Help with putting baby down for nap during the day

[DebbsL]

I have a 5 month old who has always fought sleep during the day. I usually know when he is tired but when I try to get him off to sleep he screams and does everything he can to avoid sleep. I tend to put him on the sofa to nap but maybe I need to change his place of sleep? The annoying thing is, when he is in creche they get him to nap without any tears!

If anyone could give me some advice on the signs of sleep (to try and avoid the screaming), and ways to get him to nap that would be really helpful.

DebbsL

Hi
My DD would never sleep on the sofa either.Nor would she sleep in her cot during the day!!!
I ended up buying a big bean bag type cushion and for whatever reason she would quite happily have a nap on that...its probably a safer place to put a little one then on the sofa incase they role off too!!
I also had to make sure the house was silent and the curtains where shut.She 'needed' a dummy too (she only ever wanted at nap times and bedtimes though)and she also 'needed' her blankie too (and still does LOL).
If she had gotten a little over tired then I would take her for a walk in the pushchair and if i was really desperate then I would go for a drive-thankfully the drive was never needed too often.
As for signs of being tired my DD would just look tired to be honest,she would have bags under her eyes like she'd been up all night!!And she would start rubbing her eyes,I guess there is no science to being able to tell when your DC is sleepy as each childs behaviour can be soooooo different!!

Not sure if any off this will be of any use but didn't want to just read and run!!!

Good luck xx

i have twins (now 18 months old) and i found daytime naps soooo difficult starting from around 5 to 6 months old. My problem was they would take ages to go down, with lots of fussing and crying, all very stressful for me, and in the end they wouldnt nap at the same time, which ment i didnt get a break and i felt completely frazzled.

I started walking them to sleep! In the buggy just as i felt they were getting tired and they would be asleep withing 5 minutes, both together. i would go out in virtually all weather, with the rain cover on if needed and when i got home just wheel the buggy into the dining room and left them to sleep there in the buggy.

Fast forward to 18 months old and i am still doing it, its fantastic and really works for me, they sleep 2 hours now from about 12.30 till 2.30. i enjoy the walk and the fresh air and they go off for their nap every day without fuss.

have good chat with the creche about what they do - light levels, blanket etc. On the sofa is possibly a bit "in the middle of everything". At 5 months I think DS was having 3 naps a day at fairly regular times, about 2 hrs after waking, about midday and about 4ish for 1hr ish each time. I would put him in his cot, in his room away from everything so he wasn't disturbed. Signs of sleep (like heavy, purple eyelids, yawning, general grumpiness) are useful up to a point but I would tend to work on the basis of time rather than those. ie, at 2hrs since waking I would put him down and he would generally go off. This is still the case at 18 months when he only has one nap a day. When I know its about the right time, up he goes and 9/10 he WILL sleep, even if he has seemed quite chirpy beforehand. Its kind of trial and error. Good luck

I can't remember with the others but DC3 used to shake his head side to side, almost like he was saying no. Then I knew he was tired and needed a sleep.

Do you do anything to help him drop off - rocking, patting etc?

DS is a very smiley baby who rarey cries so i have to pay close attention to his cues or otherwise he'd just keep going and burn himself out! I just notice a change in his overall demeanor initially and that's the beginning of it - he stops smiling and just appears less interested in interaction. Then he yawns once or twice, his eyes go red and watery and he goes all stary eyed and doesn't move much. This usually follows a very 'busy' period of unco-ordinated kicking and throwing of arms and legs. By the time he starts doing a cranky wimper i know he's gone a bit too far and will take longer to wind down. Luckily he self settles 9 times out of 10, usually quite quickly. On the odd occasion he doesn't a cuddle and rocking movement rarely fails.

Thank you to everyone for their replies - they were all really helpful. I think I will stop doing the rocking and shushing to try and get him to sleep and maybe just try to put him in his cot. Hopefully the change in nap time routine/scenery might just do the trick!

xxx