Please tell me about your five / six month olds naps

[campervan07]

My five month old won't nap in his bed. He hasn't managed it since he was 7 weeks old.

I also have a three year old so quiet, consistent nap times are tricky. I can get my five month old to sleep by feeding him, walking him in the sling, in the car if I get the time exactly right or very occasionally on the bouncer or buggy. He won't self settle in a bed in the day but will if he wakes up in the night sometimes. If I put him down after feeding or rocking he will immediately wake up and won't go back to sleep. It is doing my head in as never get anything done around the house and have no quiet time which I really need.

Do your five month old babies sleep in s bed / cot? Have they always done it or what did you change to make them? Should I even care about this as He does get naps so my reasons are quite selfish for wanting him in his bed and not on me.

Have tried putting him down sleepy but awake and letting him cry a bit but he just screams immediately and doesn't stop for patting, shush ing etc and I break first. Am so fed up!

[mellowyellow1]

6 month old has about 3 naps a day most of the time in our bed, have to lay with her until she falls asleep and most of the time naps are 30 mins at the most! Not sure what you can do, suppose you have tried white noise?

[RayofFuckingSunshine]

Have a just gone six month old. Despite my best efforts she will only sleep on me during the day (in arms or sling, battled with her for the last week and she will finally sleep in the buggy but only when it is outside and moving). The second you out her down she wakes and screams.

She also ends up in bed with me during the night now as she is a terrible sleeper here too, although will go down when I put her down at night oddly. She doesn't self settle.

I've decided I needed to stop caring. My housework can wait until she is a bit older and DH is more than capable of assisting. As long as essentials are done and the oldest is fed, the rest can wait.

[campervan07]

I have tried some white noise but didn't help. I am never sure whether to put him in the cot and leave him or stay with him. He is so curious at the moment that me bring there might be distracting

[Trinpy]

My 6 month old always naps in either his cot or our bed or the buggy. He has 3 naps a day - 2 1hour naps and 1 30min nap. At 5 months old he was having 4 30min naps.

If he doesn't go to sleep quickly with my help then I leave him to self settle, if that doesn't work then I get him up and try again a bit later. How long I spend trying to settle him depends on how long it takes my 2 year old to charge upstairs after me!

Is your 3 yr old at home with you all the time? Just thinking if you get some time where its just you and the baby you can concentrate on getting the naps sorted.

[campervan07]

I have two days when my 3 year old goes to preschool. I am going to work on it with him I guess I just feel a bit rubbish at the moment as nothing is working. I do fully put my hands up and say I am not being consistent as keep reading conflicting advice.

Didn't really have this with my three year old. He was good at naps.

[Leicfox1]

My nearly 6 month old has to have sleep every 2 hours, so he has 3 or 4 naps a day depending on what time he wakes up. The first nap can be long (1.5 hours) if he was unsettled the previous night, otherwise all naps are exactly 30 minutes long. He only falls asleep with rocking (and moving car or pram but not always). So I rock him, hold him for 10-15 minutes to make sure he's asleep, then put him down in his sleepyhead (on the sofa for naps, in his crib at night). This took a long time to achieve, he used to wake up every time I tried to put him down, I eventually found the right time to transfer him - less than 10 minutes is too light sleep, more than 20 minutes is too close to the end of his sleep cycle and his natural time to wake up. Also has to have his dummy, if he spits it out before I put him down, he'll stir until I pop it back in and then settle down again. Still have no idea how to achieve the holy grail of putting down "sleepy but awake", and self settling.

The sleepyhead and the dummy saved my sanity. Before that (bought when he was 4 weeks), he slept on our bed and on us only. Also use "rain" noise for naps on YouTube, it doesn't send him to sleep but seems to work in telling him that it's nap time, and masks noise that I make pottering around the house in the 20 minute windows that I get when he is down to do as much housework as I can.

[StepfauxWife]

I've got a 6 month old. She has 3/4 naps a day, two hours from when she last woke.

I darken the room, put on white noise, put her in a sleeping bag and pop dummy in. I cradle her and pat until she gets drowsy and is pretty much asleep. Then I put her in her cot. She rolls onto her side or front and I leave her to it.

It has taken a long time to get to this stage. Between 3 to 5 months, I would put her in a sleepyhead once she was asleep in my arms.

Naps are 45 mins long. She would sleep longer if I held her but I have an older DD who is around two days a week so I don't really have that luxury.

[Huishnish]

OP I could have written your post. My ds2 is 5 months, crap at napping. He used to go down for decent ish naps during the day but the last few weeks I haven't been able to put him down in his cot at all. He will sleep in the sling or in the buggy if I walk for 30-40 mins, or he'll feed to sleep but wakes when I try to put him down. He was a good sleeper at night but now that's getting worse too. I feed him to sleep every time. He doesn't do drowsy! My ds1 was exactly the same and I can't remember what I did to sort it out- maybe just happened on its own. He's a champion sleeper now. Will have to try to sort it out at some point, hard with a 2 year old around too! If you have any ideas/advice I'd love to hear. Going back to work in 6 weeks and have to tackle it by then, plus it's doing my head in battling with it 3 times a day!

[golfmonkey]

5 month old - awake 1.5-2hrs then naps, so either 3 or 4 in the day. I've only seen this pattern emerge in the last 2 weeks though. Goes down after a feed, awake but then settles in sleepyhead with dummy and LOUD white noise. When I have toddler (21 months), sleeps in sleepyhead if I can manage, or in carrier if out and about. Can't really do pushchair naps well but sometimes does and always with dummy.
Sleeps in sleepyhead at night on my bed with loud white noise and is finally having a long stretch 7-11 then feeds every 2-3 hours after. Up for the day between 5 and 6.30 usually. This is a massive improvement from before.

Before 2 weeks ago all naps were in a carrier/sling on me, but got a really bad back. Had tried putting down for naps but just didn't work, then tried again at 4.5 months and it did work. Initially needed an object to watch like a mobile, but now doesnt. Maybe developmental? Also at night was feeding every hour and awake in between so I was an actual zombie. Wonder week leap 4 ended the day before it got better....

[golfmonkey]

Also meant to say, DH settled dc a few times early evening and for naps in the last few weeks. Took longer than me as he doesn't have boobs, so more crying involved (but still cuddles/dummy etc), but think that really helped.

[campervan07]

Thank you. It actually really helps to know I am not the only one whose baby isn't on a perfect map schedule and that people have seem natural improvement. Will keep at it. Might try loud white noise today as he won't take a dummy

[Metalhead]

DD2 would only nap on me for the first 6 months of her life. On the rare occasion I got her to nap in her cot she'd inevitably wake up after 45 minutes on the dot. Then one day something just clicked, and she started having proper 1-2 hours naps in her cot (with the help of very loud white noise). Didn't do anything differently, she just grew out of wanting to be held all the time, so there is hope!

[StepfauxWife]

I have vague memories of DD1 suddenly napping for longer. She was in her own room so was after 6 months.. there is hope!