Need help with Naps again!!!

[Loobylou2929]

Hi all, So my DD is 13 months old. We’re both just getting over a really rotten germ after 2 weeks! My DD is still abit snotty but definitely full of beans and well other wise

At the beginning of being ill, she had to be rocked to sleep again, she was self settling fine before for bed time and naps.

I have lost track of when she needs to nap etc etc as I have been really ill too. She has been having 2 naps a day, usually around 3ish hours after waking then 4ish hours after that. Some days she’ll only have 1 nap, but it’s crap as she’ll only have 30 mins even after eating lunch. Then she’ll be grumpy for the rest of the day.

if she naps too long in the afternoon she’ll also be really grumpy until bedtime where she is a crying mess.

I feel crap atm that I can’t get it right. It’s because of this germ we’ve had.

Ive tried bringing her naps earlier/later. Waking her earlier for the first one else she would sleeP for ages then not in the afternoon.

The main issues are getting the naps right and not having to rock her again it’s exhausting.

Im so confused as to what to do for the best! Sorry for long post. She normally wakes between 5:30-6:30am. Goes to bed and is asleep by 7ish. She wakes once or twice in the night (also needing a feed again) then goes back to sleep ok.

just exhausted atm please help 😴

Just to add, if I leave her to cry she won’t stop! And If I sssshhhh pat etc it makes her so much worse. She has a snuggle, Dummy and white noise. Our day is:-

5:30-6:30 wake bottle
8:30-9:30 nap depending when she woke up
breakfast after waking
12 lunch
1:30-2:30 nap again depending
4-4:30 dinner
6:30 bottle bath bed
asleep by 7-7:30

Hi All! I’m constantly asking advice about naps, I crack it for awhile then it all goes down hill again.
🙄

My DD is 14 months old now and has been transitioning between 1-2 naps for a good few weeks. The trouble is she is now sitting up/standing in her cot constantly every nap/bedtime. So I stay next to her and keep lying her down without making any noise until she falls asleep. This takes about 30 minutes every time.

Ive been doing this for about 4 days and the last 2 times (nap today and bed time) she’s taken an hour then hysterically started crying until I rock her to sleep!

How do I get her to self settle again (she was doing this beautifully before sitting/standing in her cot)

Do I need to let her cry but keep lying her down however long it takes? The trouble is she gets so hysterical I feel bad.

she’s not teething or poorly atm. I check her teeth everyday when I brush them.

just abit of advice from anyone that’s had similar would be amazing! Thanks in advance.

I have a 14mo DD

just my opinion but I think you’re too focused on self-settling - babies regress at times so it’s nothing you’ve done wrong

at the moment I always cuddle my DD to sleep for naps and then put her down in the cot or on the sofa which is large enough that she won’t roll off

could you just accept she needs support with sleep at the moment and take the opportunity to lay/sit with her and put your feet up? It’s not forever!

I genuinely believe sleep breeds sleep but maybe she just needs it split throughout the day evenly

her routine is:

0600 wake and 5oz milk
0800 breakfast
0930 40min nap
1015 snack
1200 lunch
1330 nap for around 2hr
1530 snack
1700 dinner
1830 milk and books/tv
1900 bed

Thanks for your reply. You could be right! The trouble is DD won’t be cuddled to sleep only rocked when she’s like this and it kills my back as she’s heavy!

But if that’s what it takes atm so be it. She only napped on me until she was 11 months old so im very used to her sleeping on me and putting my feet up 😁

Your day looks fairly similar to mine only DD needs longer between the 2 naps. Makes a late bed time but I’m just going with that atm.

How long have you been cuddling to sleep? Do you have to do it for bed time aswell? Thanks for messaging DaphneeBridgerton.

My DS is 12 months. He is fed to sleep when he’s at home but rocked in the pushchair when he’s at the childminders. He also regularly naps in the car on our way to days out with my older child. No set nap routine but he usually has two a day. Sometimes he’ll only have one. I push bedtime back if he’s napped later. He’s a crap night time sleeper whatever we do with naps so in a way it’s quite freeing - takes the pressure off making the naps perfect as his nighttime sleep is terry anyway 😂

A rough routine is:
6:30 wake
7:00 breakfast
9:30 nap
10:15 snack
12:00 lunch
2:00 nap
3:00 snack
5:00 Dinner
7:00 bed

No worries! A friend once said to me to always remember that everything with babies is just a phase. Even naps - they won’t nap forever! Not sure if that’s good or bad 😂

Yes at bedtime she has milk lying on our bed and then she dozes off in my arms or right next to me while I stroke her hair/face then I transfer her when she is VERY sleepy but not completely gone! She does cry a little when I put her down but goes off almost immediately after

And for naps I tend to close the curtains, turn the tv of, read her the same book every time then give her dummy and bunny to her and put her on my lap - she usually falls asleep quite quickly

Do you have to rock her? Have you tried sitting down while kind of jigging her a bit if that makes sense? I used to rock DD but it was killing my back and arms so I would just rock more gently every time until she didn’t need it and was settled just being in my arms

I’m sure someone will come along with more advice on self-settling but I haven’t focused too much on it - from what I’ve seen as soon as they’re toddlers they want stories, songs and all sorts at bedtime - so why do we expect them to just fall asleep easily alone now? If you see what I mean?

I mean toddlers as in 2/3/4

Why don’t you cut her morning nap to a 20minute power nap to get her through to a 1pmish long nap that ends by 3pm - just a thought

Thanks again for messaging. She just refused to nap on me one day (11 months) so i put her in her cot and she fell asleep straight away! She has been brilliant at self settling since really after a say 10-20 minutes.

Its only if she’s been ill I’ve had to rock her etc since. So I guess this must be a regression?!

Great advice about sitting and jiggling her, I will definitely try it tomorrow and do short nap am then try again in the afternoon.

Im willing to try anything to help her sleep. She’s always slept pretty good once she is asleep it’s just getting her there iyswim.

I agree about the toddler theory. It is all a phase and you just keep moving on to the next 😅

That sounds lovely that your DD lies next to you and drifts off bless her! My DD does sleep next to me on my bed if she wakes super early and i bring her in next to me and give her milk.

Also Im very much looking forward to the no nap days! 😃I can’t wait to plan a full proper day without the hassle of it lol.

In my experience you have to do these things gradually. So today perhaps rock for a while and then attempt to sit down while rocking.

I’ll be honest when my DD really fights a nap I sometimes just hold her tight really close to me and she gives up flailing around!

They need to be shown the way when you’re desperate but otherwise gradual changes are best otherwise they don’t know what’s going on.

So today I would just try to be sitting down by the time she falls asleep and see that as progress?

let me know how your day goes x

Hey DaphneeBridgerton,

So today she woke at 5:30 🙈 and was ready for her first nap at 8! I gently rocked her for about 6 minutes and she was out like a light for an hour!

breakfast 9
snack 10:30
lunch 12

Rocked her gently to sleep again at 12:30 as she was showing tired signs (clingy and going to hit me) took 10ish minutes slowly rocking again and had to lie her back down twice until she definitely realised it was nap time.

she’s still asleep now so hopefully another hour would be good! She normally only manages 10 hour stretches at night but doesn’t wake anymore, maybe once to put dummy back in.

I think I will try sitting/rocking after a couple more slow rocks so it’s not too sudden a change.

Thanks again for replying 💕

That sounds good - Remember we are looking for progress not perfection.

Its easy to imagine that if you got her naps down perfectly that everything would be wonderful but theres always something, whether it’s food/night time sleep/development/walking/talking you get the idea!