Did/does anyone else's LO refuse the tea time catnap even if they need it?

[FifiFerusha]

Just wondering if my DS is the only one.

He is 7.5 months and since I can remember probably 3 months or so it has been really hard to get him to take a tea time catnap. He is usually a short napper so needs it. All sleep training has always goes out the window for this nap. I have FtoS, put him in a sling and danced to the sound of the oven extractor, you name it I have done it and now he even fights me in the sling as he just doesn't want to nap. My DD is also home so he wants to play. This means his awake time before bed can be anything up 4.5 hours whether he has had a 35 min afternoon nap, of if I am lucky 90 mins. He is so wired by bedtime. Anyone else had this situation? Does it get better as he they get older? He hasn't had the CN for three days or so now and has woken up exactly 35 mins after bedtime and then once in the night whereas before he was sleeping 18.30 til 5.30 or beyond. I just can't force him to sleep.

Guess my dreams of STTN are shattered :)

[minipie]

Buggy? Always how I did the afternoon catnap.

[FifiFerusha]

Tried and tested. He is too interested in trees :)

[waitingforsomething]

Mine has refused this since 6 months. He's a week off 8 months. I also have older DD who he finds interesting. Also he hates sleep

[newmumwithquestions]

Dd1 used to sometimes go 10 hours from morning nap to bedtime. I tried EVERYTHING. If she did have an afternoon catnap then it was after an hour or so of me trying and was a 20 min exhausted nap that she woke from screaming and just as grumpy.
She hit 11 months and went to 1 nap which gradually stretched from 1 hour up to 2.5 hours (bliss). So I can't help with what you should do but can tell you that it should get better eventually! Hang in there 😄

[Iguessyourestuckwithme]

We lost the cat nap at 6.5 months. He will sleep 9-10 and then 1-3.30 but generally manages okay with the 3.5 hours awake before bed (okay he was a little grumpy yesterday and the day before ;) )

[minipie]

Buggy with blackout shade?

But yes, 7.5 months is normal time for this nap to go. You need to get the morning and post lunch naps longer really. Try pushing those naps back a bit, ie extend his morning awake times, and you may find he sleeps longer?

[WutheringFrights]

My DS was an awful napper.
Until the midwife gently suggested to me that maybe I could put him in his cot during the day.
With DD she would sleep anywhere so I got used to having a child who would just snooze wherever we were.
So I started putting him in his cot.
Now DS sleeps for 2.5 hours most afternoons.
He is nearly 3

[WutheringFrights]

Argh, not midwife...health visitor!

[FifiFerusha]

Thank you all for your reassuring advice and experiences. All naps are in the cot at present. I really have just given up with the CN and count the 35 minutes at bedtime until he wakes again like a mini pre- bedtime nap. Good advice minipie, am trying to make those naps longer(yet again, but that is a whole other thread). I have the school run at 3 but he always needs a nap after lunch as morning nap is usually 9.15 until 9 .50 ish. so last nap starts at 12.30-50 and ends at 13.15/30 or if i rock him mid nap and get away with it 14.00(ish)/14.15. I think I need to slowly extend the awake times to fit in I guess so he has a waking at 3, I may get away with that. What could be the max after a short morning nap though. He gets wired after 2 hr 20 or 30 mins. Never yawns just from happy to crazy and over playful.

Last week however he randomly slept for one an hour and half all by himself for three afternoons in a row...thought we'd cracked it. nahh.

..and a buggy with a black out blind is a great idea. Why on earth hadn't I considered this. Silly me. Can you get them for most buggies? Gonna do a search. I need, need, need one.

[minipie]

I'd try putting him down at 1 and see what happens. You may find he wakes after 40 min but then is tired enough to go back to sleep more readily iyswim?

Buggy blackout - Snoozeshade is one make but there are other ones too - or just clip a scarf across the buggy opening (but this doesn't work if your baby likes to play hide and seek whereas the ready made ones have elastic and velcro to hold them on). My snoozeshade was invaluable for my sleep resister DD.

At this age the only way I could find to extend the second nap was to do it in the buggy - DD inevitably woke after 35 min but I could then rock her back to sleep in the buggy in the hallway (with snoozeshade on). Then she'd sleep there for another hour plus. (I also pushed the nap back to 1pm and later as she got older). Gradually she stopped waking after 35 min and slept a long time all by herself, and eventually I shifted that nap to the cot... This is a bit of a high maintenance approach though so hopefully you can find something easier!

BTW the waking 35 min after bedtime means overtired at bedtime, or at least it does for mine.

[HisBowtieIsReallyACamera]

Yes - both of mine but especially the second DS. Too nosy... He has now (17 mths) dropped down to one nap a day thankfully! Bedtimes were awful with an over tired baby and a grumpy jealous toddler...