11 month old dropped both daytime naps

[TwoDogs9]

My DS is two weeks away from his first birthday. He is breastfed and wakes several times a night for feeds. He’s never been one for long daytime naps but would always have two of about 30 - 40 mins each on average. This week he is refusing to nap AT ALL! He gets tired, has milk and falls asleep feeding but wakes up as soon as he’s placed in his cot and is then wide awake and raring to go! He is very active and not napping doesn’t seem to bother him. Is this normal? Please tell me it’s just a phase!

Can you feed lying down and cosleep for at least one of his naps? My DS is exactly the same age and I've had an hour this morning and 2 hours so far this nap. But DH is home with DD so I'm taking advantage!

Can you feed lying down and cosleep for at least one of his naps? this is what I do with my DD who sounds exactly the same as yours OP.

Feeding to sleep is not compatible with having an independant sleeper (ie, sleeping in a cot).

Baby needs to go to sleep where he stays asleep. So that means either feeding to sleep and cosleeping so baby stays globe to you while asleep. Or baby going to sleep in the cot and not feeding to sleep.

Thanks for your responses. I’ll give that a go - heaven knows I could do with at least one nap a day!

@FATEdestiny he always used to feed to sleep and then stay asleep after being placed in his cot and that’s what I do at night (not always successfully in the early hours!). So why would it have changed?

I'm pretty sure they have a nap wobble at one - my son went through this but just kept trying and he went back to two naps. Also a short napper, poor/light sleeper. He's just 3 and is starting to drop his final nap now (but have had to drive him to get him to sleep for the last year ).

Because baby is getting older and more aware, that's all.

The "go to sleep where you stay asleep" thing comes from the idea of sleep cycles and environment checks.

Sleep cycles generally involve a period of lighter sleep, a period of deeper sleep and a brief "environment check" before back into another sleep cycle.

In an adult this environment check might involve turning over and repositioning yourself, pushing the duvet off/on yourself, a semi-concious glance at the clock. Bur imagine you went to sleep in your bed one night and when you rolled over and pulled the duvet up you realised you were now in the back seat of a car. You wouldn't just semi-conciously go back to sleep then - you'd be wide awake pretty damn quick wondering wtf happened.

That's the purpose of the environment check between sleep cycles. All being well you shouldn't actually wake up, but you are checking that you remain safe whilst asleep.

This process develops as baby grows. It's why baby going to sleep where he stays asleep is important and becomes increasingly so.

Is he walking? Sounds like a developmental leap to me.

@TwoDogs9 I don’t think there’s anything wrong with feeding to sleep, it works for lots of people :) can you try a cosleeping nap? It might help during this non napping period! And I second it could be due to trying to walk etc x

@FATEdestiny thanks for that, very interesting!

For those of you who asked; he’s not quite walking but trying really hard so yes, this could be affecting his napping.

Cosleeping naps aren’t fooling him. He starts to fall asleep, then he’s suddenly wide awake and off! He’s become bad at going to sleep at night too now despite the mattress on the floor with Mummy. He used to go to sleep fine (just wake up lots during the night). We’ve resorted to driving him in the car for daytime naps, which I’m not happy about as I feel like I’ve failed but desperate measures and all that!

Please don’t feel like you’ve failed. I’m a big believer in doing what works for you rather than what’s expected. If taking him for a drive gives him a much needed nap and means that he’s more rested, I’d just do it for now. You can work on where he naps once he’s back in the habit of napping. Did you read the book I linked to further up?

Also, I don’t move to just one nap after lunch. Most DC drop to one nap around this age

Thanks Everyonetalk. Can’t see a link to a book though...

So sorry, thought I’d done it. Must have got mixed up

It’s here.

Cosleeping naps aren’t fooling him

How about stopping feeding to sleep and teaching him your go from awake to asleep in the cot?

Fate how do I do that? I don’t want any crying 🙈

His daytime napping has improved slightly since Christmas with mattress on the floor. When he’s tired he always falls asleep whilst feeding so how do I stop that?

Going through exactly the same with my ds who was one last week.

I've tried everything but now doing what fate suggested. I'm teaching him to fall asleep in the cot without feeding to sleep. It's tough but we're getting there. Doing shush pat/ singing to him while he falls asleep by himself with his favourite toy. Just had 20 mins crying now, but I was there comforting him and he's now asleep. Good luck. So hard x

Unless he takes a dummy, you will struggle to teach him to fall asleep in his cot without feeding with no crying. You can however, be with him throughout when he does cry and comfort him as rosesandpears has been doing. You need to be completely consistent and patient but it will work eventually