My DS may be the worst napper on the planet. Or, actually, that's not fair because he doesn't nap, so how could he be bad at it? If we're in the car or the stroller, he's out pretty much immediately, but at home it is IMPOSSIBLE to get him to sleep unless he's in my arms. At 5 months, shouldn't he be able to get himself to sleep? He does ok at night falling asleep, but during the day, even though he is so obviously exhausted, I cannot get him to go to sleep. I've tried the swing, his crib, a pack-n-play, the swing in the pack-n-play... you name it. Does anyone have any help, or ideas about a naptime routine? DD goes down for her naps pretty well (knocks wood), so I guess I could put her down and then read a book or something to him. I don't know why that hasn't occured to me before, I'm sort of thinking and typing... My other concern is that we're doing CIO for naptime since it worked so well at night, but eventually with naps I need to go in and get him. Either it's time to eat or time to go to bed, like now. So all his crying will have won him a free pass out of naptime, so he's not learning anything. I don't know if this makes any sense, but in a word...HELP!
i hope he naps soon for you! sean will get overtired and refuse to sleep, or only sleep for 30min if i dont put him down within an hour of waking up. he'll sleep for 1-3hours that way. he also likes something warm against him. my gma sewed a small beanbag type thing (about the size of his torso) and put rice in it. we heat it for 30sec in the microwave and lay it on his belly, or next to him and he usually calms down and starts to drift. dunno, but it always works for us!! i know i like getting into a toasty warm bed!
My only thought was to try to catch him before he is overtired. Is he on a schedule at all? With the twins, and pretty much with Evan too, he was on an 1.5 - 2 hour awake then nap schedule. If I waited it was harder to put them/him down. Good luck!
Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child? I really like it because it taught me what tired signs to look for and gave me a good idea about how much they should be sleeping. At that age, mine were just getting the hang of the morning nap. I would put them down about 1.5 hours after they got up in the morning and either lay them in the cribs if they were really tired and turn on some music or it would be about time for a bottle and they would just pass out after the bottle and I would get them into the crib. Maybe he is really overtired by the time you put him down and it just makes it worse. How about trying to get him down a bit earlier and see if that helps. You can also do a routine and see if that helps. Do you do a bedtime routine? That helps to teach them what comes next and gives them time to relax before just putting them into the crib. Mine were not quite able to self soothe at that age-close, but I still gave them a bottle or they were in the swing, etc before falling asleep. So if he falls asleep in the car or the swing can you transfer to the crib? Also if they are doing anything new developmentally that can really mess with their sleep for a week or so. GL! I hope he starts napping for you soon.
Thanks everyone! We're on a 3 hr eating schedule and I do generally try to put him down before 2 hrs of awake time, or the second I see a yawn or eye rubbing. I'm starting to wonder if that's too long? Somehow I've got to catch him even sooner? If he slept better at night I wouldn't be quite so concerned, but he's terrible. Up at least every 3 hrs. I guess he just misses me! I have read HSHHC and I'm trying to follow it as best I can. They go to bed at 6:30 or 7, and like I said I try to adhere to the 2 hr rule of awakitude. I guess my issue with the book is that there are not that many suggestions of what to do when it goes bad, just page after page of why it's so important to get it right. Anyone else feel that way? I like the idea of the warm rice thingy. Maybe since he likes it when I hold him, that would work as a substitute. Thanks again!
My ds will often do this too. We started to swaddle him again for naps and this helps a lot. He loves it. We don't have to do it when he goes to bed at night, just at some nap times. I don't always, just if he seems to need it. Sometimes when he wakes up at night I will swaddle him also. It might help. DD does not like to be swaddled so I will be interested to hear other ideas. GL Jen
at 4.5/5 months I was still rocking them to sleep and sometimes even sleeping with them. Slowly they got better, and now- most of the time- I can just put them down for naps. I didn't use CIO either.
QUOTE(eechy @ Sep 29 2008, 08:52 PM) [snapback]1004078[/snapback] Thanks everyone! We're on a 3 hr eating schedule and I do generally try to put him down before 2 hrs of awake time, or the second I see a yawn or eye rubbing. I'm starting to wonder if that's too long? Somehow I've got to catch him even sooner? If he slept better at night I wouldn't be quite so concerned, but he's terrible. Up at least every 3 hrs. I guess he just misses me! I have read HSHHC and I'm trying to follow it as best I can. They go to bed at 6:30 or 7, and like I said I try to adhere to the 2 hr rule of awakitude. I guess my issue with the book is that there are not that many suggestions of what to do when it goes bad, just page after page of why it's so important to get it right. Anyone else feel that way? I like the idea of the warm rice thingy. Maybe since he likes it when I hold him, that would work as a substitute. Thanks again! My girls have to go for a nap after 1.5 hours. They can't usually make it to 2. You could try putting him down a little earlier!
At that age mine couldn't make it to 2hrs either, I had them back down for naps within about 1.5hrs - and they didn't always show signs of being tired (yawning, rubbing eyes etc), I went more by the clock. By around 6.5mnths adjusted age I started napping more by the clock. From what I read of hshhc in regards to naps, you put them down for a nap and if they are still fussing/crying at the one hour mark you get them up and try again in a bit. Honestly I tried using this when the babies were like 5mnths old, but it really took them a few weeks to "get it" that they needed to go to sleep. Now I still have a 1.5hr rule, I put them down for 2 naps/day and leave them in their cribs for a full 1.5hrs each time, they cried a bit in the beginning but now I know that I get at least two 1.5hrs naps out of them/day. Good Luck, I hope something starts working soon!
