controlled crying working for bedtime but not naps

[solenneguest]

Has anyone found controlled crying to work for bedtime and night wakings but not naps? I'm having this problem and don't know how to get my lo to nap without taking him out in the pram...

What form does your controlled crying? What happens at bedtime at the moment, how much crying?

Also, how old is your little one?

Maybe he doesn't need a nap?

We are only at the start of controlled crying - I am doing the gradual checks of 5 minutes then 10 then 15. Last night he took 4 checks ie 30 minutes at 7pm and woke at 2.45. I might leave naps for later once nights are sorted and keep taking him out for his naps until then!

I started controlled crying around the 7-8 month mark and, like you, found evenings were much quicker to slot into place.
DS was never a great napper but two things I found worked:

1. similar but condensed bed-time routine. For us, this meant saying good-night to his dinosaurs and reading a book, as this is what we do every night. It took about a week for him to 'get' that these cues meant bedtime and it helped get him into sleep mode.
2. Ignoring the clock and watching for tired signs. His awake time changed every week and I was often guilty of trying to get him to nap when I thought he was tired, rather than when he actually was tired. If he was genuinely knackered when I tried to put him down, he was less likely to fight it. Having said that, we never cracked naps to the extent that if he woke up he'd put himself back to sleep. Once he was up, he was up. Now, at 13 months, nap time is when/wherever he drops.

What a good idea condensing the sleep routine! I might give him a bit longer to get used to the new bedtime routine and then do that. Thank you :-)

I never successfully managed to get dd to nap in her cot. Like your ds she happily would sleep in her buggy so I eventually cracked and just built a walk round the block after lunch into our routine. The benefit is that I could be fairly flexible about location so we could do lunch out happily and then she slept on the way home.

Once I accepted her only napping in the buggy life got a lot happier. And I also lost a bit of weight!

PS allyouneedispug, did you find you had to lock yourself at home for a few days to establish the new rule around naps? Don't want to forever be confined to the house in the long run if I can help it...

To be honest, I was so exhausted from no sleep that we didn't really get up to much during the day until he was gone 5-6 months, so I did spend that week pretty confined to the house.
I saw it as a necessary evil-once I got daytime naps sorted, it meant we could go out more as he wasn't going bananas through tiredness.

One week is worth it I guess, it really isn't long in the grand scheme of things! Will plan a week to do it soon. Thanks again :-)

In reassured that one you had sorted it you no longer were stuck inside! Thanks again ;-)

Hiya! Just want to send you a big hug and say that I'm currently in the same situation. After trying everything for nighttimes CC was the only thing that worked and it happened in 3 days. Trying the same for naps as my little boy is pretty much allergic to daytime sleep and so far it's been pretty gruelling. In fact - the first 2 days we went down pretty easily and today he took 50 minutes to go down for morning nap and 45m to go down for lunch nap only to wake up 10m later. Really want to help this little man get some rest but proving horribly difficult - especially as when he is down he only cat naps for 30m. Wish this was a bit easier on all involved! Daytime crying is awful to endure. Good luck and keep us posted!

Thaisdel - what was the outcome? We are in exactly the same situation!! Did you stick it (CC with the lunchtime nap) out ? If so, when did it get better. We are on day 7 and lunchtime nap is still one sleep cycle. We’re all frazzled. Can anyone help?