Tips for handling a grumpy three month old

[CutYourHairAndGetAJob]

My baby is three months and is going through a grumpy phase for the last three months. He is OK in the day and will happily play in his baby gym and sleep in the sling, but in the late afternoon, from about 4 pm he gets increasingly difficult and won't settle, he wants to do nothing except take catnaps while permanently attached to a boob. Unfortunately I also have a toddler and need to look after her, get her dinner cooked etc. Does anyone have any tips for how to handle this? Most days I end up with a screaming overtired baby by the end of the day.

What are his naps like in terms of timing/length - especially in the afternoon? Sounds like he needs a good nap at about 4pm, is there any way you can engineer this eg take both DC out for a walk so he sleeps in the buggy?

Yeah what she said, only I'd start trying to get him to sleep at 3pm. If he were your first I'd just say go with it and plonk yourself in front of the telly, but sadly it doesn't work with two (sorry!)

In the morning and early afternoon he will nap after being awake for 1.5 to 2 hours, and he'll sleep for an hour or so at a time. It all starts to go wrong in the late afternoon when he gets much harder to settle and will only take a short nap. he resists going in the sling in the afternoon, although I don't normally go out in the afternoons so I try to settle him by walking around the house. Perhaps I need to persevere with this by actually going out for a walk.

Unfortunately he won't sleep in the buggy or car seat, only in the sling or on my boob. If go out in the car my three year old sleeps and the baby doesn't!

Yeah, dd is at nursery two days a week and on those days I do just let him sleep on me in the afternoon. It's the days when I have both DC which are the problem.

I would be tempted to chuck them both in the bath at 3pm, and then try to cook tea with him in the sling if you can do that (I never could tbh), or at least encourage a sleep.

For some reason they are always happier in the bath.

Dummy and a swing set on high worked for mine.

Dummy and a swing set on high worked for mine.

The bath idea might work, he does love a bath although he currently has one every evening with dd as part of their bedtime routine.

I've not had any luck with getting him to take a dummy.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

I'm also considering letting dd have an hour of TV in the afternoon if she sits quietly with me while ds sleeps, the benefits of a well rested baby might be worth it

Update: I managed to get ds to nap yesterday afternoon - he slept for half an hour in the car then I popped him in the sling and he went straight back off. He probably slept for about two hours in total and woke around 5.30. This was great as I could make dinner and he sat in his bouncy chair while we ate, without screaming, then had a bath.

Unfortunately he then wouldn't settle for the night till about 10pm. So I don't know if he had too much sleep or not enough milk or if this was just a coincidence.