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

Yes she has stopped muttering now beela, I felt bad afterwards as whilst muttering she totally blitzed my kitchen and did all the washing up which was lovely! DD used to sleep fine in her car seat / buggy but since I've taken away her dummy we barely get half an hour out of her. Took ridiculous detour yesterday to try and get her to sleep but after 25 mins she was awake again. Wondering if I should give back dummy just for daytime sleeps, but don't want to confuse her.... She's teething really badly atm and trying desperately to crawl so there's a lot going on in her little head! Well done with the 3 cot naps, that's fantastic! :)

hi
Having a nightmare with my little one who will be 6 months on the 24th April. She has recently shown us she can sleep for 6-7 hour stretches and since then everything has gone to pot. She used to be extrememly regular with her day time naps and night time feeds. She is now screaming/ iritable all day (been going on for nearly three weeks) and I know it is becasue she is very tired. I have decided to work on it over the next three weeks. Has anyone had any success on pram walking to establish routine then converting it to cot naps? What has worked. I am quite desperate becasue it feels like I have tried everything and I haven't felt this upset since she was very little.

Hi everyone! Have been away for a while (had guests staying then at my parents') and have been catching up on the thread with interest. Well done to all with success stories! So funny to think how much older all the babes are since the thread started!

We are still very unpredictable with naps and night time sleep - morning nap pretty much established unless we are out and about. She usually has a pram nap in the afternoons as we're often out for a walk.

Night times recently have been quite hellish!! The wakings increased and I tried to settle her a few times without feeding but after trying shushing, picking up putting down etc for up to an hour (!) at 4am I cracked decided to give up and feed her, and each time she did seem hungry.

SO she is now nearly 6 months so we decided at the weekend to try and start weaning - eek and although everyone told us it wouldn't necessarily improve the sleeping we were secretly hoping! The first few nights, no improvement, but last night she had a feed at midnight and slept until 7am!!!! First time in months! May have just been a fluke, but here's hoping not...

Colds, teething etc haven't helped, as others has said.

So pleased this thread is still going. :)

Hello everyone!

Been at my mums for a week so to had chance to catch up.

Both me and DS had a terrible cold last week, he was really poorly and had 2 new teeth so I got no sleep most of last week! Was really hard because I was ill myself, OH helped out a lot but was praying for a full nights sleep!

Went to my mums on Friday and was prepared to have more restless nights being away from home and all. Get this... he slept through (NO WAKE UPS!!!) Fri, Sat and Sun night!! Even mum commented on how fresh I looked, she did follow with a comment of how tired I looked Friday (I did look really tired!!)

Got home Monday afternoon and thought to myself "I bet he wakes loads tonight the little monkey!" Well He has so far slept through every night. He was faffing last night at about 5am, he wasn't awake just making noises. When he woke at 7:30am and I changed his nappy he'd done a big poo.. Oooops!!
I've also started putting him in his cot awake and letting him settle himself for naps/bedtime. Again I doubted myself but he's proved me wrong and settled himself within 5 mins to sleep. I think that's why he's sleeping so well. I really hope it lasts!!

Geordiegirl79 good luck with the weaning!

IMissSleep that is fantastic. We also had a MAJOR breakthrough last night and praying it was not a one -off. She slept through from 7:30pm to 7:30am!!! I don't think she has ever done that before. (My boobs were like watermelons by the morning though!)

Have also been leaving her in the room awake for naps for the past week or so and she's done some whining but generally managed to settle herself after a few mins. I started increasing the time between first waking and putting her down to make sure she was properly tired after lots of rolling and commando crawling, not sure if that has helped - it is quite different to what most people have found successful, but has seemed to work for my little monster!

Hi Imisssleep really interested in your post because after joining this thread and working at things, dd started sleeping through at 5 months, we are now 6 months 2 wks and a cold has put us back just as you said, I think it is starting to go back as it was and your post has given me hope that it will. Also given all the problems with sleep we haven't gone away with baby yet, worried that the change will shake it all up and undo the improvements, but I'm going to try to go to visit my mum for a few days and hope for good nights like you had!
Well done to geordiegirl too!!

Oh can I ask, no teeth here so if dd starts waking and its teeth bothering her will I know shes about to cut teeth, what should I expect and do about it? Sorry I'm such a clueless first time mum...

sedgiebaby

Whenever I take DS away (been away a few times) I always take his blankets and pillow so it smells of his bed. He's always slept well when we've gone away, maybe its seeing lots of people and he gets tired out.

With the teething, the signs are quite obvious with my DS - he goes off his food, milk and solids.
Gets quite grumpy and tugs his ears. When he shows signs of teething I'll make sure that I give him Calpol before bed. It wont make him sleep through but it helps him sleep for about 6 hours. After that he'll be quite unsettled. I think the most important thing I've told myself is he WILL learn to self settle. He HAS to self settle!! Last night I put him in his bed at 7:30pm - he was moaning and saying "ba ba ba mum mum mum" for a while, then he started crying. This was only going on for about 5 mins, my OH said "maybe you should put him in our bed, he wants a cuddle!" I was like " Nope, he needs to put himself to sleep! Leave him, he can do it"
5 mins later he was fast asleep! Stick to your guns. My mum said at this age (nearly 8 months) he's testing me to see how much he can get away with, and I believe her!

Another thing I do when he's teething, if he wakes up and he's quite upset I get up with him, take him to the front room, put cartoons on and feed him. He usually only stays away for 20 mins or so. Its more tiring getting in and out of bed to try and settle him! Oh and I also use Anbasol. Its amazing! Numbs the gums for hours.
Don't worry I'm a clueless first time mum too! Just trusting my instincts!

Geordiegirl79 I hope the full nights continue :)

Think I'm doing something wrong :( Her sleeping is getting worse not better. No longer than 30 mins asleep during the day and only feeding will get her back down at night. I'm so worried about the knock on effect this lack of sleep will have on her. She does have a cold as well but every time it gets better it seems to get worse again iykwim. Kind of at my wits end now!
Well done to those of you who are getting long nights! (yes, slightly jealous! :) )

thanksimisssleep that is all really helpful. Good thinking with the bedding from home too, I will do that.

Dreemagurl if it helps, it took me about 4 wks of effort to get results, keep going. I saw this post on the self-settling thread by VMCD28 and it is what I did except not the thumb sucking but I did wait for her to be very sleepy but not totally asleep before putting her down, it also took me a lot longer than VMCD but I saw improvements quickly I just had to keep sticking to it, so maybe it will help, I hope its OK to copy and paste for you....

"Well, the way I did it was deciding that I would never, ever feed him to sleep again, at least not until we'd got him to master falling asleep without it.
Once you start the new rules, do NOT give in - babies need consistency, and to give in is simply sending a confusing message to the baby.
I used the shush/pat method, and combined it with pick up/put down. The trick with us was recognising when he is tired. This is sometimes only 70 mins after he woke up!
SO as soon as he was tired, I'd take him to the bedroom, close the blinds, put his grobag on, and hug him UPRIGHT on my shoulder (if I cradled him he'd think he was about to be fed, so got more annoyed when that didn't happen). Slowly pat or rub his back while sssssshing past (not into) his ear. Sometimes I sing softly. Anything to relax him.
If he's crying, he will soon calm down and relax. When you feel his body relaxing, gently lay him down. I found it easiest to put him pn his side. Keep sssssshing and patting or rubbing if he's not still relaxed. Do NOT instantly pick him up if he starts crying - try to calm him with sssshing and patting. If he just gets more annoyed and/or upset, then lift him and start again. Sssh/pat on your shoulder, and lay him down again the SECOND he calms down and relaxes.
After doing this for a couple of days, I noticed that ds2 would need PUPD a few times until he started sucking his thumb. So now, I don't put him down at all till he's sucking his thumb on my shoulder, then he usually goes to sleep himself. He now sleeps on his side, rather than on his back, and seems happier doing this.
The main thing is to remember that if the baby is crying that it is out of frustration, which will stop quickly, when he understands the new rules. It is not the same as crying it out, as you are not abandoning him. He knows you're there to comfort him.
Don't rush to him if he starts fussing - let him try to relax himself. My ds sometimes starts crying, but by the time if walked up the 12 stairs, he's stopped and is dropping off!
So this is what we did 6 weeks ago. The first few days, I had to sssh/rub him till he dropped off, but after a few naps, that wasn't needed any more."

I am absolutely exhausted.

DD (now 14w) had her jabs on Tuesday and it is all shot to hell. She hasn't slept for more than 30 mins in the day since the weekend, she is waking every hour at night and taking up to 2 hours to go back to sleep. I had 3 hours sleep on wednesday and eventually burst into tears. DH grabbed me and held me as DD cooed (and I sobbed) and then... miracle... suddenly dropped asleep and slept for 3 hours.

Last night was exactly the same but then only way she slept was when I put her in bed with me and we co slept. I DONT want to go down the co sleeping route (and with an overweight, dangerously heavy sleeping DH and a too small bed it isn't a safe option anyway).

So naps are worse, night time sleep is worse. It doesn't seem to be a growth spurt - she's just waking up.

Off on holiday next week. dreading it. Just going to be exhaustion in a different country.

Hey Beijingaling, fancy seeing you here! I haven't read through all the pages of this thread yet but found it because we had been having a lot of trouble getting dd to nap/sleep since she was 10 weeks old. However - it has suddenly worked for 2 days in a row. No doubt it will regress as soon as I've said this, but fingers crossed. We followed (a form of) the Dr Weissbluth method: I set my alarm and woke dd up at 7.30, fed her and did active things until she yawned then put her in her tent cot and lay down on the carpet where she could see me. It takes her 10-20 mins to drop off and she only stays asleep for 40-50 mins so far. Basically, she's not supposed to be awake more than 2 hrs at a time. She gets three naps in during the day, and I try to take her outside for a long walk to tire her out with fresh air, and lots of active games. We also followed his advice to put her down earlier at night, and the result was that she woke less during the night. I try to get her to sleep by 7pm (means bathing at 6pm at the moment). Sorry if you've tried this method already and it didn't work. I just hope it continues to work here. Do hope you can enjoy your holiday.

beijing how did your holiday go? Hoping you managed to get some sleep.

Hello ladies,

It's all gone wrong again over here [busad]

No changes to the nap routine, but he has decided that naps are not the thing, and has gone back to a 30 minute screaming session in his cot before I give in and take him for a long walk. And the night time sleep seems to have gone to pot too.

Too hot? developmental leap? excited about easter? (probably not that last one tbh).

Am knackered. At least DP is off for a few days and can assist. Plus it is nice weather for a walk however it is a bit depressing after I thought we'd cracked it.

Hi all ladies,
Sorry to be joining this thread so late but you are all such experts and I really am at the end of my tether. Beginning to feel like a crap mummy as my DD will not go down for a daytime nap without hollering the house down. I'm not a fan of CC so she screams in my arms for about 20-30 minutes until she basically screams out. Its torture and sometimes I do end up bf her but try not too.

DD is ebf has always been a really good sleeper in cot- did 5 hours from 4 weeks at night. Now (mostly does 7pm-6 am with one wake for a feed. I never got her in a routine as my mum died when she was 10 weeks old so I was travelling alot it suited me that she was flexible and at that age she just fell asleep wherever. After this went to pot and she just started refusing to sleep but being cranky pants, my friend suggested putting her down at 9-9.30 am after a 7 am get up and down again at 12.30 ish. We do all the Elizabeth Pantley stuff in the bag, gentle book, darkened room and all she does is scream and scream. I hold her she screams, I put her down she screams. It's just hell. When she does go down she does 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon but today she didn't go down at lunch and was just horrible all afternoon. She is marginally better with my DH but still screams.

Pram and Sling seems to have lost any affect. Can you advise....?? I am set to spend the remainder of my maternity leave sitting in a dark room with a screaming baby.

Oh and for those that got this far- DD never ever screams apart from for day time naps. She is a really happy baby.

Can I join? My DS is 2 months, which I know is young and I'm not suggesting sleep training or anything but I think it's time to start building in some good sleep associations. Since his 6 week growth spurt his sleep has gone awry. He used to take a 2 hour morning nap in his cot (doze off on me, hold for 15 mins, transfer to cot, voila!) and another couple of naps in the afternoon, one on me, one in cot. He would sleep in the pram or the car too.

Now he fights sleep at every opportunity! He stopped feeding to sleep and doesn't even like cuddling to sleep with me or DH. Rocking, patting, singing, swaying, pushing in pram, walking in pram, sling...no luck. Today he even resisted sleep on 2 car journeys. And as a result is still awake now. Even if I get him to sleep, he wakes after a short while. Last week I noticed he could only really handle 1 hour awake time, so after 45 mins I swaddled him, BFd him and rocked him and he went to sleep no problems. 1.5 hour morning nap, 2 hour lunchtime nap, 1.5 hour afternoon nap and 30 minute catnap before bath, BF and bed. In bed at 7.30, woke at 10, 2 and 6 for feeds. Bliss! But the next day that didn't work and he just got more and more worked up. Gah!

So I know he's too young to self soothe and I don't expect him to, but I do need tips on how to get him to sleep because none of us can carry on like this. He's recently started hand sucking for comfort (won't take a dummy and won't comfort on the breast - he gets really pissy when milk comes out) but because he has limited hand control he's always losing his hand.

I'm really at a loss as to what to do. I'm tired and stressed and crying way more than I should be. Please help!

Forgot to say, he's reached that stage where everything is super interesting, so Olmstead of sleeping he finds something to stare at. The other day it was my cereal bowl, yesterday it was the print on his feeding cushion. This afternoon he laughed at his pram parasol.

He's also a flailer, but gets angry when swaddled. Flailing limbs=staying awake. I am currently obsessed with his sleep! He didn't go to bed til 11 tonight, having only had 3 hours of naps. Sigh.

chopmonster sympathy for the flailing. We swaddled until about a week or so ago (15 weeks) and she hated it so much. Still flailing and Moro reflex interrupting sleep/settling down in the first place but she was just too upset by it to continue.

I have a nap resister so not best qualified to advise on that front. I am glad we established a nap location very early on, though, and some nap associations. Even when she resists the nap at least she associates it with sleep when she's put in her growbag and put in her cot tent with her nap blankie and me lying down next to her. Every now and then she surprises us - after giving up on getting her to nap, I walk out to the loo/moment of deep breathing and come back to find she's fallen asleep. not if she's crying though. She only stops crying if walked around and around upright, but that might be because she has silent reflux.

Don't suppose that's too much help, but wanted to sympathise with the flailing.