Very tired

[copperred]

My little chap is 5 months old and I have a real job to get him to sleep in the day. Which then when we get to the afternoon he gets over tired and cranky. When I try and put him done he just cries and screams till I pick him up again.
Has any one got any tips how I could get him to sleep?

Argh 5 months is so hard.
Will he sleep in the buggy or sling? I used to walk for hours just to get a 35 min nap.
Or try a mini version of your bedtime routine (if you have one) for naptime.
Hope you get naps soon - no-napping used to really stress me out.

I just sat with him on my knee. Not ideal but at least he got sleep.

I have the same problem with my 5mo. Up until now he will only nap for 45 mins maybe twice a day if I'm lucky so bathtime is a bloody nightmare - not quite the relaxing winddown that it's meant to be. So now I'm trying to go by the theory given by my HV this week which is as follows:
Don't wait for the yawning/rubbing eyes/batting ears -try to catch them at the earlier sign of going glassy-eyed and quiet then put them in the cot. Apparently the idea is that the happier they are going into the cot the less likely that they will scream the place down before giving into sleep and the more likely that they will have a longer nap and wake up happier.

Put them to sleep in a way that will make them eventually learn to be able to put themselves back to sleep when they wake up. For example, if you always rock your baby to sleep then put them in the cot, when they wake up they won't know how they got in the cot and they won't know they need to go back to sleep because you aren't giving them the cue by rocking them. So the idea is that you put them in the cot awake but drowsy so they drop off to sleep aware of their surroundings - that way they are more likely to go back to sleep if they wake too early.

I've been trying this and I am seeing little improvements - there has never been a problem with night sleeping but he was going into the cot asleep after the bedtime feed so now I do his sleepbag up really loudly and maybe cough or kiss him loudly so he wakes up (but not fully) - he then wriggles around for 5 mins but drops off to sleep himself. Today he's had one nap of 1hr 20 mins (usually naps have NEVER lasted more than 45 mins) and is now 30 mins into the next - hopefully not just a co-incidence!

Good luck!

Think we got a 5 month robot , Quick walk around the block asleep , stays in the garden bring him in the house is disaster , seems too like his
own space and quietness, sleeps around an hour. Have a undercover sheltered area decorated with mobiles flags etc. Think he would live out side given half the chance. Nights are similar sleeps through when he wakes no matter what time it is , goggles and plays just have too cough if it seems he is getting upset or put his music on. Taken his toy
out tonight bangs it too much wakes us up see how it goes'. He is very active though loves swimming and lots of mixed company, but does like his own time must say.

Also think if he slept in the day he would probably sleep better at night.

Sorry last message doesn't make much sense. I wrote another message which didn't seem to go up so I'll start again.
I'm still not having much luck. Thank you for the replies, but he's still not sleeping in the day .
I've just started reading the baby whisper, is it any good.

Probably a bit too late to start the baby whisperer stuff. Ideally you would've started with feeding and sleeping routines at about 4-6 weeks. By 5 months you've sort of missed the window and you need to look into other 'sleep training' techniques. Nothing wrong with PU/PD method in the Baby Whispererer but it's the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.

I think all the baby whisperer is going to do is make you feel bad. Better to start with a book that doesn't lay on the guilt for not doing A, B and C when your DS was younger. No Cry Sleep Solution might be better.