4 month old physically fighting daytime naps

[abstractblueish]

😓 he used to be a fairly good napper but the last few days DS has started to absolutely fight naps. I have a pretty good sense of his wake window, know he’s not under or overtired and watch him for first signs of being sleepy - but no matter what I do he’ll squirm, kick and scream!

He sleeps in the pram but not more than 30-45 minutes at the moment (we get the occasional 2 hour stint)

I just don’t know what to do anymore!!! I feed him to sleep and get a strong sense it isn’t working anymore but neither him or me know of another way to get him to sleep :(

Oh dear, that sounds stressful. 4mths old is the first sleep regression and I’ve found it a tough one with my children. I ended up giving up with my daughter and letting her nap on me quite a lot until she got the idea that she was having a nap. This is also the stage that I started using a myhummy white noise machine to create a sleep association for her. Ive found that with this regression it’s just about perseverance and patience. If feeding to sleep works for you and baby (it still works for my nearly 1yr old) then stick with it as changing things a lot during regressions isn’t advised. This regression can seem never ending, I hope it passes with relatively little drama for you all! Also, just check baby is completely well and not teething, congested or anything as that can affect napping.

Thank you. I guess I might have to let him
nap on me for a little bit until this passes but he’s hardly willing to do even that at the moment - he might have a 10 second window where he goes off to sleep but often I don’t even get that! Pram does the trick so walking him all day might just be the answer. 10 more days of this ‘leap’ according to the Wonder Weeks - I can tell that he has changed so, so much. He is just too interested in everything around him to sleep - even if I sit in a blacked out room with him he tries to crane his neck to look at the Gro egg light! 😓

Oh and I’ve been playing the same white noise every time he goes to sleep for about 2 months and it has done crap all in helping to create a sleep association!

Hi there. Im currently going through what seems like my DS’s 2nd sleep regression. He will wake at 4:30-5am and will only nap for 30 minutes at a time. I noticed that my son was doing the same as yours and craning his neck to check the ceiling light hadnt come on, or looking for the light on the angelcare monitor. I found it so frustrating. What seemed to help with that part is putting him down in his cot and letting him put himself to sleep. Anything else (rocking etc) was just too stimulating for him. He has a white noise machine and a mobile. He has a dummy and a comforter. I will sit by the cot so that he can see me but I ignore him and busy myself on my phone (if I leave the room he gets upset and cries). He does whine and grumble until he nods off though which is frustrating to listen to but it does the job and is easier than the fighting. I cant get him past the 30 minute mark though. Im in the same boat with that part of things. I do wonder if my son has a sleep association with me as we co-sleep at night. Im hoping more independence at putting himself to sleep will help.

Oh forgot to mention. My DS is 5 months this week

Mine is same age and power naps during the day then fights and cries as so tired but still flat out refuses to go to bloody sleep.

Not too bad at night though thankfully.

My now five year old was exactly the same. I think she napped twice in her cot in her whole life in the day. Instead I found ways to get downtime instead, so walk her to a very nice coffee shop, and let her sleep whilst I read, walked her around the small estate, as soon as asleep bring her back and let her finish her two hour nap in the pram in the kitchen whilst I snoozed, tidied, showered or whatever. Or stuck her in the car for a drive, went to macdonalds drive through and grabbed a drink and sat in the car with a book (if she was really fighting it the car usually still won). It was frustrating as everyone had tiny babies that slept but I just adapted in the end.