Catnappers and 'bad sleepers' support thread

[AwesomeSuperTasty]

This is inspired by this napping thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/sleep/2123505-Any-advice-for-daytime-naps A user commented that they wanted to start a catnapping thread, but seeing as no one did, I thought I might start a 'support group' for all parents of catnapping babies and generally poor sleepers. (I hope the user who prompted this thought will come forward to claim the credit!)

Anyway, it's really just a place to vent and maybe share experiences.

So, I will start. My 7 month old son still catnaps 30 mins at a time, something he allegedly should have grown out of. He also wakes every 90 minutes at night, and wakes up at 5.30 in the mornings. He self settles to sleep and has an early bed time but can't resettle at night. Basically, since he was born, I've not slept longer than 2 hours at a stretch. I'm sure I'm pretty exhausted but stopped registering it.

I do have some questions for anyone who'd like to share.

• If you have an older catnapping baby, how long does she/he go between naps?

-Has anyone managed to sucessfully implement some kind of a napping schedule, for babies who sleep only 30 mins?

And please don't tell me to get a sling...or co-sleep

Well after a 20 min nap this morning, followed by a 30 min nap before lunch, she's now 1hr50 into her afternoon nap she woke up after 40 mins but when I went into the room and offered her her dummy she closed her eyes and went back to sleep! I'm going to have to consider waking her in the next half an hour or she won't go down at bedtime

LovingSummer - yes you're right. We have nap time routine and set nap times at home. If out he sleeps in the pushchair with the snooze shade on. The snooze shade itself is a sleep cue now.

I just really wish his naps would lengthen a bit because since we dropped the 4th nap, every sleep is a bit of a stretch for him now and having to distract him every time is quite tiring (for me!)

I think 30 minutes will be our rule then. One particularly bad morning I spent two and a half hours trying. I was crazy woman by the end of it.

So, out of nowhere dd slept well over an hour in the buggy this morning. This is totally unheard of - you can usually set your watch for 30 mins exactly. However, later two naps, both in buggy, were 20 mins each so as I said earlier, 2 steps forward and almost as many back.

Frankel - how in earth did you achieve so long this afternoon? It sounds like a miracle!

Messed up day of napping due to us having a lie in and ds being in bed with us dosing on and off until 10 then other naps in the car as we were out.

Pleased for those that have had surprise longer naps today, it's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel! Just been reading some suggested routines for a 4 month old, they were just laughable for a catnapper.
Loving summer - it's reassuring when you remind us that 4 months is still young, I keep feeling like crap for the fact I haven't got things together and he's not having 2 hour self-settled naps in his cot at the same time everyday.
Ds is down for the night and just scared me to death, he was absolutely shattered and went down quite floppy. I went to plug the video monitor in and looked back at him and he had his eyes wide open but completely motionless - Cue me looking really closely to check he was breathing, sigh of relief he was and his eyes went droopy then closed.
Hope everybody gets some rest tonight

Highlove I have no idea! A complete and utter fluke, probably never to be repeated!

Morning all! Awful night as baby woke toddler at one, cue me up until 4am with toddler. Had two hours kip. Potty training not going well still as toddler won't go on potty. He can control bladder and will happily wee wherever he chooses, just not in the potty despite much positive reinforcement bribery

Baby has a cold which isn't helping but not really having catnapping issues at the mo. She normally goes down for one long nap in the day but not in the cot, still has to be bouncy chair with white noise. What will I do when she grows out of the bouncy chair!?

Last night she woke at 11.30pm and 5.30am for feeds. She has been asleep since half six in the chair. It's all random napping at the mo. Yesterday she had 3 catnaps due to being put in the cot and then I had to wake her at five as she went down for two hours in the bouncy chair.

She's a chair girl!

So far today we've had two pushchair naps - had an appointment at 9am and set off at 8:15 and by 8:45 he had nodded off but we arrived at destination at 9 and woke up.

On way home he was grizzly by 10:30 so I reclined his pushchair and popped the snooze shade on and off he dropped until 11:15

He's just gone down again at 1:15 (2 hours is his ideal wake time really). I just popped him down on the double bed with white noise on my phone and put him in his grobag and he was basically asleep before I poppered the shoulders. I've decided to sit with him in the bedroom and leave him on the bed rather than risk disturbing him by lifting him into the cot.

I'm experimenting with white noise a bit at the moment. It's never had an effect on him in the past but I think it's starting to really help him drop off. He's getting so good with his sleep cues now - he knows bedroom > dark > grobag = sleepy time

And the good thing with this routine is that it can be replicated anywhere outside the house all I need is darkness and my phone.

Everything is going great for us now...EXCEPT THE CATNAPPING!

OMG we're an hour and 10 minutes into his last nap....thanks white noise, I think I might love you!

However, I'm going to have to bloody wake him up soon otherwise he won't go to sleep on time!

Hi all, glad things are improving here and there. It's amazing , isn't it, the long naps seem to just happen without us doing anything different?

We use the Ewan white noise too mrsmugoo, my only gripe is that you have to keep resetting it every 20 min. Grr. I've got some good white noise apps on the ipad but don't want to keep wireless devices near the baby.

About routines and set times - yes, we have this too, but it still produces short naps :( however things are improving as I am noticing more 40 min naps! Feels like a major win after 20 and 30 min naps, tbh.

Anyway, good luck all!

^ that was me. I NCd for something and forgot to change back. Oh well.

Oh yes, meant to add. We had two days in a row of 90 min morning naps, then third day, back to 30!

Same routine, 2 hour wake time, cot etc.... A mystery!

So everything has gone haywire today!

Yesterday he had 4 sleeps and one longer one at the end of the day and today we had a 6:30am start to the day despite going down for bed at 8pm. Since we dropped the 4th nap he's been doing 12 hours in bed so the early start was a bit of a shock to the system this morning.

Of course this has knocked my routine out today.

He usually gets up between 7:30-7:45 and aim for first nap as close to 10 as possible so he can sleep at 10, 1 and 4

Today he woke up at 6:30 and totally run out of steam by 8:45 and was awake by 9:15

He's being so grizzly and difficult today as all he wants to do is roll over but when he's on his tummy he cries because he can't stay there.

Argh. So she went down earlier than usual and woke up late so with an extra hours sleep she was just a delight this morning. I was full of renewed energy about her naps. Took her up at 1hr45, did our shortened pre-bed routine (nsppy, grobag, shut curtains, night night toys, short story, feed, down) and she was a dream. Waited to see if I could get her over the 6 minute thing - she woke after four and I settled her off. She startled, I settled her off, repeat a few times and then one big startle and game over. Tried shhhhing, tried feeding, now she's in cot babbling to herself while I sit outside the room. She's yawning but blatantly now not going to sleep. It's so hot to be out in the pram even with the snooze shade.

I just want to cry. I used to reliably get her down in her cot for 30 mins first thing but it's getting worse.

Currently checking the time every 30 seconds as DS has actually done more than 30 minutes!! We are over the 40 minute mark which just does not happen in this house!
I think its a little bit of a treat after only 2 30 minute naps yesterday!

I know that feeling highlove

I'm currently cuddled up in my bed with DS who has just had almost an hour of proper sobbing distressed tears which is SO out of character for him. He's not a sleeper but I'm blessed that he's really never been a cryer, even since birth.

I've just given him calpol for the first time in his life, settled him down on the boob and cuddled him to sleep in the double bed. Had to hold my hand on him while he sobbed himself off to sleep bless him.

I hope he wakes up happier, poor little lamb. I suspect teething as he's pouring dribble out of his mouth and chomping on his fists for all he's worth.

She's back in cot and desperate to sleep but every time she nods off her thumb slips out and she wakes up, even with me there with my hand in her chest. Am at a loss. About to give up and try buggy. Totally broken the 30 minute rule - we're now at 50.

Oh definitely change tactics and try the pushchair highlove, 50 minutes is a long time to battle for a nap. I hope she drops off soon for you.

Yes we went out in the pushchair. 25 mins.

Do I keep persevering with the morning nap in cot in the hope that eventually till last more than 5 minutes. Or do I give up on it for a bit?

Feeling a bit fed up with it today. The mums I know talk about nap battles: "dream child wouldn't go down for morning nap, poor thing was so tired she slept two hours at lunchtime." I just want to scream - yep mine will drop a nap and still only do 23 minutes at the next nap. Not helped by relatives currently staying: "are you sure she's tired?" And "maybe she just doesn't need to sleep during the day."

Argh. Grumpy.

Yeah this one is the same, will only sleep 30-40 minutes regardless of his tiredness (bar one or two flukes we've has recently)

He's now down for his third nap of the day which means he'll definitely need a 4th nap later. I just hope this doesn't mean we are stuck back in early wake ups!

He's definitely teething - I can feel the tooth has literally just pricked through the gums, he's not a happy chappy :(

I'd go with the pram highlove if she's not too hot. Just to keep your sanity, if nothing else. If she will settle in the pram use it to your advantage until you have the naps back on track.

Oh god, yes, the 'not tired' and 'doesn't need to sleep comments. I get this from mil all the time!

I'd go with the pram highlove if she's not too hot. Just to keep your sanity, if nothing else. If she will settle in the pram use it to your advantage until you have the naps back on track.

Oh god, yes, the 'not tired' and 'doesn't need to sleep comments. I get this from mil all the time!

Weird day here. Baby not catnapping today. We seem to have had less days of catnapping lately. Nothing I am doing other than not putting her down in the cot but in the bouncy chair. Could be her cold making her more tired of course, and the heat. She is more restless at night though.

So he's had 4 sleeps today, all around the 35 minute mark. I'm going to try to get him to bed on time and hopefully we won't have a 6:30 start again tomorrow!