3mnth old, daytime naps?

[SpicedGingerTea]

Am trying to instigate a daytime nap routine for my DS who turned 12 weeks today.

Ideally I'd like to put him down after his lunchtime feed for an hour or two. I've been trying this for a week (blackout curtains closed, quiet etc) and it isn't working very well. He seems to fight it. I try rocking him, holding him (don't mind if he falls asleep on me the first few times, as he's good in his cot at night), but he does not appear to want to get into a routine just yet.

Is it too soon? I've got a friend who said she was putting her 8 week old down for 2-3 hours every afternoon!

If he doesn't have decent sleep in the day he gets very grumpy in the evening, and then collapses on me in the evening.

Any tips/stories on daytime napping greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Have you read the contented baby? I did not plan on being very routine oriented, but I liked how she set things out and I picked up on some of her guidelines.

Before someone flames me, I did not use her routines at all with any of my DC, but I feel that I benefitted from reding the book.

DS never slept, DD1 slept 7-7 from 3 months and DD2 slept through from about 6 months. Incidentally at nearly 9 DS still sleeps less than his friends.

At this age I would imagine your baby needs more like 3 naps a day rather than just one long one. ..

Don't think it's too soon. Know its a cliche but all babies are different so you just need to find what works for him.
Routine I used with Ds 1, 9am 45 mins, 12pm 2hrs, bed 7 till 7 ( may still have had a catnap at 4 then, can't remember)
He objected so used baby whisperer shush pat till he was 4 months was ok but I did it wrong so he got reliant on me shhhing him. At 4 month used pupd and that worked.
Ds 2 1hr 30 mins nap at 9am and 1 pm he did that by himself and was very chilled if I needed to move it. Also did 7 till 7 at night. ( only put the night times in as that may effect when and how long he naps if they're different)

Good luck, hope you find on that works for your ds x

I suspect you may be trying to make him nap at a time when his body clock doesn't want to. Some babies are better/more awake on a morning or afternoon. Much like adults!

Babies this age usually have 3 naps, and many can only sleep 45 minutes at a time. Usually about 2 hours of awake time between naps too, maybe getting longer towards the end of the day.

Agree with maja00....most babies this young will take 3-4 (or sometimes even 5!) short naps per day at this age. As a general rule, I would try to put your LO down for a nap after he has been awake for 90 mins-2 hours at this stage. See how long he sleeps for. If he only has 30-40 mins thats fine, but he will probably be tired again in 90 mins.2 hours time. So put him down again.

Don;t get too hung up on the '2 hour nap after lunch' thing...from talking to all the mums I know, this is pretty rare in younger babies (although there;s always the exception, like your lucky friend!!). In general i think babies tend to stretch their naps as they get older, but until then you just need to follow their lead, and let them nap little and often if that suits them.

My DS is almost 7 months old and he is just now starting to sometimes have hour-long naps instead of 30 mins. So we are down 3 naps per day, instead of 4or 5 short ones.