6 week old with napping troubles

[laurab1210]

Hi all,

I am new to the site and am hoping for some advice.
I have a 6 week old baby boy, who settles on his own and sleeps really well between 10pm and 7am/8am - usually only waking once to feed, which is absolutely brilliant.

However, I really struggle to get him to nap during the day. I look out for all the tired cues and try and get him to sleep as soon as possible but he is having none of it!
This leaves him grumpy and crying. If I do manage to get him to drift off, he tends to wake shortly afterwards.

He will sleep in the car or if I take him out in the pram, but it's not always possible to do this.

Any help would be appreciated :-)

Take him out in the pram then. He sleeps overnight and he is six weeks old!

Really constructive advice thebitchbigrade - thank you.

I'd just say that don't worry he's so little that it will change a million times over yet - my dd is 23 wks and has a set night time routine but her naps still vary. A routine is pretty impossible to set when they're so little. Just need cuddles. Pram/fresh air good for tired mums too! Congrats - sounds like you're doing really well x

Hi OP at six weeks only of my three DC napped well, and that seems to be quite rare when they're so tiny. Of course you can't always take them for walks, but it does help them sleep. Have you got a baby sling? Both DDs loved to sleep in that and I found I could get quite a bit done too! I would try ccombination of pram/sling/cot and cuddling, one way won't work every time. When he's not much older he will settle more easily and will sleep for longer but sounds like he's doing very well. Good luck.

Just thought of something else, with DS I used to bring the pram indoors and push him in it when he was struggling to fall asleep.

Do you feed to sleep? It works brilliantly at this age.

What I am trying to say s there is not a problem really, he is six weeks old and sleeps through!!!

And I have lots of children and all good sleepers.... I kinda know what I am doing

Thebitch talks sense. It's really really early days. Sleep at night is brilliant. Count your lucky stars. His sleep patterns will keep changing and evolving but using a sling is helpful if you need to get things done. I found my babies (have 3 DCs - youngest 7 months) were slightly less likely to have colicky evenings if they had spent time in the sling during the day. Added bonus.

Yes, thebitch is right.

I have an 11 week old DD, she sleeps approx 10.30 until 6, we have one nap established and that's the one an hour after she wakes up. All other naps fit in around what we are doing that day so either in car or pram, she sleeps on me from 7pm until her dream/top up feed at 10pm ish and then bed until morning. I still know people at 11 weeks who's babies are up every 2/3 hours on the night so really happy as we are

Thank you - I think I will look for a sling. I know I am so lucky for him to be sleeping so well at night :-) I really wasn't complaining.

DD slept through from 5 weeks - but was never a big napper from that point onwards. I do think the sleeping through was a massive part of it.

As she would fall asleep in pram or car I used to put her in the pram and push it backwards and forwards in the lounge. Worked a treat.

That said from being very small it was all night and two shortish naps per day, dropping to one nap a day from six months.

I'm really envious as I can't get my baby to sleep long at night.