What's going on with naps?

[Meandmyjoe]

I'm the mummy to miserable six month old. After previously posting on mumsnet I have (sometimes) managed to increase ds naps from 30mins to an hour - an hour and a half. I figured this may be the miracle cure to my baby's temprement and irritability. However, he still wakes up from naps crying and screaming like he doesn't want to be awake. At the end of my tether, realy feel like I just can do no more. Just sitting him in his high chair makes him whinge. He cries in his pushchair, he whimpers in the car. Can't take it anymore.

Meandmyjoe, sorry, I have no surefire solutions, but my ds was like this at that age - woke up in a foul mood and acted like he was still tired. If it is any consolation, he did grow out of it. Could he be teething or in some kind of discomfort? I know you've probably gone over it all already!

He's been like it since birth I'm afraid. Not happy for anymore than a minute doing anything. I'm exhausted of trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong or what could be making him so sad.

Is he teething? It sounds that way, you poor things.
They are just little bags of misery when teething (DD3 has just come through a bad week of it; she has 4 teeth coming through simultaneously ) but it will pass
Try Nelsons Teetha, and bonjela or dentinox, and give him a dose of calpol when he's very poorly, and as many hugs as you can muster (will make you both feel better )
DD3 whinges when I put her in the highchair, too. Sometimes it works if I distract her with a few chopped -up raisins or something on the tray while I prepare her food.

He won't always be like this. I have friends whose kids have been really grumpy as babies and then been happy kids. If you are finding it is getting you down, maybe yo ucould seek some help via your gp's surgery?

DS spent the first year of his life pretty miserable most of the time. I remember the first time he woke from a nap or in the morning without crying and he was over a year old. Although he always woke from (and in fact went to) sleep crying, sometimes he would be consoled by picking up and cuddling. A lot of time though he would cry inconsolably for ages after a nap. He often woke up in the mornings in a bad mood too.

What I would try and do was to have a snack ready for after a nap and sometimes he would eat that and it helped but often not.

If he went into a really inconsolable crying fit and snacks, milk, changing, distraction etc didn't work, I would just sit on the sofa with him and let him cry while I cuddled him.

What helped the most in these situations was deciding he just needed to cry for some unfathomable reason so if that was what he needed I would just hold him and reassure him and stop trying to get him to 'stop crying' . It would mean I was calmer and eventually it always stopped.

Often he would have a snack after the crying.

I wish I could help more. DS did improve when he got more mobile so hopefully when he crawls and when he walks you will see some improvement.

TBH they do start getting like this at 6mths because they are aware enough that they want to move more, but haven't learned what to do. Have you tried a baby walker, some babies find it liberating to move independently. He may just be getting bored while awake and therefore not tired enough to sleep properly. Freshair every day also helps to keep them happy. Musical toys were always a winner with dd at the same age. HTH

Some children just do always wake up grumpy (let's face it, some adults always wake up grumpy). It doesn't mean that it's anything you've done or that there's anything that needs to be done to "fix" it.

So sorry you're having such a time of it. My DS was a little like this. He was comforted by 1) sling and 2) breastfeeding, so I did one of the two most hours of the day.

Do you have a sling and can you settle him in it? They are brilliant, especially for pushchair haters. I never put DS in a buggy from 4 months onwards because he didn't like it.

Is he your only one at the moment? If so, you could try curling up with him for his naps. You get some rest and you can cuddle him as soon as he wakes up. Also, even if you already feel like you're stretching the nap as much as you can imagine, try helping him fall back asleep yet again if he's crying. DS used to wake up and go back to sleep on the boob 2 or 3 times before finally waking up happy.

Yes I have just had to order a new sling as he is already 22lbs so grew out of his original one! It arrived today so I am hoping it is as effective. He really hates being in his pushchar. It used to be that he protested when it wasn't moving but as long as I kept him on the move it was OK. Since being about 5 months even when in motion, he whinges and cries to be picked up and carried. Think I will just rely upon the sling from now on!

There never seems to be one thing that I can say is bothering him. He is just generally hardwork and unhappy to be here! I so want to make him happy but am running out of energy and hope. DH tries but works a lot. Thanks for the support, I'm just hoping this won't last forever!

Yes he is our only child, thank heavens. It doesn't seem to matter whether I curl up with him or not for naps. He really cries before napping and is mostly screaming when he wakes up no matter how much cuddling, rocking or singing to!