Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

So, if you have two children who still need naps...........

11 replies

robino · 26/01/2009 12:42

how do you do it?

I thought I had it cracked. I completely subscribe to "decent naps = decent sleep". It took a long time with DD1 (now just 2) to get her to stop fighting naps. She always needed plenty and with careful watching, perseverance and the odd car journey induced nap but by 1 year she was generally good and since about 16 months has been fab. She still has anywhere between 90 mins - 3 hrs at lunch time.

With DD2 (6 months), it's whole different ball game. Not in the way she "behaves" re naps - she, like big sis was, is BF, still needs to feed herself asleep, is v easily distracted by noise, movement. But she also fights sleep more ferociously than DD1 did and if she wakes as she's feeding to sleep that's it for at least another hour.

up until last week she usually managed a 20 min cat nap on my lap early morning and late afternoon while i forced DD1 to watch cbeebies and was managing an ok nap at lunchtime (45 mins, occasionally more). This last week we're failing everywhere! She's exhausted and not sleeping well at night (not that she's ever been that great). She woke at 6am today and has had a 45 min nap while DD1 asleep but she's still so tired and will not go off. And once DD1 wakes I can't go and lie down with her in a quiet dark room - I basically don't have the time or energy to devote to her naps that I did with DD1!

So. other than bundling them into the car at least once a day at the expense of doing something more interesting for DD1 - is there anything I can try?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
robino · 26/01/2009 12:43

oh, there are so many typos I can't correct them! can I plead lack of sleep?

OP posts:
samsonthecat · 26/01/2009 21:02

My DD2 has a dummy and sucks that to go to sleep. Like you I had not got the time to devote to getting her to go to sleep that I did with DD1. I have no idea how I am going to get her to give the dummy up (she is 20 months now) but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

robino · 27/01/2009 09:02

DD1 was complete dummy addict, actually still is at 2, but DD2 won't entertain even the sight of one! Believe me, I've tried!

OP posts:
samsonthecat · 27/01/2009 16:01

Have you tried all the different brands and shapes? My DD2 only likes the Tommy Tippy cherry shaped ones buy refuses anything else. I think the other ones slip out of her mouth.

robino · 27/01/2009 16:38

Tried all! And nearly every bottle/teat combo on the market too in the quedt to get her to take a bottle.......

OP posts:
robino · 27/01/2009 16:40

quest

OP posts:
luckylady74 · 27/01/2009 16:46

I'm afraid I did use to bundle my twins and ds1 into the car somedays when they all needed a nap - took a boook and parked somewhere nice!

samsonthecat · 27/01/2009 16:47

Yes one of my friends does this!

Swaliswan · 28/01/2009 09:35

My DD was exactly the same. We found that spending a few weeks getting her to nap at regular times using whatever means possible meant that she got over her over-tiredness. In turn this meant that she fought naps less and we had solved half the battle. Then we tackled the issue of getting her to sleep in her cot. It probably took about a month to get her into a really good sleep pattern but her sleep at nighttime improved so much and she came on leaps and bounds from there.

robino · 28/01/2009 16:12

Thank you. You're right - whatever it takes to get her to sleep! At the moment that seems to be copious amounts of Cbeebies for dd1 and swaddling dd2 while feeding her. I shall persevere....

OP posts:
Swaliswan · 29/01/2009 14:07

Just a thought, are you sure that there is nothing else going on to make her uncomfortable while she is sleeping? Apart from the obvious (too hot/cold etc) what about colic or reflux? I just wondered because she sounds very similar to how my DD was and I wonder if maybe it's because the car seat is much more upright that she finds it more comfortable to sleep in. The only other thing that I would try is some cranial osteopathy treatment. I guess that she would need two or three sessions to get the full benefit but it was like turning a switch on in DD that helped her to sleep far, far better than she had done previously.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page