5 month old won't nap

[DorcasB]

I could really do with some advice about my five month old daughter. She is getting worse and worse as far as napping goes. I have never been able to put her in her cot for a nap, but she's always been able to nap on me. Now she won't even do that- at least not without a fight. When I see her starting to look sleepy I try and get her off to sleep with cuddling, rocking, feeding etc and she howls the house down! It can take five minutes of her crying for me to get her to go to sleep and I just can't stand seeing her so upset every time. Sometimes I really question myself and put her back on her playmat- she grins and starts playing happily again but very quickly she is back to rubbing her eyes, looking sleepy etc. So she clearly is tired! When I do get her to nap she often wakes up after half an hour and then it's either another battle to get her to go back to sleep or she stays awake but is cranky. She falls asleep easily in the sling when I walk with her but again, not for very long. Help! I feel like I'm getting this all wrong...

How are the nights? What's her feeding like? Is she hungry? Got a 'routine' or not? Tried push chair napping? In car?

She's always woken up a lot at night but I've started just bringing her into bed with me and she will now sleep through just waking up to feed and then going back to sleep. So not sleeping through really but not fighting sleeping. Car and pram are the same, will nap briefly but wakes easily and then won't go back to sleep.

Oh god, you could be talking about my 5 month old (see other thread on here about exhausting 5 month old)!

He's got worse and worse with daytime napping, and will often howl and thumb suck for 15 minutes or so, despite me comforting him (holding or stroking him whilst he lies in the cot), before falling asleep, only to wake up 20 minutes later.

Today he had a 20 minute nap this morning, interspersed with whining and thumb sucking, and then 20 minutes at lunch, before passing out on me half way through his mid-afternoon feed, only to wake again 10 minutes later. At bedtime tonight he was clearly knackered and probably over-tired, and screamed blue murder for 10 minutes before passing out in his cot.

He will have these little naps and then seemingly wake right-as-rain, smiley, and raring to go again, before flagging and getting grumpy a short while later. Still doesn't sleep through the night either.

No advice i'm afraid but I SO sympathise! Looking for a solution too! Unlike you though the pre-nap howling has started to just cut through me and I can handle it as I know that he is tired and needs the sleep, it's very frustrating though and wearing, and I wonder why he bloody fights it the whole time!

Just had a look at your thread Posset and yes they sound very similar! My DD is just gorgeous and I wouldn't change her for the world. She's generally a very happy natured little thing, very smiley and so full of energy and curious about the world. She is constantly moving, she's either rolling over and over, on her back- arms and legs waving about, or on her front, trying to crawl. I have also had the 'she's a character' comments! But she wears herself out and then wont switch off. I hate seeing her so grumpy because she is knackered when I know that a good nap would make her feel so much better. But I also hate the huge meltdowns when I try and get her to nap. And I keep thinking, what am I missing here? Is there something I'm just not getting? I mean, if she is so tired why won't she go to bloody sleep. And I've tried catching her tired signals early on too, as soon as she starts rubbing her eyes/ eyebrows go pink I try and get her to sleep. Its not even like I'm trying to get her to nap in the cot and she doesn't want to, right now I'd be happy for her to sleep on me as long as she was getting some sleep!

Bump

Are you bf? I resorted to napping with my DS, then when he started waking up would stick a boob in his mouth and he'd (sometimes!) go back to sleep. Things also got better as he got older, and a big turning point was doing controlled crying. I know lots of people here are against it or don't think it's for them. For us it was the best thing we did re sleeping. It took 3 days but as soon as DS learnt how to fall asleep without rocking/ patting etc he started sleeping longer as he was able to re- settle himself. He's now almost 18 months and only has 1 nap a day but sometimes I have to wake him after 2 and a half hours!