5 month old not napping

[Nessamommy]

My son will not nap!!! He is so crabby and I'm about to lose it! He wakes up at around 7:30 and is in great spirits. At around 9:00 he starts getting really crabby so I swaddle him up and turn on white noise (all the things we do for our night time routine) and feed him..he falls asleep while feeding but once I put him down in his crib he is awake! Then he's up and grouchy...this goes on all day long. He sleeps really well at night (8:00-6:00) but the days seem so long and exhausting! I am tempted to just put him in his crib and let him cry himself to sleep but it pulls at my heart. I am at a total loss of what to do! He doesn't fall asleep in the stroller or car all that easily anymore either. Please please help!

I think you will have to persevere with repetition, just keep putting him down when he is tired. I did sssshhing and patting he will hopefully give up if he is tired!

You could try a sling it works for me or take him for a short walk in the pushchair

He just spent 2 1/2 hrs. napping...the only catch is...on me! He fell asleep while bfing and I just kept him there for sanity's sake. Maybe tomorrow I will let him cry it out a bit in his crib (scary)...the only thing is is that I don't have to do this at night. Has anyone had to do sleep training for just naps?

Hi Nessamommy,

I have a 5 month old too, who is very reluctant to go to sleep unless breastfeeding and who wakes up the second she is put in her cot too.

At night that is. Daytime naps are really easy because I am putting her down the Danish way - which is outside in the garden in her pram. Tugged up warmly, I put her out when she shows signs of tiredness and she will fall asleep without a peep and sleep for hours in the fresh air - you really should give it a try if you live somewhere with a garden!

Great idea NewDKmum...I will try that definitely when the weather gets better for me. I live in Canada..and there is still snow everywhere right now. In the summer I will try this...however, depending on the way the day goes today, if I just can't take it anymore I'm going to go for a walk with him. I just BF him to sleep (for a nap) and he's been down for 12 minutes...cross your fingers! Although I'm not sure what I'm going to do if he wakes up soon? Let him cry for a bit, or just let him get up and play (which he will be crabby b/c he hasn't slept long then).

Hope your ds had a long nap! There is snow in Denmark too, not at the moment though, but unless it is freezing a lot, everyone still puts their babies (0-3 years) outside to sleep - just put on more clothes or a thicker duvet (who said vikings?).

Personally, I think they shouldn't be left to cry at this age. The book "The no cry sleep solution" explains that the sleep cycles are 20 minutes and that they need to learn to self settle when they 'come up for air'. It advocates to intervene quickly when they wake up after a short nap, e.g. by breastfeeding back to sleep before they wake up properly so they learn to take longer naps.

Maybe we are making some progress! He slept for 1 hour this morning! The afternoon was a bit disturbed but he got a bit of sleep here and there. Much better day! Hopefully he will have a good one tomorrow as well!