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Nap tips, 3 month old

5 replies

drspouse · 28/08/2014 21:57

DS was a champion napper so I never needed any strategies to get him to nap! So I'm a bit at a loss with DD 3 months old, she has a cold at the moment so has been awful all day, screaming when put down apart from once, clearly bunged up.

But in general she doesn't like to be laid down, sometimes she will lie and play with the toys across her Moses basket or wriggle on a mat on the floor but she doesn't nap readily horizontally. She will nod off in our arms or semi-horizontal on the sofa with her head in someone's lap.

She does nap in the sling but is often just alert but quiet (so it's good if she's crying, except that it's hard to do some things with DS (e.g. lift into high chair) when she's in a sling. When she was younger she would sleep for an hour or even two solid in the sling, but this seems to have gone.

She tends to gaze around when in the buggy (or gaze at the pattern on the inside!, not nap, and DS is heavy and we only have a single buggy anyway. She has never liked a vibrating chair (she just slumps) and though she likes the bouncy chair in front of Washing Machine TV she will maybe have a 20 min nap in it, or will just watch us cook etc.

I basically have no skills in persuading a baby to nap! There seems to be no pattern either to when she naps - except she usually goes back to sleep after her early morning bottle.

She sleeps really well at night thankfully - bottle about 7 or 8, nap on sofa, bottle at 9 and then into a swaddler and sleeps till 5 or 6. So we are not at all sleep deprived, I'm just struggling to get much done, especially with DS at home too.

What works for you? Do I have any hope of a pattern of naps at this age?

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Suzietwo · 28/08/2014 22:03

My 3 month old is just entering day 3 of boot camp! I've had enough of no routine and him screaming to be held and comforted all the time so he's getting routine which should create naps after breakfast and 2pm feed. That worked for my other 2 I think I've just been soft on this one!

drspouse · 28/08/2014 22:12

Did I mention we are also potty training? And DS goes to nursery 2 1/2 days a week (though in theory that should help!).

With DS I never used to bother about waiting till he was awake to go out, as he'd nap later anyway. But maybe a routine is the answer and I should start having regular "at home napping" times.

It would be nice to have a rough idea when bottles might be too...

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McFox · 29/08/2014 00:12

My almost 3 month old DS doesn't much like lying down flat either, so we now have a v shaped pillow inside his Moses basket at an angle. Because the 2 arms of it are squashed together iyswim, it holds him nice and snug and he just drifts off.

I still put him down for a nap every 2 hours or so, he eats, plays then sleeps. Sometimes he doesn't make if to the 2 hours, sometimes he isn't ready to sleep, but most of the time he is.

Babycentre has some sample nap schedules I think, might be worth a look.

drspouse · 29/08/2014 07:53

Hmmm, not keen on pillows in cots, sorry!
So if we were to go with a routine, we start with say a 6 am bottle.
Breakfast, getting toddler and me dressed, getting him to nursery, and getting home makes it 9.30 or so - she's usually good till then for food, and she goes back to sleep till about 7.30 and doesn't nap in the car.
Then I'm guessing try and get her to nap again? Preferably in the cot?
Then hopefully her next feed will be just after DS goes down for his nap, about 12.30 on days he's home (or squeeze it in before lunchtime nursery pickup at 1 on his half day).
I guess that's the beginning of a plan!
(Except today we have a paeds appointment for DS but she might nap in the sling as he'll go in the buggy).

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drspouse · 31/08/2014 03:28

OK so we've had a couple of longer naps (or re-napping) in the sling, and she went down for a nap in her crib (yay! With a little patting and application of dummy) but she woke after less than 45 mins and wouldn't go back to sleep.
We have family visiting though and they are of course simulating her, and with DH being home he is happy to hold her on the sofa.
I'm happy for her to nap in the evening on the sofa (and she may turn that into an earlier bedtime anyway) so it's the daytime naps that I need to sort this week.
I've been pushing for more timed feeds too which has been working better though at some feeds it does need a squash in the sling to get her to calm for half an hour.
Does anyone swaddle for daytime naps? She sleeps very well in the swaddler at night.

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