5 month old doesn't nap

[Pleasehelppp]

My baby does nap but she fights it and screams for ages. She then doesn't sleep for long. After 2 hours of being awake she showed signs of being sleepy. I put her in her cot but now she has been screaming for the past 2 hours. She will calm down when I eventually soothe her and then screams for a while again. This has happened everyday for the past couple of weeks but today has been the worst.

Is this a regression or am I just a shit mum? I feel like crying (I have cried). Does it get easier?

It's hard going ❤️

Sounds like she needs a bit more help getting to and staying asleep. It becomes a bit of a vicious cycle when they don't get enough sleep that then their sleep gets worse and so they get even less sleep and so on. So at this point I'd just do what you need to to get her to sleep, even if that isn't your ideal of her going to sleep in the cot.

Mine always contact napped. Would she go in a sling/carrier? You can just sort of bounce around then until she falls asleep and she'll probably sleep a bit longer snuggled up on you.

I would also try whatever works best for you out of pram, sling or contact naps and maybe also start a bit before the 2 hours in case she is already overtired by the time she’s showing signs of tiredness. I didn’t convince mine to take a nap in the cot until 8 months and even then needed to be cuddled until she fell asleep before transferring to the cot.

Thank you both! I just felt rubbish. She slept in her pram for a little bit this afternoon when I took her out for a walk. It wasn't a long nap but it was enough to stop her feeling too tired. @wishIwasonholiday10 I will try to settle for a nap a bit earlier and try to spot early signs of tiredness.

Some babies are just like this sadly. My son resisted sleeping from birth. He's five now and still resists it. He also doesn't need much. His younger sister is the complete opposite. Loves sleep and lots of it.

You have my sympathy. It's hard going. I ended up just doing whatever it takes to get him off to sleep. I ended up just accepting that he wouldn't sleep unless moving or on me. At night , I still have to lie with him to go to sleep. So I don't necessarily recommend my approach! But at least now he's not up at night!

The worst thing is when they get overtired. Then it all goes a bit crazy.