Nap refusal - how do you deal with it?

[sittingwaitingwishing]

My LO is 4 months old now and we had generally been able to pop her down in her cot for naps but sometimes she fights it a bit. She generally doesn’t nap longer than 30 minutes but that’s another matter…
Just curious for those who do have LOs who fight naps, what do you do next? This morning she was showing sleepy cues so I took her to her cot and shhh-ed etc but she is absolutely wide awake again. Do you generally persist with them in the cot, or get them out and do something else? Just curious to know others’ approach!

I’ve wondered this too! Maybe a bit different for me as I feed to sleep but if she doesn’t want to sleep I either persevere with perhaps a small break for a few minutes - often I lay her next to me while she looks around and rubs her eyes, or I give up and try again in 20 mins. But then baby is overtired and sometimes even harder to settle!
Not much help so intrigued if anyone else has any thoughts.

Buggy? I’ve always done all naps in the buggy, can’t cope with having to be at home for naps, and the toddler needs exercising anyway.

A covered buggy with white noise might do it! Rock it back and forth.

My LO is 13 months and has had the nickname 'the nap refuser' from birth🤣 he has never gone down in his cot for more than 10 mins. Sometimes he'll fight sleep for literally hours! I learnt to just go with it. If he fights it I just let him play until he's exhausted, not ideal I know but sometimes you just have to do what you can to get through the day! X

Sling, pram, car or contact naps here at 7 months. I wouldn't have wanted to be stuck in the room with a cot so it suits me! I figure life's too short to force naps but of course every baby is different

Oh interesting. I bounce my 4m old. Sadly he won’t feed to sleep any more. It’s the sunk costs fallacy - if I’ve been bouncing him 20m and he’s still squirming i feel I need to keep going as I don’t want to ‘undo’ the last 20m. Whereas sometimes I should probably just stop and try again in a while. He does eventually nod off but it can be a fight.

Having said that I’ve recently discovered 2.5h seems to be the ideal wake window. He falls asleep much more easily than say at 1h45. I imagine this will have changed again by next week!

@popcornlover13 wow that sounds intense!

I introduced a lovey/comforter to both of mine around 4 months for naps (supervised) and it was a game changer each time. I always put them down drowsy but awake and then only went back in if they cried to reassure (not for fussing). They eventually get used to it.

My second baby would only sleep on me for the first 3 months and it took a couple of weeks for him to adjust but he is a dream sleeper still now at 14 months.

Also could be the 4 month sleep regression for you and usually passes within a couple of weeks

[quote Mytigerhasstripyfeet]@popcornlover13 wow that sounds intense![/quote]
It's just one of those things I guess! He will fall asleep in the pram or car if he's really tired but as soon as the movement stops he's awake and I don't fancy driving around for hours a day 🤣 most of the time if I know he needs a nap we'll cuddle up and I get comfy with snacks and the tv remote lol! X

Dd moved to one nap a day at 5 months old. People literally gasped in horror when I tell them this, but it meant that rather than avoiding 2 or 3 naps per day, she happily went down at about 11:30ish for a good 2-3 hours. I never paid much attention to wake windows and stuff like that

Thank you all - some really interesting responses!
I was out this morning so she slept in the carrier this morning, but the lunchtime nap was in the cot. Still only 30 minutes long but she drifted off very quickly - within 5 mins or so.
I can get her to sleep in the cot for naps most of the time, although I have to also accept they won’t be long naps (I do contact naps if I need her to sleep longer). It’s just the bit about when you put them down and they start fighting it from the get-go that I’ve been intrigued about!! Sometimes it feels counterintuitive to quit and give up trying to get her to nap if I have misjudged the timing… but equally watching her wiggle about and smile at me in the cot seems ridiculous too!!
Pleased I’m not the only one who has questioned what is best to do in these situations 😁

Wow @Findahouse21 - that’s so interesting! I wish she would do more than 30 mins in the cot in the day. I tried with a longer wake window today and she went down so easily but still woke up bang on 30 minutes…!! Infuriating! Especially as she can sleep long stretches at night 🤷‍♀️