11 month old has stopped napping.

[AutumnLeavesandCandleLights]

Please help, I'm currently almost 32 weeks pregnant and have an 11 month old who has stopped napping altogether.

He's never been a good sleeper, both during the day and at a night. Naps have always been a struggle but up until about 9-10 months he would go down twice a day maybe for around 45 minutes each time if I was lucky - though it was usually closer to half an hour.

Since he hit 10 months, he fights the naps relentlessly. I'm exhausted. The morning one has completely gone. No matter what I do, what time I try and put him down, he will not sleep in the morning.

So i thought, okay, whatever, he's transitioning to one nap just super early....
Yeah, that's not happening either. The afternoon nap will last all of 15-20 minutes before he's up again and will just point blank refuse to go back down.

It's been two weeks now of no naps whatsoever. He's clearly tired but just won't sleep. He's not ill and not teething. And even when he is teething he'd still nap for at least half an hour.

Has anyone else experienced this. I'm going out of my mind.

That must be tough, especially with another on the way. I haven't experienced it but I think it's quite common for babies to have a period of resisting naps. Maybe he's sensed you getting anxious about it and it's inadvertently turned into a bit of a battle. Hopefully it'll be a phase he'll grow out of soon. I would keep trying but in a relaxed way. Maybe just snuggle up with him on the couch or in bed with the lights dimmed and some books to read.

I find 10-11 months is a bit of a difficult age, especially in winter, as they're not walking yet so if you take them out in the fresh air they just want to crawl around and eat things they shouldn't. In a couple of months he'll hopefully be toddling around - a morning in the park while the baby sleeps in the pram or sling followed by lunch will knock him out.

Fingers crossed if improves soon.

What's his nights like at the moment? how do you get him to sleep?

I'd suggest baby is over tired and so needs more help to sleep, rather than undertired and not needing the sleep.

The vast majority of nights he'll wake at least once, though it's usually 2 or 3 times.
I'll go in to him, change his bum, offer him either some water or some milk - he'll take what he wants then rolls over and falls back to sleep, the whole process taking no longer than 10-15 minutes from him waking up to him drifting back off.

He generally self settles through the night, unless he's teething or has a cold.
I do hear him a couple of times each night through the monitor, but if he's had a bum change and a drink, I'll leave him for a while and usually after about 5 minutes he's fallen back to sleep again by himself.

He's rocked to sleep at bedtime (a sleep association I know we should have broken by now, but he's gone from needing to be rocked every time he wakes up, to now only needing it when he first goes to bed, so I don't mind and don't really see it too negatively anymore) at around 6:45ish. Sometimes just after 6 if he hasn't napped at all during the day, other times it'll be closer to 7 if he isn't too shattered by that point.

He's definitely over tired. That much I do know. But he will fight and fight and fight his day time naps. The more I try and get him to nap, the more frustrated he gets with me, so I end up just bringing him back in to the lounge and he'll sit and play with his toys all whilst rubbing his eyes and yawning his little head off right around til bedtime.

I'm hoping it's just a short phase and there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Dd2 stopped napping at eight months old and try as we might she never took it up again. It did coincide with her sleeping through the night a little better. I feel your pain, and it is unusual, but no harm came to her.

Oh no, i really hope that's not what's going on here!!
I was banking on synching one of his naps with the new baby's naps when he arrives so I could at least get one hour to myself each day.

I think I'm just going to have to persevere for a few more weeks and if after a month he still isn't napping, I'll have to call it quits and admit to myself that he's just scrapped them early. I am a little worried about him stopping his day time naps at this age though, as I thought they still needed to nap for developmental purposes?

In the process and out for a walk after lunch. Every day. I had to do this with DD1 when I was pregnant with DD2. She then became used to going out after lunch for that walk/nap as well. The longer I did it the quicker they fell asleep and I would go back home and sit down for an hour

*in the PRAM!

Partner and myself have tried taking little one out in his pushchair as a means to get him to nap, and I'd say it works around 40% of the time. He's still too engrossed by everything he sees. We can walk for two hours and he'll just happily sit there staring at everything. If we tilt his pushchair back and pull down the hood, he'll just relentlessly scream until you let him see everything again.

I haven't tried doing it every day at a set time though so that may be something to look in to. He's never been one for following a routine, but I need to get something in place for when his sibling arrives otherwise I'm going to go stir crazy battling with a newborn and having a just turned one year old awake all day long!

DS1 stopped napping completely around 12 months. He slept well all night though which was a saving grace. DS2 napped for two hours until he was three. That was fantastic!

What about I the car? Then either sit in the car wth him or carry him into his cot? My husband has a tried & tested method whereby he lies down (in a baby proofed & Safe room) and falls asleep and within 10 mins any of our children have got bored and cuddled up and fallen asleep but it doesn’t work with me!

Or how about sitting in a rocking chair and rocking them to sleep?