4 month old, always cries before naps.. is this ok?

[mazbogs]

my 4 month old dd, apart from bedtime when she drops off to sleep on the boob, always seems to cry for 5-15 mins before falling asleep at nap times. i know she is tired, but am i being cruel by not rocking etc.. we did used to rock, sway, bounce her on birth ball to help her fall asleep,but she cried then too!

Its probably just her way of settling down as she gets older you'll probably find this is replaced by moaning and then she may chat or talk to herself. don't worry!! its important she learns to go to sleep on her own.

try putting her to sleep a bit earlier - she may well be overtired.

i tried putting her down at the first yawn as suggested, and she cried only for 4 mins.. so maybe i was letting her get overtired. thanks for the advice

Glad I read this as DS (nearly 4 months) does exactly the same. I too am reluctant to rock etc, just pad in there every so often. Was feeling very guilty about it. Feel a bit better now!

Some babies just seem to do this - but I agree particularly if they are overtired. My ds1 was always prone to overtiredness, however careful I was, and would usually cry before settling himself. he grew out of it some time after he was one I think! I really hated it but there wasn't much of an option - he needed to be left alone to get to sleep, rocking would have made it worse by overstimulating him.

I have to say that I rock slightly in the baby pram. I know they say you shouldn't but I can't see any harm probably will have problems when I transfer to a large bed for lunchtime sleeps later on.

'They say you shouldn't'?? Who are 'they'?!

Always rocked mine to sleep, never had problems transferring to big bed!

the only problem with rocking them is that they learn to associate the movement with going to sleep and some can find it difficult to fall alseep without it.

Dd used to cry a little before going to sleep and I used to worry but she seemed fine. Made no difference how she was put to sleep either.
I read someone on mumsnet say once that it was like having a little grumble before going to sleep.

It is hard and I do find it hard not to keep going in. He has now started crying louder, and I feel I can't leave him in that state, but often when I get in there, his eyes are closed and he is just making noise, no real tears. But I am finding it harder and harder!

flosaam - if you can look at it that he really does need to sleep, and that is his way of getting to sleep - some kids suck their thumb, some grumble, some cry. Just try and make sure they are not overtired because for some reason that often means they can't fall alseep easily.

Someone said a while ago that this is their way of getting rid of any excess energy before they settle down to sleep. My ds went from crying before napping to making a singing type sound.

I knew with ds that if he cried when I put him down for his nap then he would definitely sleep. If he didn't cry but looked around, he was not tired and in playing mode. So for us, crying was a good thing!

My four month also has a little cry before settling to sleep before every nap.....i thought all babies did this!!!!! I found he was more upset if I rocked or patted him and it was taking him longer and longer to settle in my arms and he would be frantic. The kinder thing for me to do was leave him have his winge for a few minutes on his own in his cot and he settles in minutes as opposed to taking over an hour to settle in my arms

ds is 7 months now and he generally has a right good moan before falling asleep for a moan. I do have to cuddle him though, as when I just put him in his bed he finds whatever to play with (atm his feet and those I can't remove from the bed ) and won't sleep ... dont' mind that way he gets his cuddle time without dd getting jealouse, because 'baby is tired and needs cuddle'

I always put it down to my DD getting rid of her excess energy before she slept. Might be a load of rubbish but made me feel better