Help with 6 month old's naps

[artifarti]

DS2 was a great sleeper and napper until about 3.5 months when everything seemed to go wrong! This, coupled with a very noisy 4 year old brother, has meant that the only way DS2 will go to sleep has been feeding, in the sling or being pushed for miles in the pram. This has been okay-ish but now the feeding to sleep for naps isn't working and the sling is taking ages and killing my back. I don't really want to have to go for a mile walk in the rain three times a day, especially now winter is coming - it's also not very fair on poor DS1 when he is at home to get dragged on a hike all the time,

Has anyone got any tips on how to get him to self-settle? We successfully did some sssh-pat on DS1 but he was not as old as 6 months.

Currently sitting here with a very over-tired teary baby on my lap having spent over an hour trying to feed/sling him to sleep, all to no avail. The rain is hammering down but I know I'm going to have to go out there soon .

(For info: he wakes 2-4 times at night and has just started sleeping in a cot in his own room so I know I probably need to get him used to the cot before anything else.)

[frazzledbutcalm]

Sometimes we try too much... they may/often settle better just left to their own devices. I'd say the noise level won't be a problem, just put him in pram/cot/seat and leave him. He'll pick up on your anxiety in wanting him to settle ...
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt

[artifarti]

Thanks frazzled. Unfortunately if I just leave him he tends to grizzle for a while (so I leave him to it) but then it will just turn into full-blown crying.

He's not even settling in the night now - I was up with him for two hours last night, feeding, shhhing etc. And this morning I have been trying for an hour to get him down but he's still awake, grizzling at the moment but it will no doubt turn into crying soon.

Anyone?

[GoldPlatedNineDoors]

I go by the clock.for dd. at 6mo, 1.5hrs after she woke she was given a bit of milk and put into her buggy in a dark room. I gave her a cuddly teddy and a dummy and tucked her in with a blanket and rocked her in the dark. Id then put her back down 2hrs after she woke from that nap, and two hors after waking from that one.

Generally shed do:
Wake 7.30
Nap 9 - 9.45
Nap 12-12.45
Nap 3-3.45
Bath at 6 then milk then cot.

[GoldPlatedNineDoors]

I also found if I caught her at the right time I didnt even need to rock. However if I let her get overtired shed need a ton of rocking.

[artifarti]

I am going by the clock but he just won't settle with anything except going out in the pram. I have tried feeding him to sleep this morning but he just wakes up and I've tried shhing him which works occasionally but other times just sends him mad. I've left him now but his cries are ramping up. I just don't know what to do - I can't be pacing the mean streets at 2am, even if I didn't mind doing it all winter through the day!

[Spaghettivongole]

Dummy. You might not want to introduce it this late but we had the same issue with DS at about 4 months and it worked like a miracle. He won't feed to sleep either now but I can put the dummy in and he'll drop off with no rocking or anything. Worth a try?

Of course I'll be back on here in a few months time despairing over how to get rid of the dummy!

[artifarti]

I guess anything is worth a try but I don't really want go down the dummy route as I had one until I was 7 and my friend also had a nightmare trying to get her DS off it (waking every 45 minutes in the night until they had to do CC!)

So I've been trying for nearly two hours and here we are in the same position as yesterday - over-tired cranky baby on my knee and me in tears, looking at the rain outside and knowing that's the only way he'll sleep.

[frazzledbutcalm]

Have you tried changing his sleeping position? dd1 would ONLY sleep on her tummy...
Tbh, I wouldn't even persevere trying to make him sleep though, just let him grizzle and get on with your day ... then just deal with him when he full blown cries.
You've been trying to make him sleep for an hour, two hours today, think what you could have done in those hours if you'd just put him down and got on with things ... even just a nice

[frazzledbutcalm]

Just thought, how much does he eat? Could he be hungry?

[artifarti]

He is still flat on his back at the moment, hasn't worked out the rolling over business!

He finally conked out in the pram with a little rock and has been asleep for nearly two hours now so I should probably just accept that that works at the moment. I suspect he's teethy and the cot is quite new. I'll keep leaving him in there to get used to it but you're right, it's daft to spend hours when it's not working.

He's quite a greedy baby (feeds every two hours) but I've usually just fed him before I put him down so don't think it's that. We've just started weaning.

I have had a nice thanks!

[Tweedledeedum]

Not sure if you've tried this but my way of getting my not good at napping ds to sleep in the day is to watch for yawning/eye rubbing/cranky crying. I sit down on the couch then pop my breast feeding pillow or a cushion on the top of my knees and lay the top half of him down on it with him facing me (his legs up on my tummy). I hold his little hands and swing my knees side to side, first fast then slower until he drops off. Even better if you can pop your feet on a little footstool to increase the angle. My ds might fight it for a minute and toss his head from side to side, but in no time he is doing long blinks and drops off, sometimes only takes 2 minutes. Once he's in a nice deep sleep I move him with the cushion to a travel crib we have on the floor of the lounge. Might work for you too!