10 and a half week sleep patterns

[hildysmom]

my daughter has been not great, but ok at going down for an afternoon nap in her cot till now. but the last 2 days she has been screaming blue murder whenever i try to do so. the only way she will sleep in the afternoon now is if i put her in my bed and sleep next to her. then she happily sleeps for 2+ hrs even if i get up and leave her there but goes beserk if i lift and put her in the cot again.
any ideas what i can do to get over this? i don't want it spreading to her night time sleep or morning nap.
is there some stage of child develepment at around 3 months that might be going on? really need help as i kind of rely on my 2 hours alone in the day to rest and recuperate.
thanks,
sara

hey sara,
my ds is exactly the same (12 wks today).He used to sleep really well in the afternoon. Now if i put him in his cot at 12 he may sleep for 20 min then wake and won't settle. Sometimes i give up and just bring him downstairs where he may drift off again in boncey chair or I bring him into my bed and we both sleep! My friend suggests that when he wakes after 20/30 min I should be strong and leave him to settle himself but I can't to that. perseverance is the key i'm told.

Have you tried giving her a little top up feed before putting her down? Maybe she's going through a growth spurt and is waking up hungry.

Have to agree that perseverence is key, have you tried leaving her for say 5 mins, then going in if she's still crying and without lifting her out of the cot, stroking her head or tummy to soothe her?

Or maybe she needs to cut the earlier sleep a little bit in order to be tired enough to sleep for a couple of hours early afternoon? I found with DS that if he slept for more than an hour in the morning at 3 months, he wouldn't want to sleep for more than 45 mins later, and then he'd be exhausted later on in the afternoon.

i do give him a bit of a top up feed before putting him down (bf) and don't let him sleep for longer then 45 min in the morning. another issue is that two days in the wk my antenatal groups meet for lunch. should i stay at home in order to crack the afternoon nap? but then i'd hate to miss out on lunch! none of the other mums seem concerned and ds does often sleep v. well in the corner of pizza express! don't want to mess up his routine though and be inconsistant.

sounds like you are being very consistent to me. I wouldn't miss the lunches if I were you - it does no harm for him to sleep in the buggy sometimes (I wish DS had done that better...!).

i think part of the problem is that i don't have a regular schedule for the afternoon nap - i'm often out or late or a grandma pops over wanting a play..so while she is used to going down in the morning and evening, she never quite knows whats going to happen in the afternoon. the past 2 days, i've lain down with her for 30mins,bf-ing a bit, then put her in the cot and she's slept for about 90mins then. (although yesterday she did cry a bit and my resolve almost went). i'm going to try that for the next few days as i have time right now for a rest myself at that time in the day. if it continues to work, i'll try cutting down the amount of time i lie with her...
for goodness sake don't give up pizza express though. my dd nver ever sleeps in her pram -when its not moving anyway, so i'm v. jealous

hildysmum, maybe if you're out/late/grandma's been round, she is getting a bit over tired before the nap - then it'll take her longer to drop off, and she'll cry more going to sleep.