Please help me with naps

[pleasegobacktosleep]

Please can someone help me with my baby’s naps?!

He used to have one short sleep in the morning a couple of hours after first waking then a long (usually 2 hour) nap at about 11-2ish then a very short nap later in the afternoon although that was always a bit hit and miss. But now things are all over the place. He still has a short morning nap but now the lunchtime sleep has shortened to about 40 mins and no amount of pacing/rocking etc will get him to go back to sleep. Then the rest of the day is a bit pot luck, he might have two separate 15 mins or he might not.

Has anyone got any advice? I’m worried that he isn’t getting enough sleep and if I can get him to have more he will sleep better at night. I feel like I can’t see the wood for the trees and confused as to what I should be trying/encouraging him to do. He won’t take a dummy and sometimes I spend longer trying to get him to sleep than he actually spends sleeping

He is 20 weeks and a good weight (75 percentile I think). Sleeps okay at night, usually only wakes once for a quick feed although he is ready to start the day at about 5:30 which is a bit too early for my liking! And he is mixed fed

Any advice would be so welcome!

Desperate bump

No advice except to say that my 18 week old son is exactly the same! I’m exhausted and frustrated when bedtime eventually happens! Sending strength mama

My little girl sleeps 8pm-7:30am waking for a quick feed around midnight but will not nap in the day unless I wrap her up in her blanket and feed her to sleep.

I can't for the life of me get her to nap. I've tried her in her cot in the lounge and in her actual cot in her bedroom. I make the room nice and dark so she knows it isn't playtime and it doesn't make the blindest bit of difference. But, take her out in the pram and she'll sleep for hours.

Don't get me wrong, we're BF and she will have a quick 10 minutes after a feed but I don't count that as sleep as it's just a milk coma.

I'm worried she isn't getting enough sleep but I really don't know what to do!

How long have your babies been napping in the day?

My second is 14 weeks. She’s a really good sleeper at night and only wakes me once or twice, unlike my first born who woke up every 45mins to an hour for months. I don’t worry about the nap routine as it doesn’t seem to affect night time sleep either way but if the baby has only had a few 10 mins catnaps it’s out in the pram for a walk. If she sleeps for an hour and then wakes for about and another hours sleep that’s fine. Wind also wakes them up.

A sleepcycle is 40-45 mins. So they will naturally become more awake at this mark and it's getting them to sleep through this lighter sleep phase and push into another lot of 40/45 mins.

The way I did it was to have them nap in their stroller (lay flat) and at the 40min mark I'd rock the stroller. Just enough, and for just long enough that the lighter sleep would be lulled into a deeper one from the rocking motion.

I'd also have the longer lunchtime nap in a darker room (my room, I'd either nap on the bed or eat lunch and MN quietly in the light of a lamp). It didn't take too long before I could drop the mid nap rock.

I do feed to sleep wrapped in a blanket and wait until she’s in a deep sleep before putting in chair thing or basket. It’s normal to not be able to get them to sleep in a cot, basket, chair thing without rocking or feeding.

My DD went through a phase like this at around the same age. It felt like I spent every day for about 4-5 weeks just trying to get her to take a nap, or to sleep longer than 30-40 mins! It was hard work as she was very grumpy and overtired all the time.
All I can tell you is that is does pass!! DD is 6.5 months now and dropped the afternoon nap and settled into 2 naps a day with a long one just after lunch. I don’t think it was anything that I did that helped her come out of her bad napping habits to be honest, I think she’s just done it naturally. I think it probably helps now she is napping in her own room as well.
Have you tired going out for a walk in the pram at nap time? Not always but occasionally if DD dropped off in the pram I could leave her in there in the front room and she would stay asleep for a while longer. We also found white noise to be helpful, the machine we have turns off after 20 mins so I would sneak up and turn it back on again after she had been asleep for 30 mins, in the hope she would be able to drop back off if she started to stir after 40 mins.

Thank you all for the replies, it's good to know I'm not alone!! Does the 4 month regression effect naps as well as nighttime sleep?
I used to always take him out in his pram to get him to go to sleep for the longer nap then come home and he would sleep for a couple of hours. But now he wakes up after about 40 mins and won't go back to sleep, I can't seem to get him to connect the sleep cycles.
I could carry on walking him round I suppose but that won't help me with being able to have lunch/a rest/do housework
Maybe I need to stop worrying and hope he'll come out of it naturally

Do you leave the pram outside with the sleeping baby? I finding they stay asleep long in the garden. The garden needs to be secure.

@Itllbeaninterestingchristmas

Do you leave the pram outside with the sleeping baby? I finding they stay asleep long in the garden. The garden needs to be secure.

No I don't, I think I would be too paranoid to do that in our garden