Non-napping 8 week old...

[teacher123]

My DS is 8 weeks old, ebf on demand and has had good weight gain etc. He sleeps pretty well at night, waking anywhere between 2 and 4 times and usually settles down in his Moses basket quite happily.

The problem is naps in the daytime at home, he will sleep in the car seat, the pushchair, on my knee, or in the baby bjorn but he will not settle in his Moses basket, even when I follow exactly the same routine as I do at night (quiet room, white noise blah blah) and he's yawning his head off... It is so frustrating.

Have tried swaddling, didn't work he just got cross. Have been using a dummy with some success at night and on Monday managed to get his to have a nap in the daytime with the dummy but it took him an hour to settle and then he woke up after 30 mins.... Yesterday I went out at lunchtime, he slept for 2 hours in the pushchair...

Any suggestions?! Thank you!

Hi, not much help but my 11 week old is the same. Nighttime no problem, in sleeping bag, feed almost to sleep and in cot. But no chance of sleeping in cot in the day... Pram, car seat only. I remember this with dc1 and I established a routine using pram, car etc for daytime sleeps and once they were consistent I started with the cot so I had options. It took a while and then I hit a point where dc would only sleep in the cot and not the pram! So be careful what you wish for!! I don't know if it is to do with the fact that the nighttime feed is feed to sleep so there is less resistance? It took me 3.5 hours the other day to get dc2 to sleep for 1 hour in the cot during the day. I now just use the pram in the house, out for a walk etc and will tackle the cot again in another week or so. Good luck and I'll watch this thread for any ore top tips!

X

Go with it, I say. My LO won't sleep at all during the day unless fed to sleep (but that no longer works) or sometimes rocked in my arms, where she has to stay or else she wakes. Pram, cot, car seat - not a chance! Maybe one day...

As long as your LO is getting the sleep I wouldn't worry.

Do whatever it takes to survive at this stage. They're too young for sleep training. Can you co sleep in the day, so you both get some shut eye?

Some children do nap in a different place in the day. That's ok too imo. 2 Hours sounds lovely. Mine needed a sleep every 90 minutes at this stage, but never slept for long. They reverted to two naps a day a few months later which was better. He sounds pretty good to me

I say this as someone with a baby that rarely napped myself so I KNOW how distressing it is to not have all the lovely 2 hour breaks your friends are having but.. DON'T FIGHT IT! I know people who did and yes, their kids are still having the forced nap at 3 years old.. they're also still waking at 5 am every morning!
I let mine drop his naps shockingly early.. he's a brilliant sleeper and even does lie -ins! !

My mother says I never napped, never! I didn't really believe her till I had a non napper too, must be genetic, but like DS I LURVE my night sleep so its a toss up but I'll take the night sleep over forcing day naps on a kid that wants to drop them, because they will get their revenge at night if you force the day sleeps!

I read somewhere that babies associate their cots with night time sleeps and thats why it can be hard to get them to settle in the day, might be a load of old pants but mu 9 week old wont nap in her cot, only in her bouncer, play mat or car seat, I just leave her to it, shes not coming to any harm and I think it can only help reinforce the difference between day and night while her day time naps are surrounded by noise