3 month old and naps- that old chestnut!

[Puddlelane]

I've gone through the archives and tbh I just do with some support.
DS is currently going through the 3 month growth spurt- goodness its hideous!
We were doing so well. Going to sleep at 10.30 sleeping til 7. Bliss.
Now waking for a cuddle in the night around 5ish til 7/8 for a feed. We are FF btw.
The daytime naps are a different matter entirely.
When we are out he'll sleep wherever.
I would like to help him self settle. I just cant read him (where is that bad mummy emotion?) He gets over tired and then all hell breaks loose; its whitenoise and a dark room with a bottle preferably.
He sleeps on me then is put in his rocking chair. I need to get him into his cot to sleep I think.
Thing is I just dont know how. I've tried leaving him happy in his cot and he just lays there then gets upset. Or I put him down and he just cries. He wont be patted or shushed unless its pitch black and the middle of the night
I just dont know what to do :(
Help please.
TIA

I don't have a huge amount of advice as my DS turns 3 months on Saturday and we have just started having probs with day time napping too!! so sending you an empathetic hug and waiting with bated breath for some knowledgable mum to help us both!!

Hi I found the Elizabeth Pantly ' no cry sleep method' really good - she also does a 'no cry nap method'.
lots of good ideas, presumes that you can only get them to sleepby rocking them feeding them to sleep.
I feel for you, ours is nearly 18 months now, but I remember those endless days fondly...!!

Ah I think I may have to look at this book. Thanks littleweed Any words of wisdom? DS has had one of those days today but is now asleep and cuddled up to daddy. That is not fair :( skilpadsmom ds is technically 3 months tomorrow :) sorry you're having problems too. We'll do this together :) Can any of you wise lot help us?

I was just about to post this thread.

I have a three-month-old who refuses daytime naps. He will fall asleep at the breast when overtired but usually at the beginning of a feed so I have to wake him. Twice he's fallen asleep at the end and I've managed to put him in his crib without waking - but I don't want to rely on that anyway.

I used to be able to feed him, then put him down awake and he'd settle himself for a morning nap. Now he lies there entertaining himself for about ten minutes and then starts crying. The last few days have been awful. He's had a good night sleep but from early morning on gets tired and won't nap. I feel like I spend most of the day trying to persuade him to rest instead of enjoying him.

Even old favourites like the pram and the sling no longer work very well. Today we went out with the pram for 90mins - he only slept for the first half an hour and then was wide awake. He slept for 20 mins on his dad later on but woke up as soon as he was put down. The sling works about 50% of the time, but even then I can't get him out of it without him waking, and there's a limit to how much walking I can do.

I feel at my wits end because I am so mentally tired from having to look after a grumpy baby all day with no respite. When he sleeps and is in a good mood as a result it is all just so much easier.

Everyone gives me advice (mostly put them down when they're tired), but I am doing that already. I don't know what else I can do.

Please say 'this too shall pass'.

This too will pass!

Came on here looking for advice too! 12 week old suddenly sleeping badly. Had really regular long naps in the day - usually after a BF. Now only cat napping for 20-30 mins at a time!

Hoping it's part of a growth spurt! Been looking at other sites trying to get ideas. Tried 'pat and shush' from Baby Whisperer and it was an utter failure but may try again as running out of ideas!

My DD started having really short 30 minute naps in the day, about a month ago (18 weeks now) and I found it really stressful as she was clearly not getting enough sleep (cranky/ grizzly when waking up). I thought she wouldnt go back to sleep until the next nap was due, ie 90-120 mins, but recently I have started making her go back down and its worked really well: she'll mostly do another sleep cycle and sometimes more like an hour, hour and a half. Our routine is blinds down, walk up and down singing til sleepy but not asleep (head drops on my shoulder) then in cot with shh/pat if needed, leave her to drop off again if not. If she is due a feed I do that too which can help. Anyway, if they seem fine on waking up it usually doesnt work but DD definitely needs a 1 30/ 2 hour nap at some point in the day or she is awful and wont last til bedtime...

ps it does take quite a lot of persistence to get her down again , up to 20 mins first time so may not work if you have other children to look after...

x

ps sorry just realised OP was asking more about getting them in cot rather than extending naps but hope its vaguely useful too...:)

Mae all advice is useful :) I will persist. I was rather fed up yesterday so put him in his pram ready for a walk. I faffed about for about 5 mins came back chatting away to him but he was sound asleep. I have no idea how this happened. I didnt even think he was that tired He had 2 sleeps in the pram not an ideal place but he slept longer than he would in a chair. We did have 3 walks yesterday which is great not so great when winter sets in :( how we all doing?

I have a 4 month old baby who seemed (and often still is) the biggest nap resister ever! He used to fall asleep on the boob during the day but stopped doing that when he turned 3 months. For a while I was in despair on what to do.. Even if he did fall asleep on the boob he was awake immediately when I put him into his cot and crying. He would only sleep in the sling or pram but this was not really sustainable for me. As a result I had to deal with a cranky overtired baby. We then decided to introduce a routine, we are loosely following Gina Ford. A routine helps you to identify when your baby is more likely to be hungry or more likely to be tired. It provides a structure to the day for both you and your baby and makes it all more predictable. It is hard getting your baby onto the routine, especially when you have such a nap resisting baby like mine who has developed sleep associations. And by no means is my baby in the perfect routine yet - we are still experiencing setbacks! Gina recommends that to begin with try to use whatever method to get your baby to sleep at the recommended times to set their body clock. I used the pram or sling for this. After a week or so I decided to put my baby down in his own cot for the recommended times. I did not want him to cry it out but then used the shush pat technique recommended by the Baby Whisperer. It took (and still takes) a lot of patience and perseverance using shush pat. But having introduced the routine got me to understand my baby's needs much better and I am actively looking for signs of tiredness around the recommended sleeping times. This usually starts with eyes rubbing, yawning, slightly complaining grizzling. Then I pick my baby up, bring him into his nursery, give him a cuddle and do shush pat. Sometimes it can take up to 20 minutes for him to start drifting off. Sometimes it's a matter of a few minutes. It's all about the right timing.
I know there is a lot of debate on Mumsnet regarding routines and Gina Ford, but having read a couple of her books and having had an active go at it for several weeks I can say that a routine is best for both you and your baby!