Am I trying to hard to make my baby nap ?

[shellyosborne]

This might sound like a really silly question but I feel like I am forcing my baby boy to sleep when it is nap time and I was wondering if I am doing anything wrong.

My baby boy is 6 week old and wakes up anytime between 7am and 9am in the morning ready to start the day but then within about an hour to 2 hours he starts yawning, so I assume he should go for a nap as he is looking sleepy and yawning.

I swaddle him and put him in his Moses basket, but he doesn't fall asleep for ages he grunts and squirms and spits his dummy out so I go back and forth to settle him back down and it can take an hour or two before he goes to sleep.

I feel like I am just making him miserable so he gives up and goes to sleep when maybe I should keep him up, but if I keep him up I worry he will get over tired, this has happened a few times, then he goes berserk.

When he does finally go to sleep he normally has a good lenth nap up to 4 hours then I do the same in the evening when he starts getting tired, this one normally ends up over lapping bed time then.

He sleeps well through the night, goes down around 9pm or earlier if his last nap overlapped then gets up at around 2am and then again at 5am then sleeps till between 7am and 9am. So I don't think making him sleep in the day is giving him to much sleep but I am just worried I am making him miserable.

I know how stupid this sounds as I am typing it but I would like to know what other mums out there think.

Thanks in advance

P.S as if it wasn't obvious this is my first baby x

Is he awake when you put him down? If you rock him to sleep before, does he do the same thing?

It might be that he just dislikes napping in the Moses basket, though. Mine has never been any good with naps unless she can sleep on someone's chest/lap or in a sling (she's fine in her cot at night). I spent a few frustrating weeks trying to put her down for naps but just ended up with an angry overtired baby, so now I just stick her in the sling or let her fall asleep on my lap after feeding. Not a perfect solution but at least she's getting more sleep!

I might be wrong, definitely no expert, but 6 weeks seems very little to be expecting him to drop off by himself? My 19wo still needs help getting to sleep.
Could you try rocking him to sleep then putting him down? Might save a lot of time.

First of all and

This parenting lark is nuts isn't it?

At 6 weeks my DD slept for about 30-45 mins every 1.5-2 hours. I had to either rock her to sleep in my arms, or in the buggy, putting her down just as the eyes were rolling.

Over time the length of time between naps got longer and the naps got longer until we were at the 1.5 hours am and pm and now at 16 months she has about 2 hours in the afternoon only.

I found a really helpful article about sleep etc, will try and find it and link if I can.

www.troublesometots.com/are-you-keeping-baby-awake-too-long/

Hope this works as I'm on the app x

www.troublesometots.com/are-you-keeping-baby-awake-too-long/

He is awake when I put him down, but he doesn't fall asleep on me either, I have tried rocking him or putting him on my shoulder and he never falls asleep, that's why I put him down awake.

He is always yawning when I put him down so I know he is tired, I don't mind carrying on going back to comfort him until he falls asleep but I was worried I was forcing him to sleep more than anything.

I have tried getting him to sleep in his bouncer and in the car seat, he will sleep in the car seat but I don't like leaving him in there especially if he naps for a while, he won't sleep in the bouncer.

If your baby was yawning would you put him down for a nap every time ?

Thanks Fruityflapjack I will give the article a look see x

My 8 week old also only really likes napping on me or sling. Until a week or two ago it was really hard to get him to nap at all and like yours ended up being so overtired. Now I find he's more alert and interested in what's going on around him that he gets tired out more easily and falls asleep more easily.

Two hours is a long awake time at that age. DS could manage about an hour, maybe try putting him down earlier?

At six weeks my DD napped on me, but I do remember that she struggled to stay awake for more that an hour or so, maybe try putting him down sooner? Good luck