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Tell me how to help my 18 week old baby nap

3 replies

monal · 22/10/2013 11:32

She is a super easy baby, calm, lets me leave the room and do stuff, and for the last six or eight weeks has been reliably sleeping from 11pm to 7am at night.

For about a week now she's been absolutely inconsoleable before bed though, screaming crying, won't be put down for more than half an hour, and waking at 2am and 4am. It could be the notorious 4 month sleep regression but I also think she's just really overtired. During the day she will nap on me or in the sling two or three times for a total of about three hours. If I put her down to nap she wakes up after 10-15 minutes. I have tried getting her to bed earlier - she often has a nap around 5pm for example but then wakes up and is awake till 11, even if we do the whole bedtime routine earlier. So she's only getting about 11 hours sleep instead of 15 or 16 :(

She is otherwise a really happy baby but I feel like I am failing her on the sleep front. What cues am I missing? Eye-rubbing means tired and otherwise she mostly just falls asleep or almost asleep on the boob. Should I schedule things more? I am terrible at that but I can try.

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CatAmongThePigeons · 22/10/2013 18:23

I think you're doing really well, especially with the night sleep as well.

When DS2 was a similar age I read the 'No Cry sleep solution' by Elizabeth Pantley. She said that eye rubbing and the sleep cues were a very slim window. Maybe see if she naps at a similar time each day and sling/walk/pop her down.

It is common for them to not want to sleep in bed when they want to be cuddled.

You're doing really well with her sleep, good luck with tonight.

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Cantthinkofafrigginname · 22/10/2013 19:27

At that age my lo needed a nap every 75minutes max.

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pebbles1234 · 22/10/2013 19:37

Am afraid I haven't got anything to add but could really do with some help too, so will watch with interest!

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