13 week old - nightmare napper!

[Namechangegardens]

Looking for some advice for how to help sort out my 13 week old napping.

He sleeps amazingly at night, can be put down awake and sleeps all night.

Daytime naps are a different story. He goes from playing happily to grumpy to wailing with tiredness in a matter of minutes. I then cuddle him and pat his bum and he screams, kicks and scratches then BOOM falls asleep. Nap lengths variable but usually quite good.

Will his ability to nap without putting up a fight get better or worse? So far it's only getting worse...

This sounds like my DS. I'd say hang tight as 13 weeks is still quite early on and it may get better.

My DS is 11 months and has slept 11 hours a night about 95% of the time since 10 weeks old, but daytime naps have always been a battle once he stopped being that little newborn that sleeps most of the day!

He is much better with a routine and set nap times each day. Just small cues that help him to understand he needs a little sleep like giving him his Muslin, TV goes off, and just helping him snuggle down for a nap. I also use a white noise app to help (made it a different sound to his nighttime noise). DS does just like a cuddle though so often I get nap trapped still, but I just try to remember that there will be a time he won't want cuddles from his mum and to enjoy them whilst I can!

Probably not much help, sorry! Hang in there and maybe try a short nap routine and see how it goes, if you don't already. Good luck!

@Lottie917 thank you for advice, a little routine sounds like a good idea. Isnt it crazy how night time can be so easy but day time time so hard!
Do you put him down awake for naps?

@namechangegardens Absolutely! I thought it would be the other way around with night time sleeping being the bigger issue

No he won't go down awake in his cot in the daytime (night time absolutely fine... It baffles me!). Naps are either in the pram and we go for a walk, or it takes a bit of rocking / cuddling for him to fall asleep on me.

My little one does this if he’s over tired and I’ve realised I can miss the crucial moment by minutes. If he’s tired he usually naps without a fight but if he’s overtired (sometimes by just a few minutes!) he scratches, cries etc

@TiredEyes1991 funnily enough a few days after this post, I caught him JUST as he was starting to get ratty and he went out like a light! Can I ask what other early signs you look for? Other than him getting irritable I don't really notice signs of tiredness

@Namechangegardens ahh pleased to hear he went down well! My little boys eyes go slightly red and I find he slows down with whatever it is he’s doing - if he’s on his jungle gym he’ll still be playing but a lot slower than he was a little while earlier. It took a while to notice these though but once I did I rarely miss them now because I don’t want to be beaten up at nap time