Someone please help! I'm really at my whits end my 4 month old just will not nap

[Ellajayden]

No matter what we try my 4 month old just will not nap and it's starting to wear thin we're lucky if we can get a hour a day and it can take up to an hour to get him of any advice would be appreciated

What things have you tried? Do you have a sling? Have you tried white noise? Is he bf or ff - can you feed lying down?

In general sleep goes a bit wonky at 4 months due to the regression.

Mine were a bit like this.. not always ideal but I used to put them in the pram all tucked up and walk and walk.. them leave them in porch or just outside front door if you can do safely. The other thing that used to work was a bath when you know they are tired, even if middle of day. Good luck

He won't sleep in the sling at all and he's formula fed white noise used to work so well but now he hates it , he will go off for a short nap sometimes in the pram but I live in a 2nd floor flat and it's impossible for me to get the pram up and down the stairs plus I don't think it will fit in my flat, the bouncy chair doesn't work and putting him in his crib in the day time makes him scream I'm currently try g to rock him in his car seat but even this doesn't work not sure what else I can try 😣

Is this a recent thing or has he always been like this?

Its been going on fpr abojt 3 and a half weeks now he used to go straight of to white noise and nap brilliantly

Sounds like a classic sleep regression to me. If so, he should start napping again soon. Have you read up on this/rules it out?

Ruled.*

Hi, you probably ought to speak to your health visitor just to check it's not silent reflux. Try being very consistent with a routine, as in the routine leading to a nap, so for example, giving a bottle, then saying time for sleep, then perhaps put a white noise app on,, I know you said he doesn't like it but choose something different like running water (the White Noise Baby Sleep Sounds App is brilliant for this) then I used to lie down next to my baby on the bed and read the Internet and just stroke her head if she moaned but mostly ignored her as she went off to sleep, this seemed to work better than fussing her. It's about trying to build associations with going to sleep from the words that you say and the actions and being very consistent. I had a sleepyhead that my baby liked at night. I hope that helps, just try being really consistent even if he doesn't go to sleep to start with keep persisting and ensure you say the same things at night. If you do think your baby's in discomfort you could look a changing formula but be careful not to chop and change. Good luck it is tough but you'll get there.

Haven't really read a lot about it thought it was more to do with night time Sleep, he has got silent reflux he was diagnosed with it at 8 weeks and is a lot better now as he's on medication for it, we have a very good routine at night but not as strict in the day time for naps maybe this is something I should work on with him, he's lactose intolerant and after his formula being chang3d 3 times we have finally found one that works really well so don't think it's that didn't think to try a different white noise so will try That, I've just layed on the bed with him and he is now flat out thank you for the advice 🤗

Ahh that's fantastic news. Xx

I don't necessarily think you need strict timings, just a set pattern so you he knows the cues for sleep. I didn't realise babies rubbed their eyes when they were tired for about six months!! 😂

I try to get him down every 1h and 30 mins to 2 hours, well we're on our 2nd nap on my bed and he needed no rocking to sleep just drifted off by him self with me laying a long side him! Maybe he only likes napping in the bedroom can't believe I didn't think of it thank you son much for the advice!xxx

Hi there, my baby is a notorious non-napper. He's now 5and a half month old and I put him down every 1.5 hour and have to rock/bounce and shush him. Since he was born I'd find something that worked then a few weeks later it wouldn't work anymore! He just been through a phase of 2 weeks where he wouldn't nap anywhere other than on me and he's only ever really napped for 30-40 minutes. It took me a while but I'm now at peace with the nap lengths!
Why not try putting him down after an hour. Give it, say 3 days, and be consistent with it. My boy will now nap for 30 minutes in his own but only on my bed. I think it may be due to the smell of me. I have a video monitor so i watch him and make sure hes right in the middle.
Good luck, I'm crossing everything x