7 wk old doesn't nap during the day

[gertrudestein]

He sleeps from about 11 to 7, waking two or three times to feed. But he has now stopped napping during the day, which means that by 5 or 6 he's totally wired from over tiredness, and takes hours to calm down. He starts getting cranky around midday and it just builds from there, but nothing I can do makes him settle.

I've tried white noise, feeding him to sleep (he just wakes up a few minutes later), rocking and patting, going for walks. The only thing that does work occassionally is if I take him for a walk in thr sling (not the buggy), but I have a weak back and I can't wear him all or most of the day.

I try to act on his yawns, but his eyes stay wide open even when he's obviously tired. I think he needs to suck a lot but he won't take a dummy.

I spend all day trying to soothe him or feeding him, and it's driving me crazy!

Hello.

Mine was v similar - 6 to 8 weeks was the peak of his being difficult (so far, and we had a shocker last night) and he is still difficult to get to nap, but he is getting better.

He's now 12 weeks and I've started trying naps in cot - he can only manage 45 mins so is getting overtired I think. But a nap in the cot at all seemed impossible at 6 weeks. We still do a mixture of things if he's not sleeping - sling, on us, in our bed, pram because he gets very difficult if overtired.

I agree that it can drive you crazy - I found just accepting that this is what he was like helped - before that I was stressing over what he should be doing, comparing to other NCT babies!

Oh it sucks, been there, it us relentless. But your DH needs to pull his finger out. Unless he is a brain surgeon, air traffic controller or similar, or has a health issue like epilepsy which is affected by routines, he definitely can manage on less/ broken sleep. You do!

Thanks everyone and sorry for the late response. My dp has totally stepped up this weekend - he took over for long enough for me to recover a fair bit of sleep and, funnily enough, when I'm calmer ds is too. Yesterday he has two naps in his buggy! He got overtired again in the evening but it made me realise that things could be different. Perhaps he is picking up on my stress and I'm not dealing with it properly. Hopefully things will start to get a bit better now ... Dp has said he will give me a break on the weekends so at least I know I'm not always on my own

Thank you for all tre responses on here

I believe that if I see the yawn it's too late so I spent a lot of time looking for pre yawn cues, they're there and for the most part I manage to clock them and get dd off to her bed.

glad to hear it Gertrude, hope you are feeling a bit rested and yes just keep trying to get those naps in, it does get easier over time I promise!