Daytime naps (lack of) driving me to distraction - please help!

[curlyLJ]

I am having trouble with daytime naps...
My DD is now 3 months old and naps seem to be getting worse rather than better. I've just spent 3 hours trying to get her to sleep. I have been patting/shushing, rocking, feeding etc and in the end for the last half an hour / hour she has become sooo overtired and was SCREAMING inconsolably and even boob wouldn't calm her down! I don't think there is anything else wrong, although she has been particularly fussy over the last week which I know could be a developmental spurt, but surely then she must NEED sleep?

I have been doing what I have always done and look out for her tired signs and try to put her straight down (after a cuddle and maybe a quick feed), but this week she has been having none of it

All the sleep books/websites say to put baby into their cot, but I don't see how you can do that when they are so young and (supposedly) having 3-4 naps per day as it would mean being restricted to the house pretty much permanently, so instead I have tried 'going with the flow' during the day and getting on with what I want to (out and about etc) in the hope that she would take what sleep she needs in the pram/car etc, but that doesn't seem to work.

So, for the last 3 days i have pretty much stayed in the house (apart from baby massage yesterday) to try and get a bit of a nap 'routine' going, but clearly that isn't working either. In fact I think today has been the worst day - she napped for about 25 mins at 10 am (after getting up at 8am) and then nothing until about 3.15pm, hence the overtiredness!!

She does sleep well at night from 9-4ish, then feeds and goes back to sleep 'till about 8 (or at least she did up until about a week ago and she has now started to wake at 2.30/3.00!) - and she generally goes down pretty easily at night too, again except for last night when we resorted to Calpol as she was screaming then too and I thought she might be in pain...

It's making me feel pretty crap as I can't do anything or go anywhere when she is like this or she will just cry. She's miserable when she is tired and it's making me miserable.

Any tips anyone?

Poor you. If it was me I would go for the easiest location to establish times, then move to cot later. Does the pram work for you? Easier to rock and I've found bumpy ground works best. Plus when it all gets too much you can go get chocolate!

Nightmare! If you check out the Slumber Party thread (page 4, I think) there's a load of advice from a sleep professional on naps for that age of baby. Also the Challenging 3 month old thread has loads of shared tips (and agony) about nap-fighting 3 month-olds.

It's awful, isn't it? Good luck and I second the chocolate advice...

Poor thing. I'm with NSTW - do whatever you can to make naps happen now and then switch to the cot once she's a bit better at going to sleep. My DS definitely needed very bumpy ground, although at 3 months he wouldn't sleep in the pram (he started to be able to do it from about 15 weeks, IIRC).

Have you tried a sling? That often works better than anything for difficult babies (it was the only thing that worked for DS between 9 & 14 weeks). I would try sticking her in the sling as soon as you reasonably can after she's woken up / fed / dressed etc. If she drops off, work out how long it was between waking and going to sleep, and then try to work on that nap most of all. It may be that she is only showing tired signs when she is overtired.

I think at that age my DS needed a nap after about an hour and a half of awake time, but I think some colicky babies need their first nap about an hour after they wake up.

Hope it improves.

curly can you try a much shorter awake time for the morning nap - say 45 mins? So after 45 mins, start soothing for a nap. Two hours awake time seems too long (my DS didn't only recently manages two hours of awake before his morning nap and he's 8 months. He was on about 45 mins at that age)

Next naps - again aim for a short window of awake time, 60 - 90 mins.

If it doesn't work after 20 mins, have a change of scene - leave the room etc. If you're wound up trying to get DD to sleep, she'll probably pick up on your tension. Try again after a short time.

Try this for a few days and once you've got a routine, you can try going out for some naps. I'd use a sling as more reliable (my DS rarely slept in pushchair as too much to see!)

Thanks for all the replies. Would you beleive it, DD slept for 2.5 hours yesterday afternoon after it taking me so long to get her to sleep. Her usual nap time (when I can get her to sleep) is about 45m - 1hr so not sure what happened there - maybe she was just soooo tired. It almost makes me think it's worth me keeping her awake longer between naps

I have tried various slings for DD but she really doesn't like them, I have got a baby carrier which I know is much the same and she will just about tolerate that. I doubt she would sleep in it though...too upright?
She will sleep in her pram but she tends to prefer being pushed back and forth in the kitchen than being out and about, strangely, although she used to like being walked to sleep.
Her habits and likes/dislikes seem to be changing on a weekly basis at the moment.

For the record, I did try to get her to sleep after she had been awake for less than an hour this morning (she was showing signs of tiredness) but then she started to fight it again and it took nearly 2 hours again (so she had been awake for nearly 3 hours in the end )

I've come to the conclusion that she is one of those babies who doesn't need as much daytime sleep. She still managed a full unbroken 7hrs last night, then slept for an hour from 5.30-6.30 and then another 45mins or so at 7am.

I give up!!! Now she's finally sleeping, I will go and have a look at those other threads you have recommended...

Please have my sympathy,DD is 12 months and her daytime naps are and have been all over the place. I feel that I have tried everything and am at a complete loss.She is now asleep after an hour of screaming rubbing eyes like mad! but i feel so bad. I too have come to the conclusion that she does not need as much as other babies as she too sleeps really well at night (12 hours usually unbroken)And I too try to give opportunities to nap where I can (car, pram etc) while trying to have a life!!! Good luck - if you find an answer please let me know!