16 weeks napping

[LondonMumo23]

Hi there

im wondering if anyone can help

my 16 week old boy has finally started sleeping more in the crib at night, around 14 weeks is the first time he started a 5 and a 3 hour block with a feed and change in the middle. We are elated given his strong startle reflex and reflux meant he normally woke every one to two hours before and he often favoured sleeping on one of us. I still end up with him sleeping in my arms before I put him down purely because I feed him last thing and keeping him upright on me for 15 minutes for his reflux just sends Him to sleep.

now he’s sleeping better at night, his naps at day seem much shorter which makes sense, he seems to favour only sleeping 30 minute blocks, normally a total of 3 hours if I’m lucky 3.5 hours. Sometimes if I work hard rocking him back in my arms or the pram he’ll sleep longer.

the main issue is that it’s really hard to put him down in the pram during the day when he naps or for any longer block than 30 minutes. He often will need to be rocked completely to sleep which I know isn’t ideal and then he also wakes up and thrashes about. Sometimes I need to try rocking him back and popping him down two or three times, but I only manage to get him down for the first nap of the day this way.

The rest of the time I find myself taking him out in the carrier to get him to sleep or a long walk in the park where I really have to push it back and forth for like 15/20 mins sometimes
to get him to nod off even though I know he’s tired. Then the rest of the naps he tends to do in my arms.

should I just be led by him and assume he’ll grow out of this? Or are there things I can do to gently train him into napping in the pram more?

My fear is going out and about and him getting enough sleep/ me being able to put him down in the pram if we’re away from home for a nap. He gets cranky when his sleep is delayed and so I end up just giving in and rocking him to sleep in my arms. But maybe I need to just accept I have to be bound by his natural schedule slightly.

any advice greatly appreciated! Thank you

This sounds really normal - at about 4 months their sleep changes and many babies go through a bit of a sleep regression. My little one is 10 months now but I remember well the 4/5 months stage of super short cat naps and taking ages to rock him to sleep! All the mum friends I met with babies a similar age were also going through the same thing. All you can do is continue to support him with his sleep how you have been, remember that it is a phase (though an annoying one!) and it will end soon.
We rode it out until baby was 6 months and then we did some sleep training and he’s slept really well for naps and overnight ever since.

Thank you so much @Richie23 that is really reassuring. If there’s any way you can point me towards how you did sleep training for the day as well as night at 6 months that would be really appreciated but thanks again for coming back

We used a sleep consultant to guide us which was really helpful as she could tailor it to his specific needs. We did the chair method, which briefly means you do a routine before bed eg bath, story, sleeping bag, into crib with white noise. Then for naps you do the same routine (minus the bath), so they start to associate those actions with going to bed. Then for a few nights we sat right next to the crib and could comfort him, then moved further away after a few days etc until eventually you just pop them in the crib and you can leave the room and they aren’t upset (have a google for a more detail).
We also did it at the same time as moving him to his own room. The combination of him being in his own room and not being disturbed by us, plus the sleep training, meant it didn’t take long at all for him to sleep well overnight. Naps took a bit longer to get sorted, maybe a week? But just being consistent with the bedtime routine, having a pitch black room etc will all help.
But definitely wait until baby is 6 months as if you try before then and their sleep changes around 6 months then it’ll just undo any progress you’ve made which will be frustrating.
If you already have a bedtime routine then maybe start incorporating some of that before nap time as well. It’ll really get him used to those sleep associations from an early age, though you may not see a big improvement in naps just yet.

Thank you so much @Richie23 really appreciate it

Hey, did this get any better for you? Going through the same thing with my 16 week old

@Ehc1989 were in a better place - but only because we ended up doing the Ferber method of sleep training at 5 months. It was transformational. He only cried 9 minutes the first chunk and then only a minute here or there the first night. By the second night he slept 10 hours in a row. You have to catch them when they’re well and not teething so it can bed in over a couple of weeks, but I’d recommend it. I know it’s not for everyone though and really personal. On day naps we’re not quite there, he still naps in the sling a lot, the only way to get him to an hour so he’s not too tired between naps, but I think we’ll do the Ferber method for naps in a few weeks too. Wishing you lots of luck with your lack of sleep, it’s so tough at times xx