The my baby won't nap sign here thread?

[Zimm]

Helllo all,

Until recently DD (6 months) would only nap in her pram, this worked ok-ish. Now even this seems to be failing, yesterday I paced for 1.5 hours to get her to take a 30 minute nap. NOTHING gets done during the day as I am constantly entertaining her. Her night sleep was fantastic (8pm-6am, 6.30am - 8.30am!) but all went wrong at sleep regression and we now have anywhere between 2 and 6 wakings.

I worry about the lack of naps affecting her and making her miserable.

So please sign here if you too have a nap refuser, maybe we can share ideas or just support each while our houses descend into a cloud of mess, phone call go unreturned and exhaustion from street-pacing kicks in!

Zimm

Hi all - Sedgie thank you so much for your post. Lots to think about. Yes she is still EBF - she started on 50th percentile, then dropped to 9th and is now at 25th and that seems to be her natural position I think. It is incredible how stressful the feeding / weight thing is, isn't it. We were in hospital for a week after the birth because of low blood sugar / sleepy baby not feeding so it's always been my hangup!

I have been doing dreamfeed at 11 ish, maybe it is worth experimenting with cutting that one, perhaps she would still wake a 3 /4 but at least I'd get a longer run of sleep beforehand? Oh dear, lots of decisions to make!

Zimm great news on continued success.

Morning update...

We had the best night last night for a long time - feed at 11, some chattering about 1:30 then no wakings until 6!!!!! (Unless I was just so out of it I didn't hear her haha)

Hi Geordiegirl that is great well done. We had our best night ever too 11.5 hrs total sleep with new dreamfeed time of 11pm (no wakings before 11 or after until 6.30!!) interestingly she was much more hungry at 7am (yelling for breakfast, normally not so bothered) but again took little of the top up, but then how much of a BF she had I can't really tell.

Just to say that we were in hospital also at 4 wks. It was a really bad experience, I had to live with my mum for a month and just feed feed feed - so I do understand. It took her dropping the 2nd feed (3 times in one wk) herself before I had courage to press the point in that I then refused the 2nd feed when she woke after the 1st until 6/7am. Looking back it was ready before this but, I went cautiously because of the issues we had. I can't stand to think of her hungry. But she was snacking all day because of eating too much at night, now eating and sleeping in the day seems better for 'proper' spaced out feeds. There are so many opinions about this, esp on the feed board where the answer to everything seems to feed feed feed even at the expense of mum and babies sleep and whatever babies age and size, this is pretty much what I did for 4 months, but I'm not so sure this is always correct. Its a personal and individual call though.

As an observation GGirl, I can't help but think it does seem as if you have your answer in how well last night went, dd appears to tell you what she prefers to manage with feed wise at night and this gives you a nice long run of sleep as well as her.

Morning all,

Well Oh has just settled her for her 11am nap (yes - she now has a nap time!) only took him about 15 minutes. So that's a nap in the cot 3 days running :-)

Also seeing night improvements here - she seems to be down to 1 night waking (well if 'night' is between 11-5) and last night she did 7.15-6.45 with only 1 waking at 2.45! Fab!

Currently her nap schedule is: Up around 7. Short nap on me after BF at 9.30 (20-30mins), cot(!) nap at 11 (45 mins average so far) and buggy nap around 3 (45 mins). So we need to work on extending the morning nap and then getting her to take afternoon nap in house when we are in.Not sure what to do about 9.30 nap, I think she is sued to just napping on me and I quite like it...I'd sooner get the afternoon nap in the cot then tackle this first nap.

We also had weight gain issues when she was born (bad BF-er) and were re-addimitted to hospital for 3 days. Took ages for me to get the confidence to refuse feeds - maybe there is a pattern here??

Have a great weekend all - may the napping miracles continue..

So happy you have had some nap/sleep success zimm!

Still the same at my end, had a few dodgy nap days but his teeth are causing him problems, he's been a grumpy so and so for a few days!
He's now not feeding at night, last 2 nights we've attempted a dream feed and he's refused and slept through from 8-6.

Took an hour to settle him tonight, in the end I gave him 5mls of calpol and he's out for the count!!

Much needed glass of wine for me now

Hi all, long time no post, but really pleased to see there are some successful naps going on. We've been a bit hit and miss here, still no cot naps, dd not having a bar of it, but getting random hour plus's in the pram or post feed.

Situation not helped by my getting a really bad cold, luckily dd only got a bit snuffly. But got rid of that cold Saturday morning and by last night knew that I was getting another one!

And now I'm in a quandary. Because of sneezy, snottiness and sheer exhaustion gave dd 150ml of formula at 10am. She's still asleep. Has woken, stirred and settled herself back to sleep 3 times now. And showing no inclination to wake up

Will this be a one off I ask myself?

How's everyone else doing?

Very interesting about the feeding issues - I am sure that it has affected sleep issues, as I have always been inclined to feed her when she wakes during the night. Like you say, Sedgie and Zimm it does take a while to get the confidence to refuse feeds and not feel like you're starving them!

The last few nights I have been settling her back to sleep if she's woken at 3 / 4 / 5am etc and last night we had a majsor breakthrough (although prob a one-off!) did a feed at 12 and then she went through until 7:15am!!!! I am in shock. I think she may have woken a couple of times during the night but managed to settle herself.

She is also now having a nap and it's the first day for ages I haven't also had to crawl back into bed for a sleep top-up. :) Hoping we may have turned a corner, but I now know better than to assume that!

Colds / teething etc are a nightmare for messing up all the good work, aren't they.

Fantastic Gerodiegirl I don't think that is a one off because it sounds like what happened with us.

Update with us is that after some consideration I moved the dream feed back to 11pm since Friday and Fri-Sun night she slept through! I can't believe it. And she has been more ready for breakfast when waking.

The other things I did at the same time are; at 11pm feed I put the other arm into a swaddle (swaddle one arm out normally) and I moved out of her bedroom (a tough decision because of the SIDS rec's etc., and I'm a cautious soul, but we are close and have a v good monitor) main reason being I def was disturbing her sometimes as she was me! Finally, a wk now I've followed the gina ford nap schedule (not that I'm a fan of her general approach but...) it seems to work for dd.

Morning everyone

Well, last night was - excuse my language- bloody shit!

Went to sleep at 7pm, no problem. Didn't wake till 11pm, fed him and that was fine. Then he was awake at 1, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30! I gave in at 4:30 and got up with him, changed his nappy, gave him a bottle and watched cartoons. We fell asleep on the sofa and woke at 7. He's teething so not much I can do really. He's been doing so well too, 7-7 for weeks. I'm hoping it was a one off! Please god let it be a one off!!!!

So today will be spent in our pjs catching up on sleep, he's dozing off next to me now.... He should sleep for 2 hours... Fingers crossed. Hope everyone had a better night then me

Oh that does sound like a difficult night - hope he is letting you catch up a bit today.

We had a better night - slept through til 3.45, had a feed, back to sleep until 5.30, resettled him and he went through til 8.30, yay!

However, it's all gone a bit wrong today. First of all, he had his first nap whilst feeding, woke up as soon as he had finished and wouldn't go back to sleep. So we went out, came back and tried for his lunchtime nap. He bit me (and drew blood, OW), had a feed, slept for 20 minutes and we've spent the last 40 minutes trying to get him to go back to sleep because I won't believe that he doesn't need to. This is slightly better than yesterday, when he screamed at me in his cot for 30 minutes and then slept for an hour whilst I tramped the streets with his buggy.

I thought we were getting somewhere but now I feel as though we are back to square one (and I have a sore nipple, but that's a whole different thread!)

Hi all,

Imisssleep and beela sorry to hear of your woes! with night sleep it is often 2 steps forward, one step back :-(

We did manage a cot nap here today, but only 30 minutes. Still the going to sleep process seems to be gradually getting quicker, about 18 minutes today, 5 minutes of holding her upright and talking softly and then 12 mins of shuh-apt (or shuh and hold the arms down in our case)!

Not tried an afternoon cot nap yet, she still has these in buggy, but even these are better thanks to the snoozeshade!

Hello all

I've got a lovely 14 week DS who sleeps well at night (touching everything wood) but can only go the 40 minutes during the day (except on the odd occasion or in the pram) without needing resettling.

Obviously I realise those on this thread have the same issue!

So...a couple of questions, if someone doesn't mind answering? I'm using shush-pat to settle (he's not so bad) and resettle (usually more of an issue).

My questions:

1. How many days does it take doing shush and pat before you start to see results...them settling quicker and resettling so sleeping for longer?
2. How does shush-patting them help...because isn't it just giving them another sort of prop?
3. Can all babies go through the 40 minute mark, or are there some that simply only will ever 'nap' and not sleep in day?

Thanks all. Appreciate your time.

Morning all,

Well after a HORRIBLE nap day yesterday, DS slept all the way from 6.45pm until 6am, the longest ever .... and then I put him down for a nap in his cot at 7.30am and he was asleep within 5 minutes and is still snoring away as I type :) :) :) :)

Do you think he knows when he's pushed it a bit too far?

Zimm - pleased to hear your cot naps and settlings (is that a word?) are improving.

noheroics - sorry, I can't help as I have the same issues re the 40 minute barrier. I have noticed that in his buggy he often stirs at 40 mins but as long as we keep moving he does go back to sleep. Unless a big lorry comes past! Stationary naps past 40 minutes sometimes happen but a bit hit and miss, and he is very much either fast asleep or wide awake, so I don't often manage to resettle once he has woken up.

Morning everyone,
At what point can I have permission to count my chickens because dd has slept through 5 nights in a row! I can't tell you the massive difference with sleep from when the thread started until now. I had multiple issues and one by one they are resolved - thanks Zimm et al for the support and advice.

noheroicsplease - I'm in a bit of a hurry, but having a good read of both this thread will help with ideas, there is possibly no one right answer for all babies? Another thing that helped me is the Baby Whisperer 'solves all your problems' book which addresses all of your questions. I have managed to overcome the 40 minute thing myself, I used shush pat, it probably took 2 weeks using for all sleeps and every waking and was very very boring but I'm glad I stuck with it now, I have to get her up for her naps can you believe, which is what I must do now, if I get a chance I'll post again later re your other questions.

WOW sedgiebaby!!!

Bloody fantastic - massively jealous

Nights have been better for us, bed at 7:30pm. Feed at 11pm but, awake for the day at 5:45am!!!

Atleast he's sleeping throughish again. Naps have been tough. Jabs yesterday - screamed till he was sobbing (I cried too ) Didn't nap much after. Today he fell asleep at 8am, woke at 8:20am - just as I got in the bath

Managed to get him back to sleep at 9:45am. Still sleeping.

Morning all,

I am pleased to report that I type this as DD naps in her cot :-) Never thought I'd be typing that! Took less then ten minutes to settle her today, i think she is really getting the hang of it. still not attempted an afternoon cot nap, that is next week's goal! We had a fantastic night as we went swimming yesterday - 13 hours!! Well down at 6.50, up at 4 for a feed, back down til 6 and then 2 hours in bed with me :-) Swimming is amazing for baby sleep, make them tired but not overtired :-)

sedgiebaby that is fantastic - I would say whether you can count chickens depends on the age of your DD - for me I am worrying about the 8/9 month sleep regression as DD is 7.5 months.

noheroicsplease we have not yet broken the 40 minute in cot barrier, that is another of next week's goals. For us her just being in her cot is a miracle!

Glad to hear some success stories - Zimm it was about time you had some good news! Well done.

I'm having a bloody awful day so far although having said that, she's just gone down for a nap finally, so hoping it will improve.

Last night was very unsettled, then she was sound asleep at 8, but I had to get her up for swimming lesson (thinking hurrah, 2 hour nap coming up for us later) - dragged herself and myself out of bed, fought through rush hour traffic, arrived at the pool only to find I'd got the start date wrong and it starts next week!! :( what an idiot.

So...back in the car with her asleep now - turns out swim nappy does not quite work like normal nappy and by the time we got home she was soaked through to the car seat! Argh. Changed, fed and down for a nap...yeah right, she was wide awake and wanting to play.

So after much screaming and lots of little vomity incidents, she has just now gone down.

I feel like all I've done so far today is clean up wee and vomit! Hey ho I guess that's to be expected.

ps noheroicsplease we also have the 40 min problem and it's v hit and miss. If she's wide awake I've realised I pretty much have to get her up. If she's crying she can usually be settled as I think it means she's still tired.

The shush pat is a prop I suppose, but it does mean you don't have to keep getting them up and down and I found I could sometimes just do a very quick pat with some shushing while leaving the room. having said that, the past few nights she's been screaming so furiously I have ended up picking her up and rocking her until she falls asleep. As others have said, one step forward...

So we are now having a consistent cot nap but she is barely making 30 mins.....what to do to extend the nap without making her hate naps??? Gentle ides please?? Or is it possible she's had enough sleep...to intervene or not to intervene....

Ooh tricky one. I try to resettle for 5-10 mins if he has less than an hour, if it doesn't work I give in and try again another time - but sometimes it does!

Loving that we are now worrying about length of cot naps instead of total lack of them

Yes it is very hit and miss for us as well. Sometimes I persevere (if I'm in the right mood!) by shush pat and it sometimes works. Usually if she wakes up crying, she'll go back to sleep, but if she wakes up chattering she's usually just wide awake and I give up!

Hello one and all!

So where do I collect the magic potion to make babies nap in the day?? If only it were that bloody easy!

Bit of background: DS, nearly 5mo, first baby, sleeps from 730pm thru to 6/630am, exclusively breastfed, still in his Moses in with us.

DS had colic at 3 wks and it the nights were like hell on earth. I can't tell you how bad it was. Then with Infacol it improved eventually and long story short he started sleeping thru. However from 8 wks approx he completely stopped napping in the day. Tho naps were short and sweet.

Currently naps are rare. He'll sleep in the car or on me. Once he napped in his cot but as a rule, even if I sneak him in his cot usually he'll wake after 20/30mins. However one day last week he napped for two hours. Amazing. Tho this was in his Car seat.

Today has been rotten. He woke at 630, had nappy change and fed. He then settled to sleep on me so I thought perhaps if I put him back in his Moses he'll nod off. No chance. I've tried twice this morning to put him in his cot to nap. No chance. Screams eventually.

If he does sleep on me it's only ever for thirty mins. Tbh I love having a snuggle but it's getting ridiculous. The bathroom cabinet is a third done of being cleared/cleaned. I can't get sod all done.

He is also teething and has bad nappy rash.

As I type his bf'ing and will no doubt nod off. What to do!????

Silversky* read back through this thread - all of us have used the hints and tips on here to achieve to cot naps - DP is upstairs as I type using the our 'hold arms down and shush baby until she sleeps technique.....".

Zimm re the short nap thing which I had for weeks and weeks, I think what helped is teaching her to self settle (doing the shush pat, but knowing when to put her down and continue the shushing in the cot rather than letting her fall asleep on my shoulder which is what I did at first). Also not rushing in as soon as she awoke and being 'brave' enough to let her have a cry and settle herself back down (not a sobbing cry or distressed cry). My mum helped me here really, she said when she had me, there were no monitors so the whingey type cry she would not have heard, so I have let her have her little protest - even now she will do it sometimes 40 mins into her sleep - and almost always she goes quiet after a few mins and back to sleep. I would always dive in as soon as I heard a sound and try to settle her back down but it never worked, she had had enough of a nap to revive her (but not for long and she would be crabby and tired again)