Nightmare naps - 5.5 months - any suggestions?

[Kent1986]

Please tell me what I am doing wrong or anything to suggest 😩

My ds is 5.5 months

Sleep has been going ok - average. Normally goes down at 6.30/7 and takes anything between 30-60 minutes to go to sleep depending on how stubborn he is being.

Usually wakes for a feed about 11 & 3ish then sleeps til 7.
He has done a few 7-7's in the last week and dropped his 11pm feed on two nights but now we are back to 11&3.

Basically he used to be good until 3 month jabs and overnight he turned into quite the testing child.

After a horrific month I decided to try controlled crying. It has Defo improved the situ but now we seem to be going backwards again a little.
I can cope with the night stuff. He is learning to settle himself in the night and I feel like we are progressing OK for his age.

Naps on the other hand are becoming a fucking joke. No other way of putting it. Some days he only has max 3x30 minutes and it's just not enough - he is tired a lot lately.

He won't cuddle to sleep
He will sometimes boob to sleep and I can gently get him down but not often
Pushchair and a walk used to work quickly now I have to go fucking miles
Car round the block have done when desperate but soon as we are back he wakes quickly so pointless really.
In the cot he sleeps in sometimes works (currently he is screaming his head off in there so clearly not today)
Baby carrier normally works but its so hot I want to cry just thinking about Putting it on.

When he does nap it's rarely for more than 30 mins

He is not hungry and there is nothing wrong with him - you would tthink otherwise having seen him as he kicks and gets very angry. He is by that point over tired to looses his shit.

I put him down before he is too tired. Mostly every two hours. ( 'put him down' ha ha what a joke )

I have tried letting him cry it out for naps but that goes on in excess of 30 minutes by which point he is totally fucked and lost it.

Please please tell me what I am doing wrong or what I should try. He is my first baby. He is such a happy boy and laid back but my whole life is revolving around him being tired and not giving in., what can I do to help ?

Oh my I feel your pain.

Although, are you definitely sure he is tired? My daughter was managing fine on 3x30 min naps by the time she was 5 months. Trying to put her down for more resulted in hysterics, until I realised she just didn't want to be asleep, and resigned myself to the fact she just didn't need or want the sleep (she did consolidate to 2x90 minutes at about 8 months, and still naps great now aged 2.)

I realise that's no help if he IS grouchy from over tiredness. I have this problem with my twins; at around 5 months I was close to break down over it (though they would sleep in the car or pushchair, but like you say, you can't drive / walk all day.) They're 7 months now and are a lot better, although the last nap of the day is often a mission and preceded by a meltdown (from me as well as them). And I didn't do a thing to make them better; they just did it by themselves. I'm hoping they'll drop the final nap fairly soon and the problem will resolve itself, but in the meantime, I dread 4 pm!

Sorry, not much practical advice there... But just, you're not doing a single thing wrong, you've just got a bad napper. Which is horrid to live with, but marginal easier once you accept it I think, rather than driving yourself nuts trying to find a non-existent solution.

Hang on in there, he will sort himself out eventually!

(And well done on having a baby who sleeps til 7! I'm pleased if we make it past 5 am... Oh, the pain.)

And I'm struggling with just 1! The thought of more than one is too much - well done you!

Ok thanks. He is really whingey rubs his eyes etc so he is tired. Today he has 45 mins as 9 which is long for him and then he was tried at 12 so put
Him down but he was woken within minutes by a loud noise 😩🔫 and wouldn't go back off so abandoned that one.
Tried again at 1.30 when he was tired and he just finally fallen asleep at 3. It's exhausting. I hate and dread any time around sleep times atm.

I think I am a black and white "there must be an answer" type person so maybe what you say is right and there just isn't 😟

I know what you mean about wanting solutions - and who knows, perhaps there is one, but if there is it's beyond me, I feel like I tried everything! Just my way of coping, but I reached a point where I just found it easier to go with the flow and trust that most problems resolve themselves in the end.

Having said that, have you tried white noise? I've used it with all of mine. I don't think it does anything to help them get off to sleep, but it is really good at stopping them being woken up by outside noise.

He has a dream sheep but now I am finding music works better.

My nearly 5 month old usually does 3x30 min naps - some babies just don't need as much sleep as others, especially if like yours they are sleeping 12 hours at night - that's very good. My son tends to do 8-5.

Ah ok. Everything i read says he should be doing one long nap in addition to a few 30 mins - maybe I'm expecting too much then.

The 7-7's were 2 one off nights so far. But generally he is asleep by about 8 and after his 11&3 finally wakes between 6-7 - sounds like I have it easy with a lay in then I will thank him in the morning.

I just hate it when he gets in a tizz bcos he is over tired but he insists on keeping going !

I know what you mean, but I think that although they're tired, they're not tired enough to sleep more. DS2 got up at 4 this morning (though refused to take him out the room until 5 as he had got up at 12 and 2 in the night). He is now obviously knackered but refusing to nap. He probably will at his usual time (7:30).

Yep, we've all been up since 4 am too. In fact, nap no.1 has already been and gone and it's not even 7 am yet. Flaming ridiculous!!

Don't put too much store by all the stuff you read about what babies 'should' be doing, as far as I can tell it's all a pile of bollocks. Those are made up babies.

I have a 4 and a half month old who sleeps well at night but similarly has found naps tougher since last jabs.

Feel like I'm going crazy sometimes as I spend so much of the day focused on getting her to sleep.

At a nursery visit yesterday I asked them what they do in the baby room as their were 4 babies completely sparko. She said if they've not gone to sleep on a feed they will try other methods (rocking etc) for 10 minutes. If there's no success at that point Thry get them up and active for at least an hour before trying again. Will be trying this today.

My daughter loves the bath and it definitely tires her out so ive moved that to morning and she seems happier to nap after (hasn't impacted on bed time routine yet).

Good luck

Interesting about trying a different bath time 🤔 Ds has been swimming since 3 weeks and loves his bath - and that sounds interesting re nursery - I'm never sure when to give in or keep going. might try that one thanks

By the sounds of it though I should cherish this 6/7 waking though and just get over naps.

My son is 5.5 months, he's also a terrible napper and a not so great but a not terrible night sleeper! During the day we cannot put him down anywhere at all or he wakes and sobs, he will sleep in the car but only if the journey is at least 20 mins and same with the pram and as soon as we stop he wakes. At night he has to be cuddled to sleep then he will be put down at night but wakes 1-2 times a night (just dropped from 3) and generally gets up between 4 and 5am for the day... I have gone to health visitors, tried every methods in the books, spoken to other mums and I have now accepted I am doing absolutely nothing wrong, that's just him and one day he will grow out of it. Sorry, not one scrap of advice, but I hope a bit of reassurance you're not alone xx

Sorry just realised how old this post is, not sure why it's on top of my feed :) hope nap times are better now!