napping...not happening!!!! help please

[allypally1983]

my daughter has just turned 16 weeks and has always been a rubbish napper. she was always hard to get to sleep as a young baby and we ended up rocking her and white noise which worked well. she sleeps well at night, generally going to bed at 6.30/7pm and then has a stir about 45 mins later and then sleeps til she wakes up for a night feed which varies anywhere from 4-8 hours after she went to bed, then back to sleep til 6.30/7am she just cant stay asleep in the day. i put her down for a nap when shes tired, rubbing eyes etc but within 45 mins shes awake again and cant settle back to sleep. i try to rock her,comfort her but to no avail so she wakes up and is cranky within an hour and needs another nap. she feeds approx every 5 hours in the day taking 9 oz. she was big at birth and now weighs 17 lb 4 oz. what can i do to help? i want to start a schedule but depending on when she wakes in the night determines when she feeds in the day. any help is much appreciated!!

FIVE hourly feeds? Feed her more often, but less. Five hours without food or drink when awake is a very very long time at that age. Also the forty five minute nap thing is really common at that age...

She feeds every 5 hours?! No wonder she's grumpy

Feed every 3-4 hours. Nap after 90 mins in the morning. Then after being awake for 2 hours nap again until bedtime.

I agree - feed more often. You probably never go five hours without a drink in the day yourself so why would a baby be happy with that? 9 oz bottles is also a very large amount of milk in one go.
Regardless of the feeding, the short catnaps are apparently a common but annoying developmental stage between 3 and 6 months. My DS is five months and his napping is similarly crap - generally wakes after half an hour and is then grumpy again. I try to resettle straight away but if it doesn't work quickly then I just have to give in and get him up and try again in an hour or so. It is frustrating but if it is a developmental stage there is nothing you can do about it so better to just go with it. I can get him to have a longer nap sometimes by going for a drive or putting him in the sling and going for a nice walk.

thanks guys, regarding the 5 hour between feeds, if i try to feed before,and shes not ready she will outright refuse and then start turning away and screaming so i leave it a bit and try again and she takes it when shes ready which is generally 5 hour gaps?!! i will try and feed more often and see what happens.

My 19 week old DD is a hungry baby too weighing in at 16lb. She has 6-7oz feeds every 3 hours which works out at 5 times a day. This works well for us. If you give her a 6 or 7oz feed then 3-4 hours later she'll probably be ready for more

Also napping isn't great for us either she'll only have 30-45mins at a time. However we also follow the nap routine mentioned above: nap 90 mins after waking and then again 2 hours after each waking time until bed time try it!