My Baby Will Not Nap!

I went thru the same thing with my daughter. A book was recommend to me and it worked wonders. I use it as a reference all the time and am using it with my second child too. It is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. It is very informative and easy to use. Give it a try and good luck.

Meg W.

My son was never a sleeper. I had heard about babies sleeping 16-18 hours a day. Not my son, he has always slept about 8 hours give or take no naps. I spoke to the Pediatrician who assured me that this was okay and that he was being stimulated and learning. He is now 3 1/2 and still has the same sleep patterns. In the beginning I tried everything and finally went with the flow. He turned out great.

R.

I guess I don't know what you mean by your routine changing on Saturdays, but I think that is normal. At least if you work like I do. I have to get stuff done on the weekends so we go to the grocery store, church, outside to work on the yard, etc. Up front I will say that I have read a number of books, including Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child but I still am not convinced that the right thing to do it to let my daughter cry and not respond to her when she is 7 months old. I may believe it when she is older, but not yet. I have posted a couple of times about my daughter's sleep schedule and I often get "read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" though, so maybe I am off the mark. However, my mother rocked me to sleep and I am now able to fall asleep and stay asleep just fine and neither my parents or I ever remember me having a problem sleeping even when I was little.

We try to watch our daughter closely to see when she is tired. For my daughter normally she slows down and looks like she is daydreaming when she is tired. At that point we work on getting her to sleep. I cannot yet just put my daughter in her crib and have her fall asleep. We try every now and then, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but most of the time I end up helping her fall asleep by holding her in the rocking chair.

If we are out and about on the weekends she often falls asleep in her stroller without any fussing and sometimes in her carseat. I may be deluding myself, but I don't think this is a terrible thing for her to be able to adjust and sleep while we are out and I think she enjoys being at the zoo. I try to make sure she gets one of her naps in her crib though. She just recently switched to 2 naps and I try to make sure the afternoon nap is in the crib since it tends to be a longer nap. But sometimes it doesn't work out.

I say go with the flow. If your daughter is tired try to help her fall asleep. Take her somewhere quiet and hold her, or take her for a walk in her stroller. In the long run I think the important thing is that she gets enough sleep. If she falls asleep the rest of the time fine, I don't think helping her once a week is going to hurt anything.

D.

For starters, try to keep her Saturday schedule as close to her weekday schedule as possible. I know the urge to sleep in but if you wake her up at the same time you would during the week you will have an easier time getting her to go down for her nap.

My daughter is also 7 months old and sometimes has a hard time going down for a nap especially if she's gotten overtired (usually from a stimulating afternoon in the park). I try not to let her get to that point but if she does I usually have to let her cry for a short while in her crib. After 10 to 15 minutes I'll go pick her up and she'll fall asleep on me within 2 mintues.

I know some moms have said to just let her cry it out, but studies have shown that babies turn into more trusting and independant children if you respond to their cries as infants. Besides going with the research I just can't stand to let my little one cry if there's something I can do about it.

I had the same problem with my 5 yr. old when he was a baby. So I asked my doctor what to do and she said, you have to take charge. Let her cry, and about every 5 min. go in there with her for about 5 min., and try to sooth her by rubbing her back, or singging her a song, etc... What ever you do, do not pick her up. It may take awhile, but she will learn that she doesn't have a choice and she will go to sleep. It took me sometimes 1 hour or so, but after awhile I could set him in his crib, and he would go right to sleep. I know it's heartbreaking to listen to them cry, but in the end it's the best for you both. Babies need naps, and mom's need breaks, even if it's just for an hour.

A sleep schedule sounds in order here. A regular routeen that she will learn from day to day. This is what to expect every time. She is too young to differentiate between days of the week....so, I doubt it is that. Are other things different of Saturdays like is your signicant other home during Saturdays? Anything else different?
I believe that if you get her on a schedule, she will get her nap. But every kid is different. This will take a little while to get her on the schedule, but hopefully, at the end, she will sleep.

I agree with previous post. Unfortunately, babies can't differentiate between days so when the schedule is broken she can't quite adjust. I am glad to hear she is able to go back into the groove on Sunday. I know when we have to throw the kids off... they take a day or two to adjust. I also find that the kids will sometimes not sleep as well on the weekend cause they see Daddy more. Good luck!!! :)

J.,

Our little guy still does this and he's almost 15 months! We sort of just go with the flow. We try to keep the routine if we can, and have some calm time before the typical nap time, but I think he is just so excited that we are both home on the weekend that he refuses!

Sometimes it also helps us to just try, give it a while, let him come back out for another 30-45 minutes, and then try again. But sometimes it's just no afternoon nap and that's that. :)

Good luck!

J. ;)