6 month old always tired but won't nap

[littleanimal]

DD used to be impossible to settle in the evenings, but after a month of PU/PD we finally cracked it and she can now self settle (admittedly dozy after bf) and sleeps 7ish to 6am with one feed anytime between 1 and 4 (big improvement). So I decided to tackle her daytime naps. I always used to take her out in the pram for naps, which would work well. However now it seems to have stopped working, and the slightest thing wakes her. I've been trying to get her morning nap in her cot for the last month using PU/PD. It takes 20 mins for her to fall asleep and then she only stays asleep for 25 mins. There has been absolutely no improvement over this time. I know she needs longer because she's tired again after only about 1 hour. It's the same story with her naps later in the day. In the last week I've tried letting her cry - but then she doesn't calm down even when I pick her up - in fact she screams even more. So then I just try to shush/pat whilst she's lying in the cot. Today it took 45 mins for her to fall asleep - for only 20mins sleep! It's heartbreaking because she seems tired all the time because of this rubbish napping. We're also weaning at the moment, and if I catch her at the right time ie. the few moments of the day she's not tired, then she takes her solids well. However if she's tired she won't take them, so it's causing a big problem with her feeding. It's impossible to try to fit in all the bf plus finding a time she's hungry but not tired to give solids. I'm so exhausted and despondent.

You have my sympathies! I have a 10 month DS who also wouldn't nap (or sleep at night for that matter) He is also an incredibly light sleeper. At 8 months I started having sleeps on my bed with him in the day. Not the ideal answer but it did mean I got him to have some decent daytime sleep and I got a rest too!

Not the most constructive advice but might help get her into the routine of sleeping longer in the day, then you can try and get her back in her cot and use PUPD.

I have a 19 week old DS who does this. He will settle himself at night and sleeps fairly well. The day however is a different story he will have 40 minute naps and within 15 - 20 mins after waking he is fussy and seems to be tired (eye rubbing, yawning and generally upset)so I try to resettle unsuccessfully. So he spends most of the day miserable and clingy because he is tired.

So will be watching to see if anyone has any tips on encouraging longer naps, hope you don't mind littleanimal

Glad to know I'm not alone! Mummymimi - I know what you mean about unsuccessful resettling. Once she's had 20mins to take the edge off her tiredness she's impossible to get back down. I've tried keeping a background noise going eg. hairdryer, washing machine, classical music. I've also tried 'lying in wait' for her to start waking and then shushing straight away. Nothing seems to work. Help!

I haven't tried background noise, well apart from his older sister!! I might give that a go. A couple of weeks ago he managed a 2 hour nap and I thought I'd cracked it, he was a happy little man after that and I would love him to be like that everyday for both of our sakes. I spoke to my HV today and she said he would grow out of it but I am not so sure!! I am sure the answer is out there somewhere, just trial and error I suppose.

Good luck with the background noise mummymimi - it's worked a couple of times. But then again it hasn't worked many times, so it was probably coincidence! Starlight - I know what you're saying but I put her down for a nap when she is tired, not by some strict routine. She is tired again in an hour because she didn't nap for long enough in the first place. And then when I try to put her down again she's even harder to settle.

My DS2 is exactly the same - he is nearly 17 weeks old. He naps for about 30-40 minutes then wakes up and then wants another sleep very soon after so he also spends his day being grumpy and whingy as he seems to be permanently tired! (He sleeps fantastically well at night though - goes to sleep in his cot without a murmur and sleeps through - so I can't really complain.

Last week I thought I had cracked it - I managed to stop him falling asleep on the walk to nursery to drop DS1 off, so he could have a proper nap in his cot at home - he did and slept for about an hour and I managed to get him to have a good 2-hour nap at lunchtime aswell. Unfortunately over the weekend, it has all gone to pot again (probably because DS1 is at home and I don't have the time to concentrate on DS2) and this morning, he fell asleep on the nursery run even though he was in the sling facing out so not really that comfortable a place so the plan has all gone to pieces yet again!!

mine (also 6 months) only naps on my lap or in the sling, she wakes faster or doesn't sleep at all if i put her down. but if i go along with that, she is a great napper and sleeps for 45 mins-an hour in the morning and a couple of hours later in the day. i appreciate it might not be a great long-term solution for you but it could help break the cycle?

My ds2 was like this at about 6 months and I could never figure out why.

Now at 9 months he's great! I didn't change anything particulary - just made sure he was tired but not overly before I put him into his cot. Things gradually improved and now it's so good that I waste spend most of my mornings on mumsnet!

Thanks for the advice/shared stories. I guess there are just no easy solutions! Bizarrely DD has just settled herself after only 5 mins grizzling!! Will let you know when she wakes up....

also meant to add that i try and have a day or two a week where we can just hang out at home if we've been out lots/had lots of visitors etc, so she can catch up a bit, sleep-wise and i can rest.

I am not really bothered about routine ( I have 3 other children aged between 12 and 2 so I have to be fairly flexible for school runs etc) I would just like Sonny to be happier because he has had a good sleep to refresh himself, he's a completely different boy when he has had a good nap. I do have a bedtime routine however.

I also don't mind where he sleeps, my lap, pram, sling wherever. I have tried all and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

I am starting to think the only answer is time and that I should try and go along with what ever Sonny does rather than stress over changing it. Over time he will manage more awake time and hopefully longer more refreshing nap times will come too. Well I live in hope

Hi littleanimal - I just want to share what's working for us atm and hope to whoever's up there I don't tempt fate!!

My 18 week old DS is really good at settling himself - in his cot with his light show on, sometimes cries for 3/4 mins but nothing major however he would always wake after 45-60 mins - he would still be tired but just wouldn't resettle.

I read somewhere on the internet about static radio (a station that just plays crackles) and I tried that on in the background but it didn't work, then I read that it had to be on from the start of the nap and louder than if baby were crying so I turned the volume right up (I can hear it if I am outside his room) and he has slept for 2 hours every day (and I wake him up) for the last 8 days. Its been fantastic and I hope it lasts!! Worth a try??

Also, my DS won't fall asleep so easily in the pram anymore so when he looks tired I put a black jacket over the pram to block out the light, he goes to sleep within a couple of minutes, I think he just needs a bit of help when there is so much stuff to look at.

Thanks ChocOrange. I've tried leaving the hairdryer on which has worked a few times (often use it to get her to sleep in the first place - now on my 3rd hairdryer after 6 months heavy use!!)I'll try the static radio idea. Over the last 2 days she has settled herself quite quickly, which is amazing, but still only sleeps 20mins. Grr..

Def try the radio then - and remember to put it on quite loud. Worth a shot!

i've got exactly the same problem i used to be able to rock my boy to sleep but now that just sets him off screaming as if he knows that will make him sleep and he doesnt want to. He settles fine at bedtime but today he has just screamed his way through teh day becasue hes overtired.

Hi Litteanimal
i had a similar problem to you my 10 month wouldn't nap during the day he would go to sleep but wake up after 10 mins!!
choc orange told me about the static radio and to my shock he went from 10 mins to 2 hours!!!
he now has a nap every day and it has always been 1 1/2 or 2 hours so i really hope it works for you
also was at my friends the other day, no static radio and he still slept 2 hours so i think he has formed a habit now
he even has an afternoon nap aswell!!
i don't really have it on very loud and am going to try without next time we are home in the morning

I obviously have the same problem otherwise I wouldnt be here. My 6 month old hardlly spet during the day and woke every hour or so at night. He is better now, I put him down really really often. Every hour or so. things are still not perfect, but a huuuuge improvement. Seriously, I think our babies dont sleep because they need much more sleep thatn others and not becuase they need less. Put your baby down one hour after he last woke up, keep doign that throughout the day and see what happens.....

My 6 month old is a very short napper as well (15 - 20 mins) and has always been this way. Since birth, even as a newborn, he only took short 20 min naps. Then he was up again, temporarily refreshed, but whiny and sleepy again in an hour. This is the cycle we go through all day. Generally, he is also a whiny sleepy baby and I attribute this entirely to the sleep factor. If he happens to have a 1 hour sleep (which is extremely rare but feels like heaven nonetheless) he is much happier afterwards and it lasts longer.

Now by baby DOES sleep through the night for which I am forever grateful because if he didn't, I think I would go insane! haha. But the short naps during the day have exhausted me because he constantly cycles in and out of needing sleep and has been this way since birth. Lets just say I never had a sleepy newborn.

How can a baby sleep so well at night and be such an awful napper during the day? This is not a phase as he has always been this way but I am utterly frustrated and exhausted.

I was beginning to despair as all my friends from materinary classes had 'perfect' babies who took 2 hour naps twice a day and had happy babies. My baby is now 5 months old and only naps for 20-30 mins for maybe 2-3 times in a day. I can't get her to nap any longer she just cries and gets herself more worked up.

She does sleep well during the night (well I say sleep but we put an infared camera in her room and she tossed and turned all night but never cries!)

She is soooooooo tired during the day but she wont give in and is always cranky and easily bored. I put her in her seat and 10 mins later she's bored then I move her to her play mat and again 10-15 mins later she cries!

It's so exhausting on me in the 20 mins she does nap I have to try and get things done in the house like ironing, put washing on. I barely have time to eat somedays I don't till my husband gets home in the evening!

I don't know what I can do to make her sleep longer and to hopefully be a bit more happy during the day.

My 2.5yr old dropped her daytime names about 3months other than whenI really wore her out e.g. swimming then she might sleep in the car occassionally in the car or pushchair but rarely more than 20mins! She never did get her naps back I just learnt to live with it!

My six month old is also dreadful at sleeping, litterally 24hrs a day (and night) she is miserable and grumpy screaming from tiredness yet won't sleep and when she does it's rarely more then a five minute stint and never more then half an hour, then she is awake and miserable for at least half an hour before nodding off again and hen the cycle begins again.
I am exhausted at my wits end, i am up with her all day and all night! We have tried everything, walks, car drives, static, blacking out the windows, music, light show, mobile, cot, bed with us, routines, baths, massage, leaving to cry (she continues for hours until picked up).... It's such a night mare!!!! The doctor says there is nothing wrong she is just not very keen on sleeping! Unfortunately I do however like sleeping and after over a month averaging an hours broken sleep a day I just feel like screaming!!!!!

I have a 6.5 m.o. 45 min napper (he did have a spell of doing longer naps around 5 months, but stopped.

I find I have to start soothing DS off to sleep an hour and a half after he wakes up, so that he is asleep an hour and a three quarters after he wakes. It could be that you're mis-reading her tired signs. I know if my DS is generally tired, he will be yawning and rubbing his eyes at all sorts of times when he's not actually getting sleepy, so I have to work by the clock. For most babies, if you get them at the right time, it is supposed to take about 15-20 mins for them to fall asleep (although they may need help to do so).

It's harder for them to fall asleep for naps, as there is a strong biological drive to sleep (even if only a bit) at night, which obviously isn't the case for naps.

Have you tried a sling?

Moggyzmummy, that sounds hideous - no advice, I'm afraid, but lots of sympathy.