Please tell me your 3 month old sleeps as little as mine during the day!? <horror>

[fannybanjo]

DD3 is surviving on a little over an hour's nap all day and the main problem is that when she is awake, she wants to be held ALL the time. Now, I understand people may say "sling sling sling" but I have tried them and she hates being tucked away, she just wants to nose around. I am starting to lose my patience and it is extremely hard as DD2 is only 20 months old and obviously needs a lot of attention too.

Can anyone please tell me the best way to get her to nap?!

I am concerned she is very hungry, she is exclusively BF.

do you have a bedtime routine you can use in the day to try to settle her? Will she sleep at all if you cut out all visual stimulation? My DD needs to have nothing to nose at, so I hover my hand over her eyes so she can't look at anything then I find she closes her eyes an eventually gives in to sleep.

Poor you, it's so wearing when they won't nap... my DD has been a pretty terrible napper too.

Where is she napping when she does nap? Will she nap in her buggy at all? I know it must be hard with DD2 so young still but if she'll nap in the buggy the three of you could at least get out to a park or playground or something where DD2 can play for a bit?

If you want her to nap at home do you put her down in her cot awake when she's giving sleepy signs? What happens when you try this? Can be a fruitless exercise with little babies who want to be held all the time I know, but worth a go if you haven't tried it...

And what makes you concerned that she's hungry, does she not seem satisfied after her feeds?

Pretty soon she'll be big enough to go in a front facing sling too which could work for when she's awake.

Thanks for your advice, she just screams and screams if I put her down half asleep in her cot. I have tried EVERYTHING (being a mother of 3, I have seen/done it all!) but she just seems to be too alert. Funnily enough, she slept the most as a newborn out of all my 3, I was preening at my angel DD3!

Do I just grin and bear it?

My 3 month DS2 screams the house down when I take him off for his nap times - every time (very wearing) - I just swaddle him, make room really dark and hold him till he calms down and pat him on his back shushing until he dozes off then pop him in the cot and run - admittedly it can take a while to get to the sleep stage. I swear by the swaddle as once he's asleep it ensures he stays asleep which is a god send.

dinky, you my have cracked it, I did swaddle DD3 but she was getting out of it. I may have to start swaddling her again, I just need to dig out a larger sheet.

mine is 3 months too and i started swaddling after dinky suggested it a couple of months ago - it really worked (after the inevitable and wearing 15/30 mins of crying/shushing etc) -

also, i tried loads of swaddles and found the kiddopotamus one with velcro the best - really held the wriggler in. is on amazon.

she is now in a grobag and naps well in the cot 9am-10am BUT very little gets her in her cot for what i wish was a long 2 hour lunchtime nap - i stick her in the buggy and walk mostly for the sake of sanity.

In the cot, i hold her (while she is swaddled/in gro bag) until she is quiet (try doing squats with her to stop her crying - weird but it works for me), put her down in the cot (crying begins) and hold her hands down by her sides and shush her for 2/3 mins. if she hasn't stopped crying in that time, i pick up again and start the process again. can take between 3 mins (this morning!) and 15 mins (most mornings!)

does he sleep in his cot at night?

good luck.

Another vote for the swaddle here. An absolute Godsend. We used the Miracle swaddle from Mothercare - about £15 but worth every single penny as we used it for every nap and night sleep from birth to 20 weeks when dd learnt how to escape.

Mind you, getting dd to sleep without the swaddle after 20wks was tough for a few days while she got used to the grobag and being able to fling her arms around with gay abandon!

Ladies, you are right re swaddle, she has slept from 8.45am til 9.45am, up until 11.30am and has been asleep since then! So far 3 hours of sleep today. I will carry on swaddling her for as long as I can get away with it. Thanks!

Hurrah! So pleased you're getting a break with the swaddle use Fannybanjo - they're a gift from god. We swaddled in some form or other DS1 until he was well past 6 months as he needed it - did have visions of him still being swaddled when at university but he gave up the swaddle voluntarily eventually....

dinky I thank you so much! I can't believe I hadn't even thought of re-swaddling her. I am like a different person today, DD3 had to be awoken at 2.30pm. She had 3 hours sleep. She was then an angel all afternoon as she was obviously well rested and then she went down like a dream at 7pm.