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6 month old won't nap in the day

2 replies

charbarcrazy · 04/10/2013 22:51

Hello :)
My little one has never been a great day sleeper but recently it has become harder and harder getting her to take day naps.
She sleeps 11-12 hours at night which is fab and can usually settle herself back to sleep if she wakes.
But in the day she screams the house down when I try to put her down for a nap. Have tried a shorter sleep window, giving milk, a dummy and have left her to cry for 5 mins once but she got herself in such a state it took me 30mins so calm her down.
I then resort to bringing her buggy inside and pushing her in that or going for a drive.
If anyone has any tips that would be great, I just find it strange that she goes to bed so easily at night but the days are a struggle.
Thanks for reading xx

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
BotBotticelli · 05/10/2013 10:27

How long are you leaving in between naps? Could be that she is over tired? Sounds crazy, but the longest my DS could stay awake during the day at that age was 2 hours. In the mornings, he was a grumpy nightmare and it was often more like just 90 mins.

So our routine would be a bit like this: he wakes up at 6.30, has milk, 40 mins later has a bit of breakfast, a bit of a play, nappy change if he poos, and then back down in his cot for a nap at 8am! He would then sleep for about 40 mins.

The we would go out for the morning, baby group (milk feed whilst out), shops etc, and then he would have another little 40 min cat nap at around 1030, maybe 11am if i dragged him out. Usually had this one in the buggy. Then home for a bit of lunch, and then back to sleep at around 1pm, and then another little nap at around 4pm. I usually found he could stay awake longer in the afternoon (sometimes almost 2.5 hours) but in the mornings he was dreadful!

It always seemed really daft to me putting him down for a nap at 8am, but it was actually quite useful as I could get dressed, put face on, eat breakfast etc ready for the day when he woke up! It might fuckup your lovely long post-lunch nap, and she might end up having more short naps during the day, but IMO getting them to sleep when they're overtired is just a total mare. Might be worth a try? Also, do a mini version of your bedtime routine? Story in dark bedroom and then into sleeping bag etc?We do this every time still for daytime naps and he is 10mo.

charbarcrazy · 05/10/2013 20:12

Hello Bot and thanks for the post :)

I have tried putting her down after she has been awake for about 1 hour before and then she plays (well makes cooing noises and pats about) for about 30mins and then the screaming starts!

I will try a story before day naps so that she is more relaxed and will then hopefully drift off - ha ha ;)

xx

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