3MO Crying before every sleep

[mrsacampbell]

My 3MO cries before every nap and every sleep. We've tried watching wake windows, making sure she's not over or undertired etc but she still fusses then cries until rocked to sleep for every single sleep of the day.

We contact nap (usually only lasts 30 mins then she wakes up 5 times a day) and I always try to make sure she's not awake for much longer than 90 minutes before sleeping. Sometimes she has different ideas though!

I've tried her in the pram (she hates it) and self settling in the cot (also hates it) white noise, dark room etc.

Is this normal? It makes me so sad that she gets upset before her sleeps.

Think I've read somewhere that the wake window should be double the nap period. So if baby sleeps for 30 mins, they should be down for the next nap 1 hour later. The only exception is if the nap lasts for longer than an hour, as wake window shouldn't exceed 2 hours.

Mine howled before every single nap until she stopped napping at 20 months, when she was able to articulate that she didn’t want to sleep (‘No sleep, not nighttime Mummy’). I never left her to cry, just rocked the buggy until she nodded off.

Weirdly she never did this at bedtime. I wouldn’t feel bad unless you’re leaving a tiny baby completely alone to cry, personally.

My ds also cried before every sleep, always. My mum used to call it 'emptying his lungs' 😂

I just used to think of it as the equivalent of him moaning that he was tired and felt rubbish.

90 minutes awake time is long for a baby this age. I'd start settling her after an hour and see how it goes. It would even be fine to start settling her after 45 minutes awake, if she's grumpy and crying.

A dummy reduces the crying significantly (and long term). I'd suggest introducing one now, if you haven't already.

Finally, rather than rocking in your arms, rocking her independently in something that moves is more conducive to independent sleep, if that is your goal. Try having naps in the bouncer. Rock with your foot (while you sit on sofa watching telly) evenly and rhythmically.