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11 week old will only nap in his car seat

4 replies

Newmum26 · 25/07/2017 09:44

My 11 week old sleeps brilliantly at night in his crib, he goes down awake after his bedtime bottle and takes himself off to sleep within 15 minutes and then sleeps from 10pm - 6am.
Daytime however is a different story!
I need some help and advice on the best way to tackle this!
He will go back down in his crib in the morning after his breakfast bottle for a nap about 7am - 9am but after that he thinks we're up for the day.
He will happily fall asleep if we go out somewhere in the car and will sleep he duration of when we are out in the car seat.
He will not nap in his bouncer at home even if I rock it, I've tried a swing he just thinks that's playtime and is wide awake looking around, and then the crib is a nightmare during the daytime it's like he associates it with bed time.
I don't know what I should be doing at this age? And how I go about doing it?!
Surely if I put him down in his crib after a bottle during the day, if he's not sleepy which he rarely is after taking a daytime bottle then he won't go to sleep?!
He gets cranky and grumpy if we haven't been out in the car so he hasn't napped and by early afternoon I resort to putting him in his car seat and strapping him in as if we are going out and he falls asleep happily in the car seat for 2 hours!
Help! 😩

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
FATEdestiny · 25/07/2017 13:07

Firstly I would suggest that 6am is not wake up time and is not breakfast time. It's a night wake. 11h sleep with one wake up sounds normal for this age. It so happens that your baby's night is 10pm-9am with a wake after 8h at 6am. In other households this could be an 8pm-7am night with a bottle around 4am.

Is there any reason bedtime is so late, since he's sleeping through for 8h? It sounds like you need proper sleep routine in the daytime, so I would use that as a time to change the night as well to 8pm ish and wake for a feed at 11pm ish. The hope is then that the 8h block of sleep is 11pm-7am.

As for your daytime, I think there's two things factoring in here. One is the timing of the naps. The other is the fact that baby will need more help to sleep in the day.

You don't really mention the timings of the naps you do at the moment, but I'd start a routine, it sounds like baby is ready for that structure given the 2h naps (when they do happen) and the long unbroken stretch at night.

A good example to follow for daytime naps at this stage is 234 (hours between sleeps). For example:

7am wake (wake baby at a set time every day, it established the rest of the routine)
2h awake time
9am nap (expect 1-2 hours)
3h awake time
1-2pm nap (expect around 2 hours)
4h awake time
8pm bedtime
11pm - wake for a feed. Wake properly with a nappy change. Then resettle with a feed. This should hopefully move the 8h block to 11pm-7am

(The timings of this can all be moved to suit. If a 10pm-9am day suits you better that is fine, just shift the timings accordingly and remember the 6am feed is a night wake, not morning).

With a more structured routine, it should help avoid getting into over tired territory. It is then a case of finding a method to get baby to sleep during the day.

The biology is such that the pressure to sleep is less in the day. Baby's body still needs naps, but it is more difficult for baby to get to sleep. So they often need extra help.

It sounds to be like crib naps in a dark room would suit your baby best for daytime naps. But you need to understand these won't be like night sleep, you will have to work harder to get baby to sleep.

The tried and tested easiest way, I think, would be:

  • swaddle baby
  • feed in cradle hold whilst swaddled
  • lift to your shoulder and run back / wind. Sway a little as doing this, to get baby dozing.
  • once calm on your shoulder, lay baby down in crib in dark room. Place your hand on baby's chest, over the swaddle, so baby can still feel your weight there
  • if stirring have a dummy to hand, put dummy in. Gentle hold it in if needed. Stroke cheek to encourage comfort sucking and shushhhhh quietly as needed.
  • stay there, hand on chest and keeping dummy in, completely motionless until dummy starts dropping out (when muscles go limp, mouth opens and dummy drops), slowly pull hand away.
  • then sneek away ninja style.
Letsgetreadytorumbleagain · 25/07/2017 13:19

Hi @FATEdestiny - is the 234 schedule ok at this age, I thought it was better for older babies?

I'm really trying to find something that will work with my 20week old and I'm lost ConfusedBlush

FATEdestiny · 25/07/2017 13:33

It's not an age thing @Letsgetreadytorumbleagain, it's a development thing.

OPs baby is ready because

  • sleeping through, 8h uninterputed
  • doing long 2h daytime naps

Most babies at 11 weeks are not at this stage, most of those that are will be bottle fed, in my experience. Not unusual to find formula fed babies sleeping 12h solid overnight and having two 2h naps by 2 months old.

Are you the one who's just write the other thread? I just replied. No, this method definitely won't work with yours. Not developmentally ready.

Newmum26 · 25/07/2017 16:53

Wow thanks for the detailed reply!
My reason for not putting him to bed earlier is that I though the later I put him to bed the longer he will sleep?
If I put him down at 7/8pm I fear he will wake at 2am 😩
He's only just started sleeping from 9pm/10pm - 5am/6am and used to wake at around 2/3am for a feed.
It makes sense what you've said and I need to get structure into our day

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