Daytime naps - help needed!

[MichelleM]

Having real trouble getting my 13 wk old DS to sleep during the day, other than when he is in the car or in the pram. Up until 2 weeks ago he would settle in his cot or bouncy chair for a nap, as long as I picked up the tired signs in time. Now he only sleeps when we're out and about! Any tips for how to settle him in the house?
Thanks

Have you a sling to put the baby in? My dd (almost 5 months) has a terrible time falling asleep on her back or her tummy and will shriek and shriek, dummy or no dummy. But if I put her in a sling on my hip during the day, she drops off fairly easily. (For some reason, though, it doesn't seem to work at nighttime.) It isn't a golden rule, but, for me, it does work out well 90% of the time.

Maomao, my ds loves his baby carrier, and does fall asleep easily in it, but I must admit I've only really used it when we're out and about. May try it at home too. ta.

One thing I have to say we have found absolutely INVALUABLE building on the dryer theme is white noise - following a tip on mumsnet we noticed one day when DS (15 weeks) was grumpy and I was drying my hair, he just chilled out and went to sleep with the sound of the hairdryer !

Since then DH (gadget freak) has recorded the noise of the hairdryer onto CD for me and it really helps him to drift off. He wasn't ever a baby who would just go off peacefully to sleep and I used to have to leave him sometimes as he would get so cross with being overtired that rocking etc seemed to make him worse. But with the fab hairdryer CD he ususally goes off within minutes as long as he is sleepy when we put him down - and no crying !!!!

May work for you....I hope so.

Hi Pumpkin2 - my ds LOVES the hair dryer too, however, I must admit I haven't used it to put him to sleep, just to calm him down during a major paddy. I'll get DH to do a CD and we'll give it a go!

Sorry havent had a chance to post in a few days as computer playing up. Pumpkin you're my saviour!! Have got DS to fall asleep in his cot twice this morning with only a small whimper as he lay listening to the hairdryer. I had heard of this ages ago but at that time DS was a wee angel and didnt need any tricks! Thanks a million.
Karen - your DS night-time wakings sound very similar to mine. I'm finding it hard as DS was down to one feed in the night until a growth spurt started at 14 wks, and he's waking 3 to 4 times every night. Keep hoping that tomorrow night will be different

Tried the hairdryer at 3:45am this morning - he didn't drop off to sleep but it definitely calmed him. Will cut a CD tongiht!

Will post again later, DS just waking from nap!

This is going to sound strange, but along the lines of the hairdryer. For us the vacuum cleaner is the charm. It makes DD stop freaking out and she'll go to sleep. And the house gets a little cleaner too!

(Now if only I could get DH to use the vacuum cleaner a little more, I'd be blissfully happy.... )

Hurray MichelleM, so glad it worked for you too !

I remember my Mum telling me how my baby bro apparently used to like to sleep in the same room as the freezer - the noise helped him sleep. Weird creatures, babies !

Re your night wakings, we went thru exactly the same with DS at 14 wks (we were on hols also with him which I think sent him a bit doolally and he was in our room which he isn't at home), he is now 16 wks and back to once a night, between 3.30 and 5.20am - never thought I'd be grateful just to be woken once a night...!

He was doing 2.30 and 5.00 wakeups, we used sugar water at the 2.30 feed which had a knock on of making him take more milk in the day and after one night he was back to just the one waking - no further forward on him dropping that though...

There is a thread re the sugar water in the breast and bottle feeding section - sorry not sure how to do a link to it.

Heres to hairdryers, vacuum cleaners and all other household appliances (especially if its the fellas operating them!)

I am interested in this as my ds is 14 weeks and I am still having to settle him to sleep and he generally will sleep no longer than 45 mins in the day. I am worried that if I keep rocking him or letting him feed to sleep it is creating a bad habit. I tried putting him down this morning and leaving him, 45 mins later I gave in and picked him up. Has anyone else left their baby to settle themselves? It looks easy in the books...

Hi Rach - having had 3 successful naps today in cot (DS that is, not me ) thanks to the hairdryer, would really recommend you try this out.
I had tried leaving my DS to cry a few times but just havent the stomach for it at the minute.

Thankfully putting DS down for the night is a dream as long as the bedtime routine of bath, massage and feed are religiously followed. He is put into cot awake and falls asleep himself within minutes.
Havent mastered settling him during the night though, other than breastfeeding him, so still need to work on this.
If you do try the controlled crying, please let us know how you get on.

Do you have a tape of the hairdryer or do you just leave it going? Doesn't it blow up!

Not blown up yet, but have given DH the job of making a tape of it for me tomorrow!! He laughed at first, but when I told him it was either that or he had to vacuum the house, it made the tape option more appealing!

Think it probably would blow up / burn the house down! - I used to have to keep checking every minute - which is why the CD with extended 20 minute play option is such a lifesaver !!!

I just save my drying and do my tumbledrying in the middle of the night !!

Hi Girls, well we had a sort-of record night last night in weeks (but ofcourse now I'm telling you tonight is gonna be a nightmare). DS was asleep at 8pm (last feed 630pm), I woke him for a feed at 10pm, he woke again at 1:30am, but then 'slept' right through until 6:45am! By slept I mean he woke several times during that stretch but didn't cry for food, sucked his hand to death and fell back to sleep again by himself! BREAKTHROUGH! Ofcourse I woke up at 3:45, 4:30, 5:15 and 6:30, but you can't have everything I guess...

We're on holiday next week so we'll probably drop down to one waking this week (still wishful thinking) and then things'll reverse again whilst we're away - Arrgh!

If anyone gets a good CD made please can you let me know and I'll send you a CD to copy onto. We don't have a microphone at the moment so can't do any recording!

Rach13, I too have a ds (14wks too!) who only sleeps for 45mins at a time during the day. He seems to cope ok with that amount, but has three daytime naps. I can't get him to settle without rocking and being put on his tummy (back naps just result in too much crying!), but atleast he then sleeps. At night he starts off on his tummy and gets turned over when he's nice and sleepy usually after his first feed. I'm hoping once he goes completely through the night he'll be able to roll himself over..

Does your DS normally fall asleep on your chest? Have you tried the pram/car seat etc? How about the carseat in front of the washing machine? I found my ds is definitely a preferred tummy sleeper - maybe worth a try? Just keep the babymonitor really close.

How is night-time sleep? I haven't resorted to CC during the day since other methods work. I think it's due to the light in the room (no blackout blinds), but another mumsnetter said that if they constantly fall asleep in the dark they may not cope at friends houses or on holiday - a point I agreed with.. (GF followers may disagree)

Tried the hairdryer today. It was great, I put him down at lunchtime and his eyes were still open but he went off to sleep. He has never done that before. It was like a miracle. Karen night time sleep wasn't too bad until the last week or so and he has now regressed to waking several times a night. Just when I thought I had turned the corner! I am hoping solids will help as I am getting a bit fed up.

Hi Rach13, glad to hear you're having success with the hair dryer. I think my DS has just hit this regression period too (15wks this Sunday) and has decided to wake every three hours in the night ARGGH! It's hard to know what he's after, food or cuddles. Never did have him sleeping through the night, so I now think my two wakenings are luxury compared to three/four now!

MichelleM - how are things going?

Sorry to jump in on this so late, have just read the thread.

I find that my DS sleeps much better outside in his pram - I can go for a short walk and then leave him in the garden and he will sleep for hours. I can (sometimes) settle him in his cot but there he never sleeps for more than 1/2 hour and then wakes up grumpy.

It is also meant to be healthy for babies to sleep in the fresh air (in all kinds of weather - just dress them accordingly) + should improve nighttime sleep. (Am still to see the result of this though )

Don't know what I am going to do when he outgrows his pram though....

Have been out & about alot the last couple of days, so hairdryer has had bit of a breather , and DS has been napping in pram & car. Karen, I'm still nagging at DH to make CD for me, so hopefully he will this weekend, and I'll get him to make a copy disc for you as well .

Night-sleep still up the left (I've just moaned on the Breastfeeding thread), but at least I'm not alone by the sounds of it!!

Hi MichelleM, just caught up on your bf thread as I too haven't had as much time on MN as I would have liked this week!

Oh yes please! if you manage to get the CD done this w/e. We're getting a microphone soon so I'll do the same for you if you haven't had the chance.

sorry to hear the nights have been so bad. My ds has also just changed his night habbits, but AMAZINGLY we had a record night last night with only two wakeups at 9:45pm and 1:45am, slept through to 715am!!!!!!!! Can't remember the last time this happened. I've really tried to 'ignore' the 4/5am waking this week and have only soothed him, not fed him. This has made him more tired (awake for 2hrs crying/playing at this time) and I've kept his daytime naps the same length. So perhaps last night he decided to give in and sleep that bit longer at night...?

A friend of mine said she went 'cold turkey' with the 4/5am feed and after a week her dd dropped it. She was 4.5mo though (bit older than ours). How do you think your ds would react if you went cold turkey?

I cut out night time feeds for DS2 ( who is now 4 months old ) about three weeks ago. As I was bottle feeding I checked how much food he was consuming - he just immediately upped his feeding during the day so was actually taking the same amount. Saying that he hasn't slept through yet but at least I dont have to feed him, just settle him back in front of the dryer.

Agreed Kaz33, I think going cold turkey with my ds may be the only way to get him to feed really well in the morning. I then find he doesn't take so much in the afternoon but is ready for a bit more before going to bed. Then again we've only had one successful night this week....