Baby self settles at night but daytime naps are awful!

[surreygirl1987]

Help! My baby is excellent at night; since he was one week old I found I could just put him down in his crib at 7 after a feed and he'd fall asleep and be out for almost the entire night (bar one or occasionally two night feeds). I do realise I'm lucky with that.

However since he was about a week old naps have been a battle and he lived in a state of overtiredness for a month while I tried everything! I can now get him to take 3 or 4 short naps a day in his crib but each one is such a battle. We use white noise, blackout curtains, grobag, dummy (Which we remove when drowsy), shush app and hand on chest. It does eventually work but is such a battle every time and takes forever.... then he will wake up at 45mins on the dot! Why can he settle so amazingly at night and so horrendously in daytime? He's only 11 weeks old. I look at my NCT friends' babies snoozing wherever they go and wonder why my little boy can't do thst! He does sleep well in pram and car but I can't go on 4 hours of walks and drives every day for the rest if my life! Please help!

Can I ask why you remove the dummy when drowsy? My baby has a very similar routine to yours (almost exactly with night times and day times can be a bit hit and miss) but if I removed the dummy then I'd have no hope. Maybe he needs it as a bit of a comforter?

Yes! I read it in a book and thought it was a stupid idea... but I tried it... and it worked brilliantly! Basically it's because dummies often fall out so then the baby can startle awake. Plus it's supposed to make it easier to wean them off later... or if it's proving tricky to wean them off it, at least it's not in for very long! The trick is picking your moment; I go for when my son's eyes are just about fully closing. He does suck a bit harder then so I pause for a moment I til he stops sucking then I gently ease it out. He usually reacts slightly - eyes open a tint bit and his mouth does a sucking thingy... then his eyes close and he drifts off as if by magic! The thing that confuses me is that he doesn't use a dummy at all at night (or any other time of day actually unless out in public and he's getting fussy and I can't figure out why)... so why does he need it in daytime? I also think his reliance on it is what's preventing him from entering a second sleep cycle. Does your baby only do 45 min naps too? How old is he/she? How long does he or she take to settle for daytime naps?

I didn’t use dummies for my dc but I don’t have a particular aversion to them. Try not taking the dummy way and see if that helps him to stay asleep longer. FWIW, I’m a childminder and have never had a problem getting toddlers to give up dummies (or at least giving them up for the hours they are with me-I don’t have any great tips for this, just a bit of reasoning/bargaining and it seems to work). I’m a firm believer in getting through today and worrying about tomorrow when it happens.

I walked a lot in the first year it was the only way they would sleep and a it less stressful than battling to get them to nap.

@surreygirl1987 my baby is 5 and a half months and has always had a dummy, she was very bruised on her head due to a traumatic birth and they advised we use one to help her head to align in all the right places. Their words were 'there is a time and a place for dummies, and this is one of them'.
It's a comforter for her though, she often spits it out at night and is fine but if she stirs we pop it in and she's straight back off again.
Her naps are only around 30-45 mins but thankfully what she misses in the day she makes up for at night so she's in bed asleep by 6pm