5 month old and naps

[fruityb]

DS used to be a pretty good napper but lately is driving me mad refusing to. He gets up about 8, nap about ten when he's ready for it for about 45-60 mins. Feeds every four hours or so happily. Now he used to have a good afternoon nap about two ish for a good two hours but lately I'm lucky to get an hour. He goes in his cot but wakes up shrieking an hour (if I'm lucky) later and is not going back to sleep at all. He's then grumpy for an hour at least as he's still tired but fights a nap. I have a daily meltdown to deal with as he's shattered. I cuddle, rock, dummy, shush, white noise, music and then he might nod off again. Not always but fairly often he'll sleep again. It's driving me mad!! He sleeps so well at night and always has and often has a little snooze before his last bottle. He usually nods off of his own accord it's just this afternoon bit that I find horrendous! I just wish he'd stay asleep as that's what he wants to do he just gets so mad about it! I put him in his cot for it and he'll sleep for a bit but the blood curdling scream he does means I just can't leave him there without him getting himself so sad and wound up it makes it worse.

Any help??

His calorific need has gone up. His stomach capacity won't have grown very much though. So I'd try adding an extra feed in during the day by making feeds closer together. Try 3 hourly at first. He might even prefer every 2.5 hours, depending on his preference.

Then limit his awake time. It sounds like you are assuming he'll have the sleep of a much older baby.

Short, frequent naps are normal. Try to have about an hour awake time between one nap and the next. Certainly no more than 90 minutes between waking from one nap and being asleep the next nap.

For example:

• wake, make a mental note of the time
• full feed
• burst of activity. Floor time, playing, trip out. But only a short period of time. Once at an hour from waking, start getting to sleep.
• getting to sleep. This may take time, the hope is it's no longer than 30 minutes (if it is, reduce activity time next time)
• sleep. Expect less than an hour. It's normal for this developmental state.
• resettle when first stirring awake. It probably wont work, but you never know.
• wake. And so the cycle starts again with a full feed. Repeat.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Thank you. We do play a lot and I've noticed he always sleeps better when we've been at baby group or something. He's not sad all day or anything it's just this period in the afternoon that he's a bit rubbish (not every single day but most of the time).

He has four 8oz bottles a day and I just respond to his cues which are around 3.5 to 4 hours. We've started weaning as well so he's having a bit extra that way.

He is awake a lot and always has been: he's not grumpy when he is and in an evening he's so chilled and happy. He goes to bed well at night. I just wish the afternoon paddy would sod off lol. But I'll try this.

Have come to the conclusion that he just isn't a great napper. He's laid with me at the moment grabbing at my face or arm. He can spit his dummy out a good three feet on a good day and if he doesn't want to nap I am at a loss as to how to make him. He was up at 7:15 and has closed his eyes for ten minutes since when he started to cough and woke himself up. He's not grumpy and he's not moaning he just does not want to nap. The tv is off and I'm not speaking to him he just is not interested. He pulls his dummy out or will poke it out if he doesn't want it.

He slept ten hours through the night without waking, but I just don't know how to make a child that doesn't want to sleep do it.