5 month old won't nap

[amysaurus87]

Pretty much they really. My LB is 5 months old and getting him to nap is nigh on impossible. He'll nap if I'm walking with him in the pram, but the longest he sleeps is about 30mins, nothing I do makes him nap longer.

Today he has had 2 naps of 20 minutes and that's it since 9am this morning. He's clearly tired as he's making all the right signs, eye rubbing, ear pulling etc but he just won't sleep.

His night sleeping is good, generally he'll go down at 930ish and sleep until about 3/4 and then go back down until about 7/8am. Though there are nights when he wakes at like 2 and then 5 and then 7.

It's stressing me out that he won't nap, and he screams because he's so tired,the screaming makes me so angry as he's tired and won't sleep, and I can't comfort him and I just feel awful and like I'm failing him.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be so grateful.

Sorry for the ramble, one very tired mumma here.

Anyone?

Did he used to nap or has he never napped?

Mine isn’t a great napper either - often half an hour of relentless screaming because she’s tired for about a 15 minute sleep! She only goes longer if I play white noise and hold her, and even then if she wakes up I have to resettle her with the dummy and stroking her forehead. I’m sure you’ve probably tried that anyway though. Sorry not to be more help. Hang in there

He used to nap, I have to take him for a walk to get him to sleep but his naps used to last 45 minutes to an hour, with the odd occasion when he's slept for 1.5 hours.

I think it is affecting his night sleeping, he went down tonight at 10pm and has woken at 230am. This has been happening the last few nights and he used to sleep through. He's hungry when he's waking so I don't know if that has anythingto do with things.

I just don't know how much longer I can take him not napping.

Can you get a sling? Neither of mine napped away from me/in a cot, they just wanted warmth/comfort, so I either co-slept for naps or put them in a sling.

@ShackUp I've got a baby carrier, so we go for walks in that but he refused to sleep in it, he's to heavy for me in just a sling!

@Caspiana I wish my LB would take a dummy, he just spits them out!

Where did he used to nap/have you been trying to get him to nap? My DS was a cat napper until almost 6 months.

We found that putting him in his cot and darkening the room helped him have longer naps. Also it can be useful to implement a "nap time" routine. Eg a short story in a darkened room before putting them down. Even to the point it could be the same story each time to reinforce the routine.

If he's showing signs of tiredness but getting distressed he's almost certainly overtired. Try to put him down for his naps in times that break his awake time into equal segments. Eg. 7am wake up, 10 - 11:30 nap, 2:30 - 4 nap, 7pm bedtime. That would make his awake periods almost an equal 3 hours a time which should help his tiredness. Obviously the naps probably won't stretch straight from 20 mins to 1:30 hours but if he's going down at the right times to stop him from reaching the point of overtired, it should hopefully get better and lead to better night time sleep too.

Good luck

Also, try a comforter instead of a dummy. When we took the dummy from DS we replaced it with a comforter so he didn't go without a soothing agent of some kind. He loves the soft feel of it sticks it in his mouth and chews it! He wouldn't sleep without it!

@beccii all naps are in his pram, and I keep trying to get him to nap in his pram, he's never settled in his cot for day time naps (apart from when he was a newborn!) There is the odd time he falls asleep on me, and if he does that then he's usually alseep for about 1.5 hours.

I try to get him down every 2.5 hours for naps, i take him out of any stimulating environment, pop him in the pram and go for a walk and pray he falls asleep, but it's hard as he has no schedule yet, one day he wakes at 7 the next day 8 or 9 so it's all over the place. Bedtime is nearly always between 9 and 10pm, I've been trying to pull it forward for ages but he's not having any of that either!

I literally don't know what else I can do.

I know it's really difficult but I would try to put him in his cot for naps and persevere. Eventually he will be too big to nap in his pram anyway and the transition will have to be made and it's not practical for you to go for a walk every time he needs a nap. Also, the fact that he's not napping well suggests that maybe he's not comfortable in his pram anymore. As they get bigger, a lot of them like to stretch out a little more. Also, there's a lot of noise and light when they're in the pram. It's one of those things that's awful because it's going to take some time for him to get used to so it will be difficult before it gets better but it does sound like he's not enjoying his pram for sleep anymore. It's unlikely that you'll solve bedtime until naps are solved as he'll be overtired. If only you could pop out an instruction manual during labour

I could've written this myself. My LO is 6 months old and will not nap without a fight. I've tried to put him down after 90 minutes, tried the same nap times every day, tried leaving him in the crib, bedsharing, rocking, walks, feeding to sleep. He just purple cries while I hold him. Then he's awake after 30 minutes. I just wanted to let you know you're not on your own, because sometimes you feel like you're surrounded by 'mine only naps for 3 hours a day people' who you want to throttle!

@beccii how do I go about getting him to nap on his cot? I'm attempting it now for his 2nd nap, I've currently put him in it and put the white noise on. All he's doing is whinging, do I leave him to whinge or comfort him.

I'm so used to walks to get him to nap that I have no idea what I'm doing now!

If he's crying I'd go in but I personally wouldn't go in for whinging. Not straight away at least. It's up to you but if he's only whinging and not upset then he's probably just grumpy tired

Your LO sounds exactly like mine. I've literally just been in tears because I had to fight with her to get her to nap. She screamed and screamed and she doesn't normally cry, but this was proper crying. She had been yawning for the past hour and a half, showing all signs of tiredness, but as soon as I try to get her to sleep it's like she's possessed. I kept puttin her down then trying again but it's not working.
She is also a good sleeper at night, goes to bed at 7pm wakes anytime between 2 and 4am and then goes back to sleep til 7am. She will take 3 naps a day but they are only for about 20-30 mins. 1 hour if I'm lucky but that's not often. If we are out in the pram she will nap alot easier, sometimes I still have to pick her up but she will fall asleep no problems. Just in the house she refuses. Why?!
If you find a solution to this, please let me know because it also makes me very angry when she's fighting it which I think affects her cos she can sense it. I just don't understand why babies do this.

@beccii so I caved, he started crying so went and picked him up, started comforting him on the sofa and low and behold he fell asleep on me...for 1.5 hours! Takes his total naps for today to 2 naps, totalling 2 hours and 20 minutes.

That's literally triple what he had yesterday, feeling a bit more positive, just need to try and replicate it tomorrow now!

@Could I'm with you on the anger, it makes me so cross at him, he will literally be forcing himself out my arms, screaming while I'm trying to bounce him to sleep.

I did a bit of Googling and it seems this could be late 4 month sleep regression...really hope this doesn't last long as I do not do well on broken sleep.

That was meant to say @Cupid! Stupid auto correct!!

My DD was like this for months (she's 11 years now!) and I found out too late that she needed noise. It sounds crazy, and I thought movement in her pram was all that would work, but really quite loud background noise and she'd drop off, however hard she'd been fighting it. You can get "white noise" apps for your phone. Nothing wrong with trying, next time he's clearly tired, playing the noise and seeing what happens.

This was my DD. I walked miles every day. In the winter too!

At 6 months, we done controlled crying for naps. It was hell for 2 days, then she was in an amazing routine of 45 min at 9.15, 1.5 hours at 12.30.
Helped her evening sleep too.

I know there's a lot of pros and cons, but it worked for us.

@amysaurus87 exactly the same as my DD. I'll be bouncing her and she's throwing her head back and pushing off me like she's trying to escape. I use white noise, sometimes it works like magic... ithertimes it doesn't work at all. She's 5 months, has never taken a dummy but always looks like she wants something to suck. I've tried every brand of dummy going. I'm hoping she grows out of it soon. Apart from when she needs to go to sleep she is the best baby ever! So happy and smiley all the time.
I've read about controlled crying, not thoroughly, but I don't know if I can do it. All these things that you apparently have to do with your babies now, did any of our mother's or grandmothers do this? Sometimes I'm a bit sceptical of all these things... I feel Some make you feel guilty and as if you're harming your child mentally by not following certain strategies... Maybe I'm just tired and emotional and ready too much into things lol.
Let's hope it gets better!

So happy to hear you got a decent nap! If it can happen once, it can happen again and it will :)