, diaper, feed, play then sleep routine for the most part. We are going to start looking to transition him to sleeping in his own room at night in the next couple of months...it will be interesting. My husband is way nervous.

My son is pretty much doing the same schedule you talked about. If he gets overly tired from not napping he's a nightmare so he takes at least 3 naps a day! For the last month or so he naps exclusively in his pack n play. We put him down awake and he goes to sleep on his own. At night, it's the same except in his own room -- that's one thing I was adamant about during pregnancy (him being in his crib in his room from day 1) and I'm happy we have stuck with it. I have a cousin whose 5 year old is still on the bed with them...no thank you!

Not having the binky at first was a challenge but now he just sucks his fingers until he falls asleep.

arteduc8 · October 2016

Thanks ladies! This really helps to hear your little ones napping routines and also to hear that I'm not alone. She's been better the past 2 days with giving in and taking naps. Maybe she was getting over a growth spurt or a leap? I plan to ask her Dr. tomorrow for suggestions on a schedule so I'll update if I learn anything useful.

lilp2015 · October 2016

Briar is 15 weeks old. She goes to bed every night at 8pm and sleeps till 7-9 in the morning. She gets up eats and then while I get ready she watched cartoons and usually falls back asleep for a half hour or so. Around 11-12 depending when she woke up she's ready for a long nap. I know most will disagree but her favorite place to nap is in our bed. She will sleep 3-4 hours and since I'm awake I go in to check on her often. Then usually around 6 she's ready for another 30-45 min nap and back to bed at 8pm. If we have been out and about most of the day and she didn't get her long nap she sometimes will be asleep as early as 6:30 and sleep through the night.

lm45678 · October 2016

lilp2015 said:

Briar is 15 weeks old. She goes to bed every night at 8pm and sleeps till 7-9 in the morning. She gets up eats and then while I get ready she watched cartoons and usually falls back asleep for a half hour or so. Around 11-12 depending when she woke up she's ready for a long nap. I know most will disagree but her favorite place to nap is in our bed. She will sleep 3-4 hours and since I'm awake I go in to check on her often. Then usually around 6 she's ready for another 30-45 min nap and back to bed at 8pm. If we have been out and about most of the day and she didn't get her long nap she sometimes will be asleep as early as 6:30 and sleep through the night.

How is that possible?! My LO only sleeps like 1/3 of this!!

jmohio · October 2016

Abigail gets up around 6:30-7:30 we play for a minute change Diaper and eat she lasts till around 9 then sleeps for about 1-1.5 hours then wakes, eat, play and down for another nap around 1-2 for about 1-1.5 hours. Then she is usually awake until around 5 and will take about a half hour power nap. Then she is asleep by 7:30-8 and wakes for a bottle at 9:30 then sleeps all night. She pretty much yells at me that's when I know she is tired. Her 5 o'clock nap sneaks up on her. She falls asleep playing all the time. She fell asleep watching me cook the other day and I couldn't quit laughing at her.

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

jmohio said:

Abigail gets up around 6:30-7:30 we play for a minute change Diaper and eat she lasts till around 9 then sleeps for about 1-1.5 hours then wakes, eat, play and down for another nap around 1-2 for about 1-1.5 hours. Then she is usually awake until around 5 and will take about a half hour power nap. Then she is asleep by 7:30-8 and wakes for a bottle at 9:30 then sleeps all night. She pretty much yells at me that's when I know she is tired. Her 5 o'clock nap sneaks up on her. She falls asleep playing all the time. She fell asleep watching me cook the other day and I couldn't quit laughing at her.

That's hysterical and so cute!

jmohio · October 2016

I so wish I could post the video on here. It had everyone cracking up she was fighting it so bad she didn't want to miss out.

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

I've notices that if Damien sleeps the entire night and wakes at 6am, his next nap will be 3hrs. It's great since I just go back to bed. The part that sucks is that the rest of his naps are super short, usually just 30min. I don't see it as an issue but I think I'd take a bunch of 1.5hr naps over one super long one and a bunch of short ones. Whining complete.

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

I feel like Damien has ZERO "I'm tired" cues. He will be just fine and then, like a light switch, he is overtired. I'd say it's connected to leap 4 or teething but this has been the case for a long time. He takes a bit to settle and fall asleep with lots of battling against it but I've always been successful. I just wish I could put him down before he gets overtired! I know he lasts only an hour and a half so I've tried putting him down before that timeframe but he gets mad because, shocker, he isn't tired enough. I even tried putting him down later, which was obviously a dumb idea. Anyone have suggestions? I'm not too concerned since he does nap, I just want to make it a more positive experience for both of us.

adiaz132003 · October 2016

vintagevix2016 said:

I feel like Damien has ZERO "I'm tired" cues. He will be just fine and then, like a light switch, he is overtired. I'd say it's connected to leap 4 or teething but this has been the case for a long time. He takes a bit to settle and fall asleep with lots of battling against it but I've always been successful. I just wish I could put him down before he gets overtired! I know he lasts only an hour and a half so I've tried putting him down before that timeframe but he gets mad because, shocker, he isn't tired enough. I even tried putting him down later, which was obviously a dumb idea. Anyone have suggestions? I'm not too concerned since he does nap, I just want to make it a more positive experience for both of us.

Preston is the same way. Never gives tired or hunger cues. The only one I might get is an eye rub or the "10 mile stare". The stare will only happen if we keep him unstimulatedeaning just holding him or letting him sit in his rock n play. My sleep consultant said to go by the clock and that day time sleep in the last thing to develop so his naps won't be predictable in terms of a set time for a while. In the meantime she said that I shouldn't let him go longer than 2 hours before "falling" asleep. So figure in about 15 min of winding down its not very long.

arteduc8 · October 2016

adiaz132003 said:

vintagevix2016 said:

I feel like Damien has ZERO "I'm tired" cues. He will be just fine and then, like a light switch, he is overtired. I'd say it's connected to leap 4 or teething but this has been the case for a long time. He takes a bit to settle and fall asleep with lots of battling against it but I've always been successful. I just wish I could put him down before he gets overtired! I know he lasts only an hour and a half so I've tried putting him down before that timeframe but he gets mad because, shocker, he isn't tired enough. I even tried putting him down later, which was obviously a dumb idea. Anyone have suggestions? I'm not too concerned since he does nap, I just want to make it a more positive experience for both of us.

Preston is the same way. Never gives tired or hunger cues. The only one I might get is an eye rub or the "10 mile stare". The stare will only happen if we keep him unstimulatedeaning just holding him or letting him sit in his rock n play. My sleep consultant said to go by the clock and that day time sleep in the last thing to develop so his naps won't be predictable in terms of a set time for a while. In the meantime she said that I shouldn't let him go longer than 2 hours before "falling" asleep. So figure in about 15 min of winding down its not very long.

I just came here to post the same question! My DD has been giving zero cues until she's crying because she's tired. I just spent the past hour struggling with her to get her to sleep. She was screaming inconsolably for an hour straight. My doctor said to let her cry and try to self soothe, but I could only do it for 10 minutes before I couldn't take it. Picked her up and after 20 minutes I got her to sleep in my arms. A lot of the time I can get her to fall asleep in my arms, but as soon as her butt hits the crib mattress, she starts screaming. She just won't give in to sleep and its maddening! Ugh, and as I type this she is waking up crying after napping for 20 minutes. Any advice out there? I sure could use it!

Edited to add: We don't usually have trouble at night. She sleeps through the night most nights for 9 hours and now sleeps in her crib at night. Its just day time napping in the crib that is an issue. And after she cried during my last post, I picked her up and swayed her back to sleep and she's sleeping in her crib now, fingers crossed she gets in a good nap, but now thunderstorms are approaching with some really loud thunder. So help me if this storm wakes her up.....

lm45678 · October 2016

We have some serious sleep issues and I've been in denial that it's a problem. However, she goes to daycare in 6 weeks and we need a total change before then!

1) She will not nap anywhere besides on me, in the car seat or the stroller. She's not cranky but I literally don't get anything done around the house until DH gets home. How did you get your LO to nap in a crib, rock n okay, etc?

2) She goes to bed WAY too late! We are desperately trying to get her down earlier but she fights us so badly! For example- last night I dimmed all the lights at 7:15 gave her a bath with lavender soap, then a little massage with lavender lotion, read her some books and nursed her. Then I rocked her and played lullabies softly. I put her down but she woke up- so we kept the lights low and gave her a bottle. Put her down again and she wouldn't fall asleep. So then I nursed her again and she went down... AT 11:45!!!! it's fine for me for now, but she is gonna be miserable in 6 weeks when she has to be at daycare at 7am.

Any tips? I feel like everyone else here is more organized than me and less "fly by the seat of your pants" or however hat saying goes

arteduc8 · October 2016

laurenm2123 said:

We have some serious sleep issues and I've been in denial that it's a problem. However, she goes to daycare in 6 weeks and we need a total change before then!

1) She will not nap anywhere besides on me, in the car seat or the stroller. She's not cranky but I literally don't get anything done around the house until DH gets home. How did you get your LO to nap in a crib, rock n okay, etc?

2) She goes to bed WAY too late! We are desperately trying to get her down earlier but she fights us so badly! For example- last night I dimmed all the lights at 7:15 gave her a bath with lavender soap, then a little massage with lavender lotion, read her some books and nursed her. Then I rocked her and played lullabies softly. I put her down but she woke up- so we kept the lights low and gave her a bottle. Put her down again and she wouldn't fall asleep. So then I nursed her again and she went down... AT 11:45!!!! it's fine for me for now, but she is gonna be miserable in 6 weeks when she has to be at daycare at 7am.

Any tips? I feel like everyone else here is more organized than me and less "fly by the seat of your pants" or however hat saying goes

I could be wrong, but maybe that's too much stimulation before bed for her? Maybe its getting her more wound up. For our bedtime routine, we get her dressed in her pj's, feed her, and put her straight to bed. I don't give her a bath everyday, but when I do, its usually a few hours before bed, right after dinner. I try to get her to bed after the last feeding of the night, which tends to be anytime after 7, usually around 8. I haven't been reading books to her at night and tend to keep that as a daytime activity. Again, I could be totally wrong, but worth a shot?

adiaz132003 · October 2016

laurenm2123 said:

We have some serious sleep issues and I've been in denial that it's a problem. However, she goes to daycare in 6 weeks and we need a total change before then!

1) She will not nap anywhere besides on me, in the car seat or the stroller. She's not cranky but I literally don't get anything done around the house until DH gets home. How did you get your LO to nap in a crib, rock n okay, etc?

2) She goes to bed WAY too late! We are desperately trying to get her down earlier but she fights us so badly! For example- last night I dimmed all the lights at 7:15 gave her a bath with lavender soap, then a little massage with lavender lotion, read her some books and nursed her. Then I rocked her and played lullabies softly. I put her down but she woke up- so we kept the lights low and gave her a bottle. Put her down again and she wouldn't fall asleep. So then I nursed her again and she went down... AT 11:45!!!! it's fine for me for now, but she is gonna be miserable in 6 weeks when she has to be at daycare at 7am.

Any tips? I feel like everyone else here is more organized than me and less "fly by the seat of your pants" or however hat saying goes

Does she sleep at all or is she awake for 4+ hours? If she sleeps then wakes 45 min later and is wide awake, it could be part of the issue so not being able to settle back to sleep. Preston did this a few times during his regression. He was just so alert and aware if the world. We kept the room dark and when he woke up we didn't engage him, just rocked until he finally slept. It took a few nights but he finally realized we weren't gonna be any fun and gave up. Then we just dealt with the waking up part during sleep training. The rule is, once you hit bedtime, it's gotta be all business until morning. This has honestly helped us so much to prep for sleep training cause then we did hemave to deal with him being up for hours when he woke, he knew that he had to sleep and we just had to help teach him to self soothe. Last night was our first SSTN night!!

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

laurenm2123 said:

We have some serious sleep issues and I've been in denial that it's a problem. However, she goes to daycare in 6 weeks and we need a total change before then!

1) She will not nap anywhere besides on me, in the car seat or the stroller. She's not cranky but I literally don't get anything done around the house until DH gets home. How did you get your LO to nap in a crib, rock n okay, etc?

2) She goes to bed WAY too late! We are desperately trying to get her down earlier but she fights us so badly! For example- last night I dimmed all the lights at 7:15 gave her a bath with lavender soap, then a little massage with lavender lotion, read her some books and nursed her. Then I rocked her and played lullabies softly. I put her down but she woke up- so we kept the lights low and gave her a bottle. Put her down again and she wouldn't fall asleep. So then I nursed her again and she went down... AT 11:45!!!! it's fine for me for now, but she is gonna be miserable in 6 weeks when she has to be at daycare at 7am.

Any tips? I feel like everyone else here is more organized than me and less "fly by the seat of your pants" or however hat saying goes

Oh giiirl, I'm a trial by fire kinda person. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing more than half the time.

Damien used to go to bed at 10pm/10:30pm and I wanted to start putting him down at 7pm/7:30pm. It was a long process but we first started putting him down at 9:45pm for a while, then moved it to 9:30pm, and so on. I also had to shift his last nap to coincide with the bedtime. These days I make sure he wakes up from his last nap by 6pm at the latest (he only lasts about 1.5hrs between naps). Since I know that's how long he can last, and since he doesn't really have sleep cues, I try to lay him down (for bed and naps) at the hour and 15min mark. He hardly fusses/cries if I'm diligent about the time and he will slowly fade away on his own more often than not.

lm45678 · October 2016

All great tips! She is AWAKE! I literally don't understand how someone so young needs so little sleep! There are days she barely naps except for a 20 minute car ride and then doesn't go to bed until 10! She's happy which is great, but I don't know how she is not dying of exhaustion!

I'm trying to gradually make bedtime earlier, which is not going great but hoping like @vintagevix2016 said if I even get 10 minutes earlier a night by 6 weeks it will be an early night before daycare.

Tonight i I will try less stimulation before bed and "not giving up" until she's asleep instead of bringing her out into the living room with us!

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

arteduc8 said:

adiaz132003 said:

vintagevix2016 said:

I feel like Damien has ZERO "I'm tired" cues. He will be just fine and then, like a light switch, he is overtired. I'd say it's connected to leap 4 or teething but this has been the case for a long time. He takes a bit to settle and fall asleep with lots of battling against it but I've always been successful. I just wish I could put him down before he gets overtired! I know he lasts only an hour and a half so I've tried putting him down before that timeframe but he gets mad because, shocker, he isn't tired enough. I even tried putting him down later, which was obviously a dumb idea. Anyone have suggestions? I'm not too concerned since he does nap, I just want to make it a more positive experience for both of us.

Preston is the same way. Never gives tired or hunger cues. The only one I might get is an eye rub or the "10 mile stare". The stare will only happen if we keep him unstimulatedeaning just holding him or letting him sit in his rock n play. My sleep consultant said to go by the clock and that day time sleep in the last thing to develop so his naps won't be predictable in terms of a set time for a while. In the meantime she said that I shouldn't let him go longer than 2 hours before "falling" asleep. So figure in about 15 min of winding down its not very long.

I just came here to post the same question! My DD has been giving zero cues until she's crying because she's tired. I just spent the past hour struggling with her to get her to sleep. She was screaming inconsolably for an hour straight. My doctor said to let her cry and try to self soothe, but I could only do it for 10 minutes before I couldn't take it. Picked her up and after 20 minutes I got her to sleep in my arms. A lot of the time I can get her to fall asleep in my arms, but as soon as her butt hits the crib mattress, she starts screaming. She just won't give in to sleep and its maddening! Ugh, and as I type this she is waking up crying after napping for 20 minutes. Any advice out there? I sure could use it!

Edited to add: We don't usually have trouble at night. She sleeps through the night most nights for 9 hours and now sleeps in her crib at night. Its just day time napping in the crib that is an issue. And after she cried during my last post, I picked her up and swayed her back to sleep and she's sleeping in her crib now, fingers crossed she gets in a good nap, but now thunderstorms are approaching with some really loud thunder. So help me if this storm wakes her up.....

I knew that Damien couldn't last more than 1.5hrs between naps but my mistake was putting him down at the 1.5hr mark. I realized I needed to lay him down 15min prior. If I do that, then there is little-to-no fussing/crying. He will fall asleep on his own quite nicely. If I put him down after that marker, it's crying and fussing for a bit before he finally falls asleep but he needs a lot of assistance to do so.

KaylaR628 · October 2016

vintagevix2016 said:

arteduc8 said:

adiaz132003 said:

vintagevix2016 said:

I feel like Damien has ZERO "I'm tired" cues. He will be just fine and then, like a light switch, he is overtired. I'd say it's connected to leap 4 or teething but this has been the case for a long time. He takes a bit to settle and fall asleep with lots of battling against it but I've always been successful. I just wish I could put him down before he gets overtired! I know he lasts only an hour and a half so I've tried putting him down before that timeframe but he gets mad because, shocker, he isn't tired enough. I even tried putting him down later, which was obviously a dumb idea. Anyone have suggestions? I'm not too concerned since he does nap, I just want to make it a more positive experience for both of us.

Preston is the same way. Never gives tired or hunger cues. The only one I might get is an eye rub or the "10 mile stare". The stare will only happen if we keep him unstimulatedeaning just holding him or letting him sit in his rock n play. My sleep consultant said to go by the clock and that day time sleep in the last thing to develop so his naps won't be predictable in terms of a set time for a while. In the meantime she said that I shouldn't let him go longer than 2 hours before "falling" asleep. So figure in about 15 min of winding down its not very long.

I just came here to post the same question! My DD has been giving zero cues until she's crying because she's tired. I just spent the past hour struggling with her to get her to sleep. She was screaming inconsolably for an hour straight. My doctor said to let her cry and try to self soothe, but I could only do it for 10 minutes before I couldn't take it. Picked her up and after 20 minutes I got her to sleep in my arms. A lot of the time I can get her to fall asleep in my arms, but as soon as her butt hits the crib mattress, she starts screaming. She just won't give in to sleep and its maddening! Ugh, and as I type this she is waking up crying after napping for 20 minutes. Any advice out there? I sure could use it!

Edited to add: We don't usually have trouble at night. She sleeps through the night most nights for 9 hours and now sleeps in her crib at night. Its just day time napping in the crib that is an issue. And after she cried during my last post, I picked her up and swayed her back to sleep and she's sleeping in her crib now, fingers crossed she gets in a good nap, but now thunderstorms are approaching with some really loud thunder. So help me if this storm wakes her up.....

I knew that Damien couldn't last more than 1.5hrs between naps but my mistake was putting him down at the 1.5hr mark. I realized I needed to lay him down 15min prior. If I do that, then there is little-to-no fussing/crying. He will fall asleep on his own quite nicely. If I put him down after that marker, it's crying and fussing for a bit before he finally falls asleep but he needs a lot of assistance to do so.

1. I was thinking overstimulation may be the problem as well. I read baths can be soothing for some kids and exciting for others.
2. I second this "sweet spot" realization. I have to put my baby down at the first signs of tiredness, or else it's a battle, whether too early or too late. I also read infants have about an hour and a half alertness time. They get sleep around that mark but before or after that will be too alert to go right to sleep. This is true for my baby but now I just read her cues if they are apparent.

Tawny87 · October 2016

laurenm2123 said:

We have some serious sleep issues and I've been in denial that it's a problem. However, she goes to daycare in 6 weeks and we need a total change before then!

1) She will not nap anywhere besides on me, in the car seat or the stroller. She's not cranky but I literally don't get anything done around the house until DH gets home. How did you get your LO to nap in a crib, rock n okay, etc?

2) She goes to bed WAY too late! We are desperately trying to get her down earlier but she fights us so badly! For example- last night I dimmed all the lights at 7:15 gave her a bath with lavender soap, then a little massage with lavender lotion, read her some books and nursed her. Then I rocked her and played lullabies softly. I put her down but she woke up- so we kept the lights low and gave her a bottle. Put her down again and she wouldn't fall asleep. So then I nursed her again and she went down... AT 11:45!!!! it's fine for me for now, but she is gonna be miserable in 6 weeks when she has to be at daycare at 7am.

Any tips? I feel like everyone else here is more organized than me and less "fly by the seat of your pants" or however hat saying goes

Reading this makes me think you are super organized. Don't worry I flew by the seat of my pants with all my kids and they are doing ok. Til about a year or so I follow their lead.

Lizbeth86 · October 2016

@laurenm2123 I am completely winging it, you're not alone! I have the same nap issues in the afternoon, minus sleeping on me (she won't). It's out for a walk or a drive when she needs that nap. I need a better solution too!

For the evening we just stumbled on an earlier bedtime. I thought dinner time was her fussy time but it turns out she was fussy because we were coming up on what should be her bedtime (~7 pm). What is your LO doing between 7 and 11pm? Is she fussy, or completely fine and awake?

laurendiaz02 · October 2016

laurenm2123 said:

We have some serious sleep issues and I've been in denial that it's a problem. However, she goes to daycare in 6 weeks and we need a total change before then!

1) She will not nap anywhere besides on me, in the car seat or the stroller. She's not cranky but I literally don't get anything done around the house until DH gets home. How did you get your LO to nap in a crib, rock n okay, etc?

2) She goes to bed WAY too late! We are desperately trying to get her down earlier but she fights us so badly! For example- last night I dimmed all the lights at 7:15 gave her a bath with lavender soap, then a little massage with lavender lotion, read her some books and nursed her. Then I rocked her and played lullabies softly. I put her down but she woke up- so we kept the lights low and gave her a bottle. Put her down again and she wouldn't fall asleep. So then I nursed her again and she went down... AT 11:45!!!! it's fine for me for now, but she is gonna be miserable in 6 weeks when she has to be at daycare at 7am.

Any tips? I feel like everyone else here is more organized than me and less "fly by the seat of your pants" or however hat saying goes

Can't offer too much advice on transitioning to the crib since Ethan's been in his since day 1. It will be a challenge since she is used to falling asleep with movement or your touch/heartbeat when she lays on you. My oh my that's a late bedtime...I'm surprised she isn't super fussy from being overtired! I do agree with what a previous post said about maybe too much stimulation before bed. With Ethan, we change him, feed him, burp him, read a story and then put him in his crib awake and say goodnight (usually at 8-8:30pm). He will usually roll around and then eventually fall asleep on his own by sucking on his fingers (we stopped the binky about 2 months ago). When we started putting him down for naps and bedtime awake, he would cry. I know not everyone agrees or wants to, but we let him cry for a few minutes and then he would go to sleep once he figured out no one was coming to pick him up (because the first few times I would go pick him up and he immediately stopped crying). Might be a few rough nights ahead, but worth following what @adiaz132003 is doing with her son if you don't want to go "cold turkey".

lm45678 · October 2016

The 11:45 was a really exaggerated night- honestly I wonder if I had nursed her at 9:30 instead of giving her a bottle of she would have gone down at 10.

So last night I skipped the bath & books routine altogether and just turned the lights down in the house around 7:30. I nursed her around 8:15 on the couch while I watched TV and she fell asleep by 9 which was awesome! She slept until 1:45 which isn't great, but it will do!

I guess she got used to us "winging it" and a routine totally threw her off and over stimulated her?

newbabymakes4 · October 2016

We have settled into some kind of sleep routine, luckily one that mimics my son's so we get a little break during the day. She gets up at 7/7:30, naps 2 hours later for ~1hr. Then she takes a second (longer) nap at 1:30 that can go as late as 4pm, bedtime at 7:30. She generally gets up once to eat during the night. I feel lucky that she's such a decent sleeper already, DS took a long time to learn how awesome sleep was.

meggyme · October 2016

I don't know if it's teething, having moved her to her own room/new crib, a growth spurt, or the 4 month sleep regression, but Jackie has been taking less than 1hr naps and waking every 2 hours at night. There are so many variables that I'm not even sure where to start to try to fix it. She also started rolling back to tummy in her new crib, so I'm worried I'll have to add dropping the swaddle on top of all that. So overwhelming.

lm45678 · October 2016

Savannah is actually taking a nap in the rock and play!!! I was able to put away my summer clothes and maternity clothes and take out my sweaters!

It's amazing how wonderful it feels to be able to get something done in the house!

Delitachan · October 2016

Yeah, how you guys get your LOs to nap well is beyond me. My son barely takes 2-3 naps, bout an hour each. But he goes down at 8-8:30pm like clockwork and sleeps til maybe 3am OR 6am if we're lucky. He only manages 7 hours of sleep

lm45678 · October 2016

Delitachan said:

Yeah, how you guys get your LOs to nap well is beyond me. My son barely takes 2-3 naps, bout an hour each. But he goes down at 8-8:30pm like clockwork and sleeps til maybe 3am OR 6am if we're lucky. He only manages 7 hours of sleep

Same! If I get a 20 or 30 minute nap that is not in the stroller or car I am beyond happy! I just want enough time to do the dishes or eat lunch with 2 hands!!

She is great at sleeping in the stroller, but that doesn't help me to clean the house or make dinner because I have to be outside walking!

huskypuppy14 · October 2016

vintagevix2016 said:

I feel like Damien has ZERO "I'm tired" cues. He will be just fine and then, like a light switch, he is overtired. I'd say it's connected to leap 4 or teething but this has been the case for a long time. He takes a bit to settle and fall asleep with lots of battling against it but I've always been successful. I just wish I could put him down before he gets overtired! I know he lasts only an hour and a half so I've tried putting him down before that timeframe but he gets mad because, shocker, he isn't tired enough. I even tried putting him down later, which was obviously a dumb idea. Anyone have suggestions? I'm not too concerned since he does nap, I just want to make it a more positive experience for both of us.

This is my son. One minute he's happy as a clam and then bam cranky overtired baby. Right now he is sleeping on me because that's how he sleeps the best. He can't go more than 2 hours awake or he's super cranky.

huskypuppy14 · October 2016

We also have no reason to change things since my husband is home during the day so baby can sleep as long as he wants and then we have a nanny that comes when he goes to work before I come home. I would like to sleep for more than 4 hours abt night especially because I have to get up at 5:30 for work. Lauren- we are winging it so you are not alone.

lm45678 · October 2016

huskypuppy14 said:

We also have no reason to change things since my husband is home during the day so baby can sleep as long as he wants and then we have a nanny that comes when he goes to work before I come home. I would like to sleep for more than 4 hours abt night especially because I have to get up at 5:30 for work. Lauren- we are winging it so you are not alone.

Good to know! I guess in my mind I thought I would be more organized once I became a mother... turns out I'm still the same person I always was and am winging everything !

lisa1625 · October 2016

This is us too!! It's crazy how much better and longer she sleeps in our bed, I've read it's because she can smell me.

Delitachan · October 2016

I hope this isn't bad, but my son napped only ONCE yesterday for about 45 min. That's it. He tried to nap at 4pm but that's when he was picked up from daycare. He fell asleep at 8pm and woke up at 1:15, alert and didn't fall asleep until an hour later. Then he woke up at 6:30pm, wide-eyed and alert.
He is 20 weeks this Thursday.

meggyme · October 2016

I've been doing the babywise eat-play-sleep routine since Jackie was born, which has worked out wonderfully for us. But lately she's only been taking 1hr naps or less, which has made it more of an eat-play-sleep-play kind of routine. It's slowly throwing everything off and bringing eat/sleep closer together, which I want to avoid as a sleep crutch. I thought it was just the 4m sleep regression, but now that it seems we're past that, it's stuck around. Not sure if I should feed her when she's not really hungry to keep her on rotation or just roll with it even if I end up nursing her to sleep sometimes.

vintagevix2016 · October 2016

meggyme said:

I've been doing the babywise eat-play-sleep routine since Jackie was born, which has worked out wonderfully for us. But lately she's only been taking 1hr naps or less, which has made it more of an eat-play-sleep-play kind of routine. It's slowly throwing everything off and bringing eat/sleep closer together, which I want to avoid as a sleep crutch. I thought it was just the 4m sleep regression, but now that it seems we're past that, it's stuck around. Not sure if I should feed her when she's not really hungry to keep her on rotation or just roll with it even if I end up nursing her to sleep sometimes.

I don't think it is harmful to feed her right before naps/bedtime, especially if you do a little something in between the feeding and actually laying her down. Damien will start off with the eat-play-sleep routine and as the day goes on it gets muddled. I try to always do something like change his diaper or show him some art on the walls for a minute before putting him down. I've read that it doesn't have to be a long or super involved activity just as long as it is something to break up the eat/sleep connection.

amangels2 · October 2016

I did the same eat play sleep and find that it's starting to get a bit muddled as well. So far, he hasn't been eating right before sleep. We've had more of a eat play sleep play eat play sleep eat schedule some days. However, I've also noticed he's either so used to eating when he gets up from a nap or is hungry even if it hasn't been that long, he will want a bottle when he wakes up. How long is you lo going between bottles? Sam usually goes 3 hours, sometimes 4.

meggyme · October 2016

amangels2 said:

I did the same eat play sleep and find that it's starting to get a bit muddled as well. So far, he hasn't been eating right before sleep. We've had more of a eat play sleep play eat play sleep eat schedule some days. However, I've also noticed he's either so used to eating when he gets up from a nap or is hungry even if it hasn't been that long, he will want a bottle when he wakes up. How long is you lo going between bottles? Sam usually goes 3 hours, sometimes 4.

Usually she'll do 2.5-3 hrs between feedings during the day and 1.5 hrs awake before a 1hr nap. Maybe I just need to be getting her up at the same time each day. I feel like that's what throws it all off because she will eat, sleep, wake and then nap again.

adiaz132003 · October 2016

I do the eat wake sleep too and just offer the boob if he will take it. They can't over eat while breastfeeding so I never worry about it and it keeps my supply up since he STTN now. The only time it gets iffy is if he has a disaster nap of only 30min or a super nap where it will be almost 4 hours since his last meal. The latter doesn't happen often though. Same as PPs have said, once your done feeding you can walk around a bit or what we do he he just has to eat before a nap is we eat then read him a book.

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