nap time screaming

[domesticungoddess]

Help any body else had a baby who refuses to nap unless carried outside attached to me. My DD is nearly 7 months old and will not nap in the house at all. She will occasional fall asleep breast feeding but not for long enough-she wakes up just as cranky and tired.

She wont sleep in the pram and only occasionally nods off in the car.

Now the weather is sunny she is increasingly difficult to get to sleep even in the carrier, when it becomes more overcast she drifts off ok.

She is spending days sleep deprived as I can't get her to nap, then she wont eat any solids if she is tired and screams ++++

I have asked two HV-one said try cry it out and one pick up put down technique (every 10 minutes until she settles).

But she never settles-she can scream for 2 hrs plus with no signs of sleeping. Its heart breaking every time I go in ( I'm in floods of tears my self)......But she needs to nap as it is not doing her any good. I can't seem to get her to nap for as long as she needs during the day by walking. PLus she is getting heavy and long so I wont be able to keep it up for three hours a day for much longer.

At night she sleep from 7pm to 6-7am, waking at 10pm and 2am for feeds.

She is has three solid meals a day and breast feeds on demand (about 3-5 x during the day).

Help.

Oh I forgot to add she sleeps fine in a cot herself in the night. I do nurse her before bed and when she wakes up for her feeds but when she has finished nursing I put her back into her cot awake and she falls asleep after a little baby chatting (no crying)...so she can settle herself at night just doesn't in the day.

I have never, not once, in 7 months got her to sleep in her cot in the day......

The pick up put down technique should be to pick up baby when crying/upset and put back down when calm, if they start crying straight away again then its pick up again till calm, not waiting 10 mins thats kinda verging into the cry it out method. Having said that I've tried pick up put down with my son during day and hasn't worked (or has taken so long that its messed the rest of our normal routine up!) I'm sure if I'd persevered I would have got there in the end, however my son sleeps in baby to toddler chair downstairs during the day, I've found the vibrate helps him to stay asleep longer (he's never been a good napper either) but eventually I'm gonna have to try getting him down in cot during the day too.
Is your baby getting overtired and maybe you're waiting just a bit too long before trying to put her down? I know if my son goes over 3 hours awake now he's a nightmare to settle and at 7 months he was probably only going about 2 hours awake then having a nap. Its very frustrating when you know they are so tired and need to sleep but can't get them to, I do sympathise!

Have you tried a swing? It was the only place DD would nap except for in a moving pram.

Tried a friends swing and she screamed in it. She screams as soon as she goes near her cot in the day. She has never slept in the house during since she was a very small baby (only then it was on me never off me, not even once) I have tried and tried but don't seem to be able to. She cried when she was little if I put her down so I didn't now I fear I have made a large rod for my own back.

I can't stand to see her cry but I can't physically carry on carrying her for naps much longer. She is getting too big (she just screams in the ergo carrier if it is on my back or if I try our backpack style carrier) to be carried in the ergo on my front for all her naps. She is needing at least 3 x one hr naps a day. But out side any noise (cars, tractors, dogs, people saying morning) wakes her up. She is never getting a good refreshing sleep where she can wake up when she wants as she is always woken up by noise, me not being able to walk for any longer or her legs hitting mine. Also now the weather is better she finds it even harder to sleep in the carrier. She is very unreliable at sleeping in the car and wont sleep in the pushchair.

It is really getting me down and I am desperate for a solution.

Help !!!

What is her room like for naps in the day? DS's room has to be pitch black with white noise on to block out sounds. We have a mini routine and at that age I had to feed/rock to sleep, starting about 10 mins before I knew he should be tired (around 2 hours of being awake so start 1 hour 50 minutes in). Try doing that for every nap and see how you get on. Try napping her at the same time every day - it could take a week or more but her body will get used to it. So if she wakes at 6/7, nap at 9am then 12am then 3pm.

Once she gets the hang of this, then you can work on putting her in the cot.

I did find I had to give solids a bit earlier especially at lunch time (11.30am) otherwise he'd be too tired.

To get her to nap in the pushchair, you can get covers to block out most of the light. We have one of these as there was no way DS would nap on the move otherwise.

For the carrier, can you get something to cover or block most of the light? I used to use a muslin when I had DS in the baby bjorn (just over his head).