Crying at naptime

[mumofone234]

DS is almost 24 weeks and has always been a tricky napper. Until about a month ago, he would only sleep on one of us or in the car. I managed to 'nap train' him so that he now has all his naps in his crib, but in the last couple of weeks he's started crying every time I put him down for a nap. He'll be tired and rubbing his eyes, but as soon as I put him down he cries. I have to lean in and hold him tight and eventually he'll pop his thumb in his mouth and go to sleep. But I feel the amount of time we're doing the crying/holding is actually increasing and it's so stressful for both of us. What can I do? I don't feed to sleep, and he's not too bad overnight so I don't understand why naps are always such a battle.

I should add that I use a white noise machine and have created a short 'it's naptime' routine but it still doesn't help.

Ds always cried before going to sleep. I just tucked him in and kissed him and left him to it. Staying with him made things worse.

I feel so guilty that he's lying there crying and I'm not picking him up. Did your DS still do it every time after that, or did he eventually just go off to sleep quietly?

My DD does a little cry most times when she goes down for a nap, it's not a proper in pain or frightened one. It's like she's going "ffs why am I not asleep yet!" Over the past year it's become more of a grizzle and less of a cry and happens less often.

It's worse when I stay with her, she now sometimes even pushes me away as I think me being there keeps her awake.

I feel like we've got to the stage where if I leave him to it we'll essentially be doing controlled crying for a while as he gets so upset - is six months too young for CC?

Every single nap and bed time. He just needed a cry to settle himself down.

My baby does this and he's almost 9 months. It's awful and I've posted about this before. Even if I lie down next to him and cuddle him he will still cry and scream.

I'm getting to the stage where I might follow Dame advice and leave him to cry a little.

I was hoping he would grow out of it by now but if anything it's gotten worse.

It's great you have gotten him to sleep in his crib. I'm hoping that it's just a phase for us both.

X

Both of mine have cried when out down. I leave the baby to it for bed and naps and it never lasts more than 5 minutes. I think my presence was keeping her awake longer.

singingpinkmonkey It's horrible isn't it? I find myself dreading naptime and feeling so awful.

Having the same problem with 5 month old. He has never napped well but is ok at night. He will only nap if I feed him to sleep, then he wakes up after 20 minutes and won't go back to sleep. I don't want to leave him as he's too little yet I think. Sorry, watching this thread with interest. You're not alone! Mine won't even settle if I hold him in the cot, unless I pick him up he cries blue murder.

At least I'm not alone CaptWentworth!

The Dummy - the simplest of the no crying sleep solutions.

I have no crying tolerance, I just wouldn't listen to my child crying if there was any possible way I could make her stop. That's why the dummy is absolutely central to my parenting philosophy.

Sadly have not succeeded with the dummy with baby number 2, in spite of much trying. Baby 1 was a thumb sucker and still is aged nearly 7. As soon as she learned that the crying stopped.

FATEdestiny He's a keen thumb sucker (wouldn't take to a dummy) and always ends up sucking his thumb to go to sleep - but he still cries beforehand.

DS won't take a dummy I've tried 6 different brands (even one that stated a 94% acceptance rate ). If I try to give him it he just gets extremely cross. I wish I'd started him on a dummy straight away, but left it til after 6 weeks and it's just not going to happen.

CaptWentworth DS won't take a dummy either - he just repeatedly spits it out and gets in a tizz.

It is horrible mumofone234 but take comfort in the fact that it won't last forever. You seem like a lovely, caring mummy by posting on here so I have faith it will turn out right xxx

Has he ever just fallen asleep of his own accord anywhere?.or does he always get put into the crib at a particular time?

It's just his way of letting you know he feels a bit crap because he's tired, nothing to feel bad about.

nightshade He'll fall asleep in the car, and did fall asleep on his own quite well a few weeks ago, which is why the current crying is so frustrating. I thought I'd got it all nailed and then suddenly he became much harder to put down again (that'll teach me to be smug!)

Is he overtired going down for the nap?

I didn't think he was, but I've just tried putting him down for a nap sooner than usual and he has gone down like a dream. It still took him a few minutes to fall asleep, but he didn't cry. The tricky thing with him is, he doesn't always make it obvious he's getting tired. The first I know is when he starts grizzling. Argh, why are babies so complicated!?

Have you tried just chucking him in the pram and going for a walk. Try to catch himbefore he needs to sleep and he might just drop off. If possible then I'd just make sure he is wrapped up and leave him outside for his naps. They sleep much better outside ime.

He's a very 'interested' baby so if we go for a walk he gets too involved looking at everything and won't sleep. Plus I'd ideally like him to be napping at home so I can get on with things while he does. He always goes off to sleep in his crib eventually, it's just the crying that I don't like.