8wo terrible daytime naps (getting worse) but sleeps well at night... Please advise, I can't spend another week shush-patting my day away

[loomer]

DD was brilliant from birth with sleeping, put herself into a cycle of four hour naps and only waking 2/3 times through the night. However from around 5 weeks she's got more restless and upset during the day. I wondered if she was getting overtired between naps, and have been trying to use the EASY routine with much shorter awake times, and using shush-pat to settle her. But her naps are not improving and today I would say they are even worse, as she seems unable to fall into a deep sleep for more than 30 minutes.

I'm starting to wonder if the problem lies elsewhere, but surely any other issues would also stop her from sleeping well at night?

My main worry is that these rubbish daytime naps are going to badly affect her night time sleeping. Plus I can't sit by her cot all day doing shush-pat!

I wouldn't be too worried at 8 weeks. Still only really little but that is just me maybe.

How is the feeding side of things going? Is she waking through hunger perhaps?

My DS is now 4.5m and has not slept during the day for more than about an hour for at least 2.5 months. Actually I can't remember when he stopped napping in the daytime. Sometimes he doesn't sleep in the day at all.

But he sleeps beautifully at night. How's yours at nighttime?

Have you tried napping using different methods? Shush pat is harder as they get older so try just using it for morning naps. Then other naps, use a sling or pushchair. You don't want to be tied to a cot all day!

She does seem to feed well (on breast) and efficiently as only feeds for about 10-15 mins, but I wondered about hunger, and found that if I offered her a top-up after burping or changing nappy she just wasn't interested, so I don't think that's the issue.

TBH I wouldn't be worried but for the fact that after she's woken and fed and had a happy little chat with me she does start to get grizzly, and then soon she's really upset and I cannot fathom a way to console her - that's why I put it down to overtiredness. If she was awake and happy I wouldn't mind.

I do take her out in pram, and she has changed from happily falling asleep in it for several hours to only fitfully napping on and off for half an hour before waking fully and screaming. In her car seat she now seems to be unable to sleep for ten minutes before waking and crying, even when I know that she is ready for a nap and has a full belly...

My advice is get a wrap around sling for day time naps. Then you can sit and mumsnet while she sleeps in it.

I've decided to ease off on myself a bit after a fairly stressful week of trying to get her 'on track' with her naps. I had to be more flexible this morning because of doing the school run, and so she only had a short nap (half an hour) before we left the house, I was hoping that she'd sleep in the sling whilst I walked DD to school and back, but she didn't drop off for a good fifteen minutes, and was already awake again before I got back home. Total nap time? About half an hour.

Am going to call the HV and see if she's got any good suggestions. As I say, I just wish that LO was happy whilst she is awake, but this doesn't seem to be the case. And if it was something like colic she'd be terrible at night wouldn't she? Whereas once she's tanked up and gone down for the evening (7-8ish) she's usually out for the count for at least four or five hours.

It just doesn't make any sense to me?

Easing off on yourself is a good idea. Once you stop worrying about what they should be doing and just go along with what they are doing, it'll probably be different.

You said she sleeps well at night? Thank your lucky stars for that one, I know I do. As for being happier in the day, is she picking up on your stress? Try different positions/places and see what she's happiest doing.

Loomer as MrsWembley says you are getting sleep at night. My DD is nearly 6 months and day sleep is still all over the place. My DS got more regular around 7/8 months so am hoping the same happens again. Fingers and toes crossed.

Yes I am really grateful that the nights are so good, I've been very, very lucky on that front. But that's partly also why I want to get her napping properly (and happily) during the day - if the nights start to suffer as a result of the crap daytime nappage I think I will become pretty resentful (in a sleep-deprived state).

Weirdly after we got back from school run I got her down for a nap in moses basket, and after waking on the half an hour 'ping' time I managed to shush-pat her back to sleep after about twenty minutes. She then slept for three hours! I am just feeding her now - pretty ravenous

If she's sleeping well at night I really wouldn't worry about it. My DD was like that until she was about 9m old then she started having proper naps.

One thing might be that you need to get her down sooner. If she's grizzly she may be overtired and it's too late for her to settle properly. Some babies you have to time it just right or it all goes to pot. The other might be that she's bored. She's old enough now to bat away at a playgym for a bit if you've got one. DS2 has an arch of toys that attaches to his bouncy chair. Quite often he'll sit and bat away at that for a little while before going to sleep. Or now, he's 4 months, he'll play with one of his toys for a bit.

Thing with babies is that they change all the time. The one thing you can be sure of is that as soon as you think you've got it sussed they'll just change again.