Hi,
So I have a 5 month old who just refuses naps generally.
She was 7 weeks prem, suffered from colic and reflux although the latter is improving with time. She has always slept well at night and self settles to sleep in her cot in our room beautifully.
She has never slept very well in the day since the reflux became sad at about 4 weeks. But we were able to get around this by keeping her upright in the Moby sling. She is now more comfortable and will lay flat. As she is getting bigger I just can't carry her so much anymore as I'm being treated for disc problems in my back. In the sling she will sleep for the full 45 minute nap (or double that in the middle of day nap)
Have asked HV for advice who sent a Nursery Nurse out to talk to me who suggested the pat/stroke to sleep in cot approach and we agreed that this week we would use this for the morning nap so that at the very least I can carry her through the longer lunchtime nap. She also suggested putting her in the gro-bag for naps and she checked I was reading the tiredness signs properly and the obvious things such as a dark bedroom. We have being doing this now since Thursday we little or no success.
As soon as DD sees the cot she starts yelling. Patting/stroking make no difference whatsoever and in fact seem to increase the volume and intensity of the crying which only stops momentarily once she is picked up before starting again due to overtiredness.
The only day we did have a success was the day I nipped out of the room for 5 minutes to answer the door to the postman. She was asleep by the time I came back, but woke again 10 minutes later.
I have tried the buggy, sometimes she will drop off after about 45minutes of walking outside but will again sleep for only about 15minutes. Never had any success just rocking it back and forth in or out of the house.
Any ideas? Will this patting thing work eventually and am I just being a wimp (I just don't know if I can listen/watch her cry anymore - I just end up crying myself [hsad] )