My daughter had a rocky start with naps, then around 4 months became an awesome napper. She would go down for 2-3 two hour naps a day and was sleeping through the night about 12 hours starting around 5 months. We were blessed! Well, it all changed in the last few weeks when she became super mobile, learning to crawl and pull herself up. She now gets really tired for her morning nap, will fall asleep feeding half the time (breast for me or bottle for the nanny) and the minute she is transferred to bed, she is standing up and laughing. She use to self-soothe herself to sleep when we transferred her, no matter of her state (sleeping, half awake, totally awake...)
We thought maybe she needs to go down to one nap a day. But she is still really tired for both her naps....she just gets herself too excited and won't lay down, no matter how long I leave her.....
What is a mother to do? Please help!!!
This is a hard one. I would try keeping her awake during her feeding until she is finished then put her to bed with a full tummy. If she falls asleep while feeding it can be like a tiny power nap. Other than that I don't know. You can't make her sleep so you just have to leave her in there...I say for at least an hour. Then at least you get a break.
I am in your same spot with my 11 month old DD. In fact I just posted a similar request a few seconds ago.
I know it's just a phase. It just plain sucks for us as parents though to watch them be so tired. You worry about what the lack of sleep is doing to them and you are tired too.
It will pass. We just have to get through it. A few weeks of not napping won't seriously hurt your DD. I would just keep consistently putting your DD "down" for her naps and leave her in there for about an hour whether she sleeps or not. Eventually she (and hopefully my DD) will get over the novelty of their newfound "freedom" and get back into a normal sleep pattern.
I had the same problem w/my older son. If you want to clean up the schedule -- check out "Surviving andThriving During Your baby's First Year" www.babygroupvideo.com. It totally helped me get the nap, sleep and feeding schedules running smoothly which made everything run more smoothly. Best of all, my son was so much happier and well rested and transitions stopped being a problem. Good luckl
Kiki,
My 8 1/2 month old does the same thing! He is so excited that he can stand and pull himself up that it is all he wants to do. He will be dead tired, head in his lap and still drag himself to a standing position. I think once they are used to it they will stop. It is novel for them right now. The only way I can get him down now is to nurse him or rock him and have him be completely asleep in my arms first. He also used to self soothe and uses a blankie to get himself back to sleep. It doesn't work now that he's learned a new skill. I think it will pass.
