Help, 13 week old will not nap!

[Feelinghungry]

Hi there,

My DS is such a poor napper in the day. He used to sleep up to 5 hours each day and was very easy to put down for naps, would self settle etc. However he is increasingly resisting nap time. For the past week he has survived on total day time naps lasting between 30mins to 1 hour, no more. I have tried everything to help him sleep during the day. Putting him down after 90 mins of awake time, dark room, breast feed, white noise, but the minute I put him in his cot he starts crying. Taking him out in the pram or using a sling does not always work either.

Night times are much better, goes down at 7pm then wakes between 6 and 7am with around 2 wakes for feeds. So his lack of daytime sleep is not effecting nightime iykwim.

However I really feel he is not getting enough sleep!!

Any suggestions to aid his daytime sleeping? Or reassuring words that this is normal/I am not the only one??

Thanks

I'm interested in replies because I'm obsessed with sleep but I'm afraid I can't offer much help. my daughter is the complete opposite at 14 weeks. Great naps, always about 5 hours (though not all her doing, I force some of these using pram/sling/booby co-lying depending on how the first couple of naps go naturally) then horrible nighttime sleep!
My advice on naps which may or may not work is try to have a wind down when you think tiredness is approaching, for me at about 80 mins I stop the bright flashing colour play and sit her on my lap for some gentle rocking or take her for a walk round the house to calm her before feeding to sleep or taking out for a walk.
And with the sling- how long do you give it? DD sometimes takes 15 or 20 minutes but always goes eventually!
Good luck, and I look forward to other replies so I can steal advice.

Thanks for your reply Kiki. I do think a good wind down helps but doesnt always work! I think I am missing his sleepy window. I too am obsessed with sleep, to the point it is really stressing me out. I need to put down the baby books I think, as my son is not conforming to them which is adding to the stress! If your daughter is a great napper but not so good at night, it could be that she is getting too much sleep in the day? Worth a try.

Our son has always fought sleep during the day and doesn't usually have longer naps than 45mins! It's always been this way. I stressed so much about not being able to put him in his cot for sleepy times without him crying loads. Didn't matter if I stayed with him or not, he just cried and cried until I picked him up and cuddled him. (All of a minute)

I gave in and did something at around 16 weeks I never thought I would. I got a dummy. It worked a charm though! I only give it to him for naps and bedtime and as soon as he has gone to sleep I take it out.

It worked for us. Although we are not starting the weaning process as I don't want him to have it past 6 months so it can be a double edged sword I guess x

Good luck with it! Hope you get it sorted.

Anna x

Only way ds did was if I lay down with him. I would then nap/read/ mn etc. Being next to him to rapidly resettle sorted longer naps. Best advice I had there was to treat the waking like a night time waking and re settle