HELP, Day time naps are a nightmare

[chipo]

My 3mo DD has now got into a routine when it comes to going to sleep at night. Bath at 6.30, feed, then in cot by 7. She normally takes 5/10 mins to settle but then she's off. This I am very happy with. The problem is during the day, she is so inconsistant with her naps. Sometimes she will go to asleep within 5/10mins (usually crying or moaning) other times she can be at this for 20 mins by which time I have had enough and end up picking her up. I always make sure I follow her sleep signals so what am I doing wrong?

Oh and her naps are an hour long at the most and thats if Im lucky.

DD only settled into better daytime sleep from 4 months, round about the time she started going through the night. Hang in there, it will probably get better. Remain consistent, put her in her room with the curtains closed, tell it's time to sleep and give her the chance to settle before going in. Introduce a blankie or something similar now, even if she can't really hold it, she'll become used to the feel and start to associate it with sleep and comfort.
Good Luck.

follow her lead. she is only 3 months old and she doesn't know what you want her to do.
it's ok to pick her up and comfort her so she sleeps

Hi there, I have experienced the same with my week girl, an angel at night time but during the day who know ! If we are out and about she sleeps for ages but at home i have to rock her in her baby bouncer chair. Sometimes she will go in a few mins sometimes 15mins but i find that it depends on if she becomes overtired, if she does it takes longer and she cries more. I find if you can catch them before they get too tired they go off quicker. Friends from my mums group also say that at about four months (dd is 16 weeks) they start to nap a lot better so along with you i will keep fingers crossed. :-) and watch this thread. (i just end up going out a lot to be honest)

Thanks will try and catch her sllep signals earlier and make sure dh does too.

I have the exact same problem. I usually go out or rock the bouncy chair. I have started to persevere with putting dd in cot for day time nap though. We have had good attempts and total failures. I won again today!!!!! Took lots of cuddling and re-settling but the 30mins of free time I got whilst dd was asleep was worth it. I am hoping that once dd gets to 16 wks (now 13) she will settle more into a daytime routine. Fingers crossed for both of us.

I am new to thisMumsnet thing, but what I have seen has given me more hope than any health visitor. My 3 month old bay sleeps angelicaly at night but is completely horrific during the day. She will NOT NAP, and gets tireder and tireder. She will start grizzling about 10.00am, and this will go on ALL day escalating into full scale crying. I have tried everything including rocking, patting stroking, and short of actaully gluing her dummy into position, I have run out of ideas. She will not really sleep in her pram, and grizzles in the car as soon as you get stuck in traffic, or at a red light (which is pretty much all the time) I have been told I should be grateful she sleeps at night, but she is truly horrific all day.
I appear to have a completely random baby who has no interest in being in a nice easy (for me) routine. Any advice anyone? Pleeeeese b4 I lose it completely. She will sometimes sleep all day to appear to catch up, but this is very rare.

No advice fizzbuzz but my 3.5 month old ds is pretty much the same - and other days will drop off and sleep for 5 hours solid... So I've decided to pretty much leave it to him in the day - he'll settle down eventually like my ds1 did... I hope!!

Fizzbuzz, what time does she wake in the morning? We got our dd up at 7am at that age and she was ready for her nap at 9 am. Try to give morning and lunch naps in the cot in the dark and get her in there before she gets overtired. Also make sure she had a good milk feed at breakfast time so that it's not hunger keeping her awake.
Once she gets to 6 months she'll go down much better, probably because she'll be doing more physical activity. Hang in there, she won't be like this for much longer. I was always told that and now can see it's true.

Keep with it. These last two days I have really stuck with it and put dd in cot as soon as she yawns in day and been tough if she starts crying. Tough-meaning I go downstairs and put a music track on loudly to shut out crying. After one record, dd has been asleep. This has worked two days on the trot now. House has not looked so clean since had dd. Hope that does not make me seem like a bad mother!!! (Have to admit if she was still crying after the record had finished, I would probably cave!)

Thanks for all help. Unfortunately have tried absolutely everything, including darkened rooms, same place etc. She will sometimes deign to sleep on the sofa next to me, but of course I am then tied to sofa, and the delights of daytime tv are beginning to pale. Is it something she will grow out of? She usuallly gets up about 8-8.30am, and the grizzling starts about 10-10.30pm. The one thing that I have picked up on, is the getting her to sleep before she becomes really tired. On the rare occasions I have managed to do this she has settled. Of course she has now started sucking her fists which makes the dummy come out...but that is a whole new story. I have tried leaving her a bit, and popping back in, but she justs gets more and more worked up. She has Infant Gaviscon for reflux, but I have only been putting it in night and evening feeds, because I don't want to give her too much. I'm beginning to wonder if this is the problem, as she only kicks off in the daytime.

My ds is 13 weeks. I too have also had hit and miss nap times but do try to make him nap at certain times of the day. I always get him up by 7am...(he's usually awake 6.45 ish) and then he's tired about an hour and a half later BUT he can't get himself off to sleep. In the mornings, I too used a dummy and would literally sit with him on the sofa next to me popping it in and out until he went off. Then I tried him back in his cot about 2 weeks ago for this nap without dummy and it worked and he moans for maybe 10 mins but then will sleep. I do have to catch him before meltdown which can be a matter of minutes when he starts to fuss and whine. I also have a bit of wind down time with him in the dark before putting him in the cot just like bedtime. Lunchtimes I usually go out so that I don't get driven mad by trying to get him to sleep and the last couple of days he has slept for over two hours having nodded off in his car seat on the way some where and then I've left him in it at friends houses somewhere quiet and dark and he's carried on sleeping (not ideal but better than not sleeping at all). By late afternoon, I will let him sleep on my knee and I just watch telly if we're not travelling back from somewhere. Without "assistance" though, he wouldn't go down and every day feels like a battle and I feel tied to getting him off. The plus side is that if I have to "walk" him to sleep I get exercise outside and if he sleeps then he is a much nicer baby when awake between times so you have to be positive about it I s'pose. So, just to say that you're not alone and it isn't easy ! By the time we've cracked the naps, they won't need half of them anymore !!

PS, sorry, although you have enough problems on your hands, have you thought about ditching the dummy ?? I was getting a dummy addicted baby and was constantly popping it in and out - it was driving me nuts. I am in current transition of taking it away and him finding his fingers. At night and morning nap, he doesn't have it - he's still swaddled though and I dread the day I have to take that away too but hope by then he'll have found his thumb !! Another couple of weeks maybe... GOod luck

Ditching the dummy was the best thing for dd's sleep. Luckily she did it of her own accord, she had a cold and an ulcer and didn't like the feel of it in her mouth.When she used to have it, I'd be in and out of the room putting it back in, it was a nightmare.

From three to now four months, my lo has fallen into a pattern of needing to sleep pretty bang on two hours after he last woke up, no matter how long the sleep before was. I'm told this is fairly common as an amount between naps for this age but I don't know how true that is. Anyway, I just started a week ago getting him to sleep in his cot. I treat it the same as nighttime (when he goes off really easily without a peep), with curtains drawn and same little rituals,(saying sleepytime to him in the mirror, music, etc). He will have a grissle and sometimes a cry, but I look at it that he's only crying because he's frustrated that he's not already asleep. The most he will cry for is three or four mins, and I stay in the room to shush and say soothing things if I think that's needed. Since sleeping in his cot though, his length of naps has gone from mostly 30 mins to much longer spells up to two hours and he's much happier for it. He also sleeps more peacefully and for longer at night. Before that I'd always have to have him sleep on my lap after lots of rocking him in my arms while he grissled if we were'nt out.