How long do you persevere with getting a baby to nap before 'giving up'?

[PickledLily]

My 4mo (yep, I know, sleep regression ) is shattered but refusing to nap. I've decided if she doesn't settle (and show she's on her way to sleeping) within 30mins of being tired I'm giving up. There's only so much pacing up and down in a dark room that I can do.

How long do you give your babies before giving up on the nap?

I don't give up...if LO won't go down in his pram/cot then I'll get into bed with him, or lie on the couch and watch the TV while he sleeps in my arms/on my chest.

It does suck that I sometimes 'lose' two hours in the middle of the day, but I have a much happier baby in the afternoon, and the things I couldn't do while he was asleep, I can do while he's awake because he'll happily lie under his play gym. LO is 13 weeks old today.

Make a flask of tea. Get a book and a packet of biscuits. Put baby in car. Drive round til you find somewhere nice to park (baby will have fallen asleep in the first 3 minutes)

Read. Drink tea. Eat biscuits. Heaven.

Sometimes despite eye rubbing, dd seems determined to stay awake - trying to climb up me, reach for things to play with, I give up & try again later. Say half hour later. Also I refuse to pace around - far too tiring, I sit on a chair/sofa & never pace anymore (i used to, dd got used to me sitting tho).

Liking the idea of tea and biscuits!

Very envious that you all have babies that are content not moving. Yesterday I tried (on and off) for 4 hours to get DD to sleep without any success. Hence my new 30 min resolution.

With dd1 I used to spend hours getting her to nap. With dd2 I can't, as I have Dd1, & lo it never takes more than 20 mins to get her down. Such a relief, it was one of the things I hated first time round.

I'm not great at enforcing naptime when DS is fighting it, but if he's cranky and tired in the daytime he goes in the pram for an hour walk. Usually he's out before I reach the end of the road. Some miraculous days he even stays asleep for long enough for me to have a cuppa when I get home too!

I'm doing it now, but no way am I giving up. I'm just as stubborn as she is

She is only 3 weeks old, tired out but not giving in. I've never known a baby to fight sleep like my Dd does

Seeker - love that. Did it for 2 years with my eldest, often ended up napping in the car with him....must have looked a right sight!

I have a sleep refuser too - I think he is afraid to go to sleep in case he is going to miss out on something. He is 3 1/2 months but this nonsense has been going on for weeks and has been particularly bad since about 9 weeks. Ironically now the worst of the colic has passed, the tiredness is replacing it - he only wants to take catnaps most of the time. I find the key is to get him winding down early - before he seems knackered. Then sometimes he will go to sleep with just a bit of rocking and singing and shusshing and without the screaming session. If i wait till he starts fussing, or I don't catch it early enough, he will fight sleep like crazy.

30mins fot me too. I refuse to spend longer getting her to sleep that she will actually sleep. i dont rock, shh pat, hold, pace, etc. she gets a dummy and laid down with her bunny.

Nine times out of ten it works every time but failed today so I got her up and she came and laid on the bed with me while I MNed with a brew. I tried amd failed to put her down at 10, and she has a bottle at 1 so went down after that easy as pie amd slept for an hour.

Id only try for longer than 30mins at bedtime, other than that I dont think its worth it for me.