Trying to get DS to nap for 2.5 hours...he just won't go down!

[pinkgirlythoughts]

DS is 13 weeks, and has been a terrible sleeper these past 10 days or so. Having read a couple of posts on here this morning, I have decided that today I will put him down for a nap 1.5 hours after he wakes up, rather than 2 hours, which is what I had been doing, as it seems that 2 hours might be a little too long for him, causing him to get overtired and therefore struggling to sleep.

For his first nap this morning, that worked absolutely fine. He went down within 15 minutes, and slept for an hour.

For his second nap, he again went down within about 10-15 minutes. Then he woke up again after 15 minutes. That was at 1.10. At 2.20 I gave up trying to rock him to sleep and fed him instead, then rocked him some more. I have just tried to lay him down again (apparently sleeping soundly), only for him to wake straight back up again! He's now sitting in his bouncy chair, looking decidedly tired and yawny.

Was he perhaps just not tired when I tried to lay him down? Or is he, as I suspect, now massively overtired again and will totally refuse to sleep again tonight? What time should I lay him down again for another nap? 1.5 hours from waking up doesn't work anymore, as I've no idea what time to consider him to have 'woken up' at!

Sorry for rambling, I'm just so upset and cross with myself that my fantastic new plan worked for all of ONE morning, and now we seem to be back to the exact same situation we've been in all week, again!

ok, I've given up now, and am feeding him again. It's been four hours, he should have had two naps now in the time I've been struggling to get him down for one!
Gave up after he finally appeared to be dropping off again, only to suddenly open his eyes and start screaming, He's bright red and sweating with the effort of resisting sleep, he was sobbing, I was sobbing, I just couldn't bring myself to spend any longer pacing up and down in a darkened room :(

My DS is 16 weeks and I leave him for progressively longer as the day goes on. So 1.5 hours after waking for first nap. Then about 2 hours, then about 3 hours. But it's all rough. Some days he'll look more/less tired and so I tweak accordingly.

I have driven myself bananas trying to get him to fit in to fixed nap times and legnths. But we're both SO much happier when we stick very loosely to the above and I watch for sleepy signs instead.

With growth spurts etc at this age, they're changing so much and so something might work one day, but the next they're more tired/hungry.

How's your LO's nightime sleeping?

:(

Have you got a sling? That is much more effective than staying indoors. So sling after 60-90 mins and go for a walk. He will drop off off even if there's a bit of grizzle (speaks from experience). Might be worth going now to give him 20-30 mins before bedtime.

Nighttime sleeping was quite good.... he'd go down for about 6 hours, feed, then go down for either 3.5-ish hours, or two 2 hour blocks. This last week and a half, he's got progressively worse, to the point where on Monday night, he managed 2.5 hours, and was then up every 45 minutes. Last night was a bit better, he did 3 x 2.5 hours, then 1 x 1.5 hours.

As for a sling, we have one, but he hates it, and screams blue murder every time we've tried putting him in it. He also screams in the pushchair, unless he's already asleep when he goes into it.

I'd take him out for a walk or a drive tbh

How long have you tried the sling for? Also have to be careful it's not pinching his legs and not too soon after a feed where it might squash his tummy. I'd give it ten minutes - DS would scream his head off if he was tired then fall asleep.

Only a few minutes...might try to do it for a bit longer tomorrow and see if that works.
He's just had a feed and a snooze on my chest for around half an hour- I think I may just have to accept that my great plan didn't work today, get him down reasonably soon for a nice early night, and (hopefully!) have a more successful day tomorrow.

Sometimes they just won't nap! I'm sure tomorrow will be better. My DD is 21 weeks and if we miss a nap and she wakes up again I just play with her a bit longer until she gets tired again. Yes she is overtired but its better than spending the whole day making her sleep (imo) If all else fails we go for a walk. Its a shame your LO cries in his pram but keep trying because these babies love to change.

Does he sleep on you? I would just go with that for now if he will. Get the tv remote and catch up on iplayer etc whilst he snoozes.

If you want your hands free does he sleep in a bouncy chair? My DD loved hers until about 17 weeks when I decided to try cot napping. I used to rock it gently with my foot and often she would go off within a few minutes.