3mth old with daytime insomnia !!.........help!!!

[frumpyfred]

over last couple of days he has not slept well at all during the day - he has never been a big daytime sleeper but always go for 45mins - 1 hour and sometimes 2 once a day , now he just seems to be having 30 mins , part of me says not to worry as he wakes up happy and is chatty and lively but i think this is what is causing the problem of him now crashing out at 6pm , till at least 9.15/30 and me just not knowing when to wake , bath or put in bed and give myself some free time as i like to be in bed at 10 - 10.30 - he used to go down at 8 - any feedback

My dd's daytime naps were also all messed up at that age. Some days she wouldn't sleep at all. It improved a lot when I put her in a routine and when we realised that she needed to cry for 5-7 minutes before going to sleep. She's been a great sleeper ever since, even during the day.

my baby also is like this and we have \link( www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00020IPLY/202-0762225-3063866?v=glance&n=468292\this)aromatherapy soother thing that fills the room with lavender. it really seems to relax him and help him off to sleep. we also give him fennel tea, but many parents would not approve of this. we also got a dreamshow thing that plays a lullaby and we found that he would watch this happily and sort of fall asleep without realising it. for times when he is really fretful and won't go down we put him in his electric swing or rock him in his pram. also some people swear by using a sling to get their baby to sleep? HTH x

oops this

thanks nappy addict , it is more the length of his sleeps then actually going down , he sleepswell during night , today for example he slept for hlf an hour in his pram while out this morning , half an hour after 11am feed and has just falln aslep after his 2pm feed , this may be 2hr sleep but i never know , so i cantget my rest and i planned to meet my partner in the park at 4 , if this is his biggest sleep of day i dont know whether to disturb , yesterday move from bed to pram totally woke him up - help! if you are still there - feel a bit manic - haven't spoken to an adult since yesterday lunchtime!

p.s he fell asleep in sling on sunday whilst out and just seemed cranky an uncomfortable when he woke up mid deep sleep ?????????/

My dd1 would only ever sleep for 30-40 mins at a time during the day once she got past a few weeks. I can see how you don't really want him crashing out at 6, though, frumpy. We used to fiddle around with the timing of 'bedtime'.

Could you maybe bring his bedtime routine forward, aim to get him down for 6.30ish and treat 9.30 as his first wake of the night? As he gets bigger, you might then be able to push his bedtime back to 7.30/8 and he would hopefully miss out the 9.30 wake?

well so i have been told sleep whist in motion is not "good" sleep for baby. this could explain why he is cranky after sleeps in a sling or pram? some babies startle themselves and wake themselves up when they still really want to be asleep. have you tried resettling him when he wakes up. no eye contact, no talking, stroke his head, give him a dummy if he has one and say shhhhhhhhh. if he is in the pram you may need to rock it just slightly and fingers crossed he will go back off.

And I agree - short nappers do bugger up some of your own activities!

also how about giving him a dreamfeed at 9ish so he doesn't wake?

or at his bottle before 6 give him less than he would usually take. then he will probably wake up at about 8ish you can give him another bottle and hopefully then he will be down for the night?sorry just a few ideas - don;t actually know if they will work!!

And I'm sure everyone knows about feeling manic and not having an adult to speak to - hang on in there!

I agree with pointydog. DD is 4,5mon. We only introduced 7pm bedtime routine a month ago and sometimes she would fall asleep at 6pm. She wakes at about 10pm which i treat as a 1 night feed. I read somewhere 4,5m needs about 16,5 hours of sleep, dont remember about 3months old.
Oh, also at 3mon she started to sleep much less during the day. HTH

thanks guys for all your feedback , i have spoken to a couple of adults now! DS had a 90 min sleep late afternoon , full feed at 6 and then went down at 8 after a very small feed , this is what he used to do so fingers crossed first feed will be 2am as usual - thanks again , good to know other daytime insomniacs out there!