Baby Refusing to Go down for Naps

Hi S.,
I have a 7 month old baby girl who is the exact same way. However, she usually sleeps okay at night. She is just an early waker (between 5am and 6am) so I will nurse her and she will usually go back to sleep for an hour or so. However, after that we have many struggles with naps. She will just cry and cry. I can't do CIO either because she will scream for over an hour if I let her and never go to sleep.

The only way I can get her to nap is to let her get so tired that she falls asleep nursing. She wakes up as soon as I remove her from the breast but will then usually go back to sleep in her crib. Her longest nap we ever get out of her is about an hour and 15 minutes. ( We get our share of 20-40 minute naps too) If I try to put her down any other time than right after she nurses, she will just cry.

So, I just have to deal with her being tired and cranky until it is time for her to nurse. She won't usually nurse any more frequently than every 3 hours.

I completely understand what you are going through. It can be very rough. I can never plan anything, because I am never sure when she will be willing to nap or how long she will sleep. I constantly worry about her and how much sleep she is getting. You know how it is...all the books says babies need at least 14 hours of sleep total every day. We are lucky to get 12 on some days.

Feel free to e-mail me or send me a message if you just need to vent to someone who is going through the same thing every day. On the really bad days where she only naps for 20 minutes after much struggle getting her down, I can end up in tears and feeling extremely frustrated and defeated.

A.

My daughter was like this a lot. I had good luck strapping her into a baby backpack (I use a Sutemi pack - soft, and SO comfortable), and would take her for long walks. She always slept that way. If I didn't have time for a walk, I would put her in the pack and just walk around the house for a bit, until she dozed off, then I laid her in bed. Didn't always, work, but much of the time it did.

I also had good success with one of those big exercise balls - I would sit on it and "bounce" her to sleep. That was great for bedtime.

Good luck!

Read The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. She understands co-sleepers and breastfeeders and gives them strategies to improve sleep that don't involve stopping either.

I was just wondering if you have tired to put her down any earlier. Most of the time when my son refuses to nap it is because he is so overly tired.

My oldest never slept thru the night until he was almost a year. Then all of a sudden he started sleeping thru the night.

We did have to do the method where I went in and sat at the crib and rubbed his back to get him to sleep, never picking him up though.

Good luck and hopefully you will be sleeping soon.

Some kids just aren't nappers. My daughter didn't take naps until she was around 2. Even now, she still doesn't nap that much and I don't force her. I have always had her take a "rest period" in her room for at least an hour. She has also never slept through the night until she was older as well. Most of the time she still gets up at least once. I've just had to accept that she is one of those people that doesn't need alot of sleep. I, on the other hand, need way more than she does. Just try to do one rest period a day and if she sleeps, great, and if she doesn't that's ok too. Since it would be a new thing, you will have to check on her frequently so she doesn't freak out thinking you abandoned her in her room. Good luck. Let me know if you need more advice. I went without sleep for a really long time. I know how you feel.

Hi S.-
Babies are most secure when they are with you. They even nap in a sling around your neck :-) My son did the nursing at night and during the day, too. Every hour and a half for nine months, then once or twice a night to about a year and a half. Sometimes, sitting beside them, patting them on the back until they go to sleep works. I did well due to the nursing, though. No allergies, few illnesses, shockingly healthy child. There is nothing wrong. It is just nature's way. S.