9m wont take afternoon nap?

[SugarOrange]

Hi all,

My 9m sleeps has greatly improved since last post, he was definitely ready to try the ferber method again and nightime sleep is no longer a battle.

Day time naps however, ugh! First nap is ok, usually settles fine anywhere from 1-2 hours.

He then has a three-hour wake window and I try and put him down for 2nd nap so if he wakes at 10.30 am then 2nd nap is 1.30 pm but he just fights it for an hour then crashes for about 20 minutes and will not settle back.

What am I doing wrong? I've tried shortening morning nap but it does not work just leads to one very upset baby.

What's your settling method?

Have you tried a walk in the pushchair?

@FATEdestiny

At bedtime it is bath, bottle, cuddle, goes down awake and settles himself most nights.

Morning nap is usually nappy change, bottle, cuddle and down sometimes drowsy sometimes awake and self settles.

Afternoon nap same again but he gives clear tired signs ahead of morning nap whereas afternoon he just gets cranky

@MsChatterbox yes and this does seem to work if it's a long walk (over 40 mins) but the nap still doesnt last very long and he will wake as soon as I stop walking. Driving him around in the car seems to work best but its not very sustainable!

Maybe he just needs a shorter second nap? If he’s fighting it then he’s maybe isn’t tired enough at that point? I’d go with it being a bit later and shorter if he’s sleeping okay over night.

This was a phase for mine. I'd keep putting him down for the afternoon nap (maybe extend the wake window to 3.5 though) and it may fix itself. Definitely won't be ready to drop the nap at that age.

My DC went back to napping well for the second nap after a couple of weeks of this, but then dropped it altogether at about 13 months.

You could also try cutting the morning nap. Cap it at, say, one hour, if you want to, and you may find the second nap isn't so tricky.

Sorry OP, just reread the part where you said you'd tried capping the morning nap!

Second naps are always harder than first naps @SugarOrange. So you need to expect to give more help for baby to sleep for the afternoon nap compared to bedtime and morning nap.

That is why a pushchair walk will work. But you'll need to keep the pram moving. How about pushing back and forth on the spot, in the house? Then slow and stop once asleep but be prepared to restart the instant there is the tiniest grimace.

Another option would be to seperate feeding and sleeping for bedtime and first nap. But allow for some feeding to drowsey with the second nap, just to help it along.