Does anyone else have a baby who never naps?

[tenacityflux]

My DD is 11 weeks, and won't nap - if I put her in her crib she sits for a while and screams, I comfort her but she won't go back without screaming. I try not to let her fall asleep on the breast but if she feeds and is sleepy I will put her in her crib, might get 10 mins, no more; In the pram she will go ofrf after 20 mins but be awake 10 mins after we stop; and the sling she will nap for hours but I don't want this to be the only place she sleeps. At night we put her in her rocking crib (awake) by our bed and some nights she rocks to sleep, sometimes she wakes on and off all evening and is rocked back asleep; when she finally goes she will probably sleep till 12.30 then comes to bed with us as she will never settle back in her crib - but during the day so is so awake, and I worry this will effect her night times and make her over tired, but apart from whiskey in my morning tea, what can I try?Sleep books always assume your DD naps in the day time, they never tackle that!

[ilovelovemydog]

It's only been in the last week that DS has napped. He's 10 months now, and just would not nap. Ever.

Unless in car seat on a long journey - how do they know

He needs about 20 minutes of crying to get himself to sleep...

[tenacityflux]

oh, thank you, we do all of that apart from the swing seat as we haven't got one,so that would make it hard but sleep deprivation may see me having a go...and unfortunately my mum who lives near us is disabled and can't carry the baby or push chair down our stairs as we live in a flat, the inlaws are coming ( said in a similar style to help, the redcoats are coming) to stay for 3 days - which as you might imagine is a mixed blessing - what with fil who starts every sentence with 'I'm not racist but....' and the bottle feeding queen and cc fan mil - oh well, they can take out out for a walk at least,I shouldn't be so mean, it's just they are not the people you might choose to have a break down in front of, and be told endlessly how their sons ( though not DH, which may be why we're in this situation..)all slept like angels from day one.But thank you,thank you for replying to me, I am feeling better today because DD was a bit more peaceful in the night and DH got her to nap in the basket for 1 1/2 in the morning and she's had 2 hours in the sling and soon I shall do the bath thing and rocking, patting,feeding, whatever I can - and I'll give swaddling a go,and think -'Only 6 1/2 more months 6 to go....! I am trying to get her to sleep, when I got up today she was yawing in the bathroom in her bouncy chair so I quickly ran back to bed, but no dice, she lay there with me kicking merrily! Ho hum, I really ought to stop moaning and repeat 'This too will pass!' I had a go at putting her back in her bed but 2 seconds on the bed and she went purple in the face so not having that yet!

[TheGabster]

Sorry about the PIL - my mum is v. interfering and we just won't go there! They can be a pain but just use and abuse - whatever you need to do to get yourself to a better place.

You will always have support here whenever you want it - we have to stick together with these things!

But naps sound fab for yesterday! That's really good news. Just keep at it any way you can and if it gets too much, pass the parcel (hand DD to DH or anyone else who stupidly finds themselves nearby!). I think the yawning in the bath idea was right, just its going to take time to get her over it all so (unfortunately) by the time she yawned it may have frustratingly been too late already.

I know you said you have NCSS so read the beginning again and see if it helps (I love the way E Pantly writes).

[TheGabster]

Tenacity - are things any better?

[juliegillard]

Hi there, I just found this thread - not sure if it's still active.

I just wanted to say - have you considered whether your little one might have silent reflux? My little girl has it (only fairly mild luckily) and it makes her SO grumpty. She also didn't sleep well at all for the first couple of months until I put her on Gaviscon.

You can buy Infant Gaviscon without prescription, so personally I would try it. If that proves to be the problem then you will have good grounds to insist that your GP prescribes it.

Julie

[tenacityflux]

Hello!
Ok, where are we now? I am trying to give DD 2 naps a day in the sling and proof it does help is that I am a bit ill today so I only managed to walk her once, I tried napping with her in the sling and we went off fine but I tried to move her out and she woke after half an hour, and I couldn't get her back to sleep - end result, temper tantrums and screaming at bath time and I fear she'll be awake early as we had to get her to bed early. I still can't get her to nap any other way but a slight improvement is that after an hour in the sling, I can usually put her in her bed and she opens her eyes, and has then gone back to sleep.
She's had a cold so the nights have been difficult and she's been waking more - but I am coping - just!
Julie - I have tried her on infant Gaviscon but the recommended 6 does made her really constipated - she was screaming in pain trying to pass a stool and we had to give her a bath to ease things along - so at the moment I give her one dose as she has one bottle in the evening (BF the rest of the day, a legacy from early mixed feeding problems) - which I hope helps settle her.
We have got a sleep routine which is quite mad - DH marches her up and down saying 'hup 2 3 4' for 10 mins, then puts her in her crib and we push it back and forth so it drags on the floor for 10 mins which sends her to sleep and then gradually change to rocking it on it's rockers, slower and slower, all to the sound of waves breaking on the shore. My hope is that we can gradually reduce the mad dragging phase to rocking and then slowly reduce that, we put her down awake so she does fall asleep in her bed - but perhaps this is all just fooling myself! It's just that nothing else has ever worked, and this pretty much sends her off. It only works once though, once she wakes in the night, it's in bed with me or nothing - last night I tried rocking her between 12 and 2 - when I stopped she cried, she was happy while being rocked but in the end I figured letting her feed in bed was the better option!
But - what success did you have with infant gaviscon, did you use 6 doses a day or less?What were your DD's symptoms?