Baby does not believe in naps - what can I do?

[DoubleHelix79]

DD is 11 weeks old and while she sleeps great at night she just. does. not. nap.
I'm slightly exaggerating, but basically the only way we can get her to nap at all is by bouncing with her on an exercise ball for exceeded periods of time. This only works if she's already very tired and grumpy. Heading out in the buggy is also effective, but not really a sustainable option. Even when she does finally go down she naps for only 20-30 min max.
We've tried putting her down before she's tired and when she's already overdue some sleep. Quiet and dark room as well as white noise of various types. Holding her and simply putting her down. Nothing works. Swaddling is out - she really despises being constrained.
If we let her I'm pretty sure she would be awake from morning until bedtime.
Any bright ideas?

No advice but my 22 mnth old only naps in the pushchair. I'm resigned to it now. Unless it's pissing down or i'm waitinh for a delivery it's fine. It has advantages, friends drove me up the wall being slaves to naps and only being able to meet up at certain times so they could get home in time for naps

Watching with interest.....I also have a sleep. Fighter!

I'd do whatever you've got to do to get her to nap - pram, car, sling, dummy, BF to sleep, cosleep, bouncy chair

Ah well, looks like I might have to resign myself to the situation. She'll be off to university eventually

DoubleHelix79, there's nothing different about your baby. She's just being a baby, this is what most under 6 month olds do. Maybe there is an element of inrealistic expectations? But it will pretty much never be the case that you just lay a 3 month old down in the cot and they drift off to sleep.

Babies, especially 3-4 months old Babies, need a lot of proactive help to get to sleep. The key ingredients for naps are all (Or as many as possible) of the following, simultaneously:

• a full tummy

• something to suck (nipple or dummy)

• rhythmic and perpetual movement (bouncy chair, pram, car, being rocked, sling swaying)

• Safe/secure/comforted feeling (physical touch, being held, swaddle, sling wrap, eye contact, feeling your breath)

• Ample calories over 24h (feed more regularly than you expect in the daytime)

• Ample sleep over 24h (limit awake time in the day to about 60m at this age. Short 30-45m naps are normal)

My DS was exactly the same at this age, and as this topic seems to come up quite regularly, it seems to be a common problem. I'm afraid I have no advice for except to tell you that he got gradually better and by 5 or 6 months I had identified his sleep patterns and he was like clockwork, first nap two hours after waking, second nap three hours after waking from that, then four hours awake then bed time. He maintained this until he was about 15 months old.

Dc2 took all his naps in the pushchair until about 9 months. I just rocked it back and forth in the house until he was asleep (usually 5-10mins) and then he would sleep for ages. At 9 months he would sleep in his cot easily. As a toddler he would put himself to bed after lunch when tired. So pushchair naps clearly did him no harm longer term!

My daughter was the same. I found The Baby Whisperer book really helpful because it explained tiredness, external hints that are telling you that they're tired which I was clearly missing. It took me two weeks of 'training' and she finally started napping. I found that sitting next to her reading my book outloud, with my hand on her was extremely effective. She sleeps very well now and I feel much more sane.

I had one amazing napper, dummy in, put into cot awake, 2hrs solid napping. One that would only nap in my arms or in the buggy after a very long walk, and then not for very long. Another that fell somewhere between the two but I think he was more of the rubbish variety from what I can remember. So moral of the story they just do what they do, despite all raised and treated the same way!

thanks a lot everyone, really useful input. I feel a lot less like we have some strange and unusual child.

Bouncy chair!

No advice but lots of sympathy as my daughter was a nap refuser from 3-4 weeks old until 5.5 months. From 10 weeks onwards baby carrier and bouncing on the ball or pram walks for 2-3 hours were my only option and even they would result in max 20-30 minutes sleep out of her and that would only work every 4-5 hours. If I made any attempt at getting her to sleep sooner, I would have no luck at all.

Stimulation through baby classes, exhaustion through swimming etc had no effect either

It's tough but it will improve