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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Screaming at nap times-normal?

9 replies

Annie456 · 04/05/2012 12:12

Hi, DS is almost 8 months an is still having 3 naps a day. 45 mins at 9.30, 45 mins at 12.30 and 30 mins at 4.30. If we're out and about he we fall asleep without a fuss but as soon as I put him in his cot (2 out of 3 of the naps) he screams the place down as if he's having his toes pulled off! It's a really heartbreaking scream and it usually lasts about 10 mins before he falls asleep and I don't usually go in to him as it just starts it off again. Shouldnt he have figured out what's happening by now? Is there anything I can do to make it less traumatic for us both?
Thanks

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candr · 04/05/2012 13:07

Hi, my DS is same age and does same thing. He has half hour naps (and NO MORE) during the day but still screams bloody murder in his cot unless put down already asleep. We are trying the pick up put down method and have been for a few days. Some sleeps he settles quicker than others and I am logging it to see if there is a pattern. Like you I feel he should have worked it out by now but it is so hard when they start really screaming. I leave the room and sit next door for a bit then cuddle and put back down. Will watch your post with interest to see if someone has magical cure. Good luck

Octaviapink · 04/05/2012 13:45

You could try going down to two naps - dropping the late-afternoon one. How does he go down at night? Do you try the things that signify 'sleep' to him? We started putting DD in pyjamas and reading a (quick) story at about this age to capitalise on the sleep associations of bedtime.

Wasn't a problem with DS because he was still in the Nature's Nest at this age (was smaller than DD and grew out of it less quickly!) and used to love going down for naps because he could rock himself to sleep.

Original poster

Annie456 · 04/05/2012 18:58

Thanks for replies.
I have tried cutting the late nap but he ends up falling asleep in his highchair. He often jus falls asleep during his 4pm b'feed.
Night times are straight forward as he is b'fed and always falls asleep before I put him down. Unfortunately he's starting to need me to do this in the middle of the night too. I always do story and PJs before bed but can't stop him falling asleep on boob....middle of the night he'll scream blue murder too and I often have to fully wake him up so he can go back to sleep on the boob. Exhausting. I want to do CC but can't keep him awake in evenings and it feels too hard in the night.....

OP posts:

Octaviapink · 04/05/2012 19:00

CC is a bit tough at 9m - lots of them are still feeding at night at that age (most, in fact). How many feeds is he having during the day? My two were feeding to sleep for both naps but those were their only daytime feeds at 9 months, plus the evening one for bedtime. Then whatever they needed overnight.

Octaviapink · 04/05/2012 19:01

Sorry, I misread your post - not 9m, only just coming up for eight. I would definitely feed to sleep for the daytime naps for now.

mewkins · 06/05/2012 20:06

Similar situation with dd when she was that age. Though think it gradually got better between 8 and 10,months so that it became more of a moan then shouting then kind of chatting and singing. She has always been quite vocal! I heard that some babies just like letting off steam. Dd would get worse if I went in to soothe so I just left her to it.

Original poster

Annie456 · 07/05/2012 06:08

Well he's just started reaching out for me when I go in to him and gets quite upset when I leave the room so I think it might be more of a "don't leave me to fend for myself, the lions will get me!" kind of cry I guess he's just exploring what happens when he cries. It usually changes every 3idh weeks so I'll wait it out for a little longer.
He's having 3 feeds in the day atm 6am, 2pm and 7pm and in the night he's just started wanting a 10/11pm and a 3am so far more frequent than his day feeds.....

OP posts:

candr · 07/05/2012 18:39

Annie my DS reaches out too and is so hard to see him pressing his tear stained face up to the bars but if I do pick him up he seems to want to be put down. He also has a bottle at 10 and then I bf at 3 (usually woke at 1 but it has been getting later each night and last night was 3am) Have put a cd player in room and will see if quiet music will sooth him. Still don't seem to be able to make him stay asleep after 6.30 bottle. He always wakes after half hour crying and can take ages to settle.

capecath · 08/05/2012 20:55

Hey, I remember that age to be really tough in terms of sleep... For us, DS started sleeping about 11 hours at night from about 11 months (and some controlled crying, but only needed to for about a week - if you do go that route, recommend being consistent and patient, as tough as it might be in the middle of the night...).

Also for us, DS not wanting to sleep for one of his 3 naps meant it was time to drop one of them. I remember it being quite a challenge trying to get the spacings balanced, and if he wanted his third nap, I let him, but I also didn't force him to have a third nap if he didn't want to - would usually let him cry a little after his milk, going in back and forth every 5 mins or so for about half an hour or so, and if still not asleep would get him up.

Soft music worked very well for us for a while and would mean he would actually lie awake contented before falling asleep.

At 21 months now he sleeps for a wonderful 12-13 hours at night with 1 nap after lunch during the day, and he is even content when he wakes up, happy chatting to himself, so hang in there, bound to improve :)

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