My daughter is almost 4 months old. I think I have asked this question before, but never got alot of advise. So please if you have any suggestions or even stories that will help me cope/feel better, I would appreciate it.
Again, my daughter is 4 months old having a hard time with naps. For bedtime, she goes down at about 8 or 8:30 and 95% of the time sleeps through the night until 6:00 or so. But her naps are not consistent. Every once in a while I will get a 2 hour nap, but most of the time it is 30 minutes. I use to swaddle her, but now I don't and she has a lovey blanket. When i took her swaddling away, she started to have longer sleep stretches during the day. At night she is not swaddled either. I put her down very sleepy, but make sure she opens her eyes before I leave the room. There is ocean noise in her room. When she wakes up at the 30 minutes mark and I give her some time to see if she will go back to sleep. Once it starts to escalate, I go in there and try to pat her bottom and that doesn't work. So I pick her up and soothe her again and repeat the process. She does like to be held, but we all know that can't happen. Her pediatrician says that she has not organized her daytime sleep yet and it will take time. But i was hoping that I could get some reasoning behind this or maybe other moms that have dealt with the same thing. I feel like I can't get anything done and I feel like all I do is try to get her to sleep. Any suggestions would be great!
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. It is frustrating more because I know she is still tired and just won't sleep. I continuously run into other moms and they ask about her sleep and they often tell me that their child is napping for 1-2 hours. So I can't help but think "what am I doing wrong"? One other thing that I forgot to ask was...Is it normal for a child at this age to have a difficulty time falling asleep. I have to really soothe her, lay her on her side, hold her tight and shhh in her ear. She cries most of the time until she finally settles. I have tried 3 different pacifiers and none of them have worked? Any other suggestions. We are going on a very long airplane ride in a few weeks and I don't want a crying infant on the plane. The only thing that soothes her to sleep is feeding her, but I don't want her to get hooked on that!
They usually do not settle down to a nap schedule until about six months old. Just be consistent and she will eventually fall into a nap routine. My
grand daughter is 14 weeks and sleeps well at night into the late morning,
but then it varies. Patience.
I think you are doing everything okay. My daughter is now 14 months old. My daughter is not a good napper either, and it drives me nuts. Her naps aren't that consistent either. She does sleep 11 hours a night though, so I shouldn't complain too much. I think your bundle of love just isn't tired. I stopped swaddling at 6 weeks. My daughter hates napping in her crib, so I put her in a swing or bouncer. I had to buy a toddler bouncer that converts to a rocking chair. I play classical music for her, and she falls asleep. This always works for her. I also play Baby Einstein CD's. She will nap anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours. As far as not getting anything done, how about having her with you in the room while you do stuff? I put my daughter in her highchair while I'm in the kitchen cleaning or cooking, and I talk to her the whole time. Or I would put her in a bouncer while cleaning rooms. Just make sure you have plenty of activity time with her, tummy time, etc., so she's not contained all the time. Gosh I hope this helps.
My boys both slept well at night in their cribs, but had a hard time napping during the day. Morning naps I often had to take them into the bathroom in a bouncy seat while I showered. The steamy air and the sound of the running water usually put them to sleep and I might get them to nap for an hour. In the afternoon I would take them for a walk in the stroller. When they fell asleep I would take them home and let them sleep in the stroller. Or I could take them for a ride in the van and let them sleep in the car seat in the garage. Sometimes I would take them swimming, then they would have a long nap afterwards. My kids were not big nappers from the start, and gave naps up altogether by the time they were two. They have always slept well at night though. I think you sometimes get one or the other, and I would rather have them do their sleeping at night!
Have you tried putting her in a swing for naps or the bouncer? My daughter used to have marathon naps in her swing ...
"She does like to be held, but we all know that can't happen." This sentence from your post makes me sad. Your baby is not yet at the age when she can soothe herself. So she still needs you to hold her and let her know that she is safe. I'm not saying you need to hold her through an entire nap, but picking her up an extra time or two is not going to hurt her.
Some babies, as your doctor said, take a while to find their nap pattern. My son was one. Be patient and she will sort it out. In the meantime, I agree with the swing suggestion. It will give you a much-needed break sometimes.
Every baby is different. My older daughter (24 now) was a great napper but she didn't sleep at night very well at all. She would take long naps twice a day for a long time. We were worried she wouldn't be able to stay awake for Kindergarten.... that's how much she liked her naps.
My younger daughter (14 now) was NOT a napper. She would take a 20 minute nap here and there but she slept through the night well, like your daughter. I never got much done when she was a baby, because she was constantly awake. But it sure was nice having her sleep through the night.
I didn't do anything different with the two of them.... other than the fact that I might have been more relaxed with my younger daughter because I was older.
Some kids just aren't nappers and some are. Some sleep through the night and some struggle with that. I think you should relax and try not to worry about it so much. If she's up during the day put her in a swing or bouncy seat so you can get some things done. Enjoy her! They aren't babies very long!
I feel your pain, because I had one of those kids too. All I can say is "hang in there!" Really. My eldest daughter didn't actually nap anywhere (other than a moving stroller or in my arms) until she was 8 months old. NEVER before that. I actually can vividly remember the day it happened. I cried, I was so happy. She slept for 90 beautiful minutes. But it wasn't consistent. Ever. As it turns out, she is just a kid who doesn't need much sleep. She's 11 now, so it's not as exhausting for me as it once was. As I'm typing this it is 10:15pm, she has been in bed since 9:15pm, and I've been hearing the pitter patter of feet for the past hour. She's just the kid who can go to sleep at 11pm, get up at 6am, and go go go go go all day long! It's crazy. I obviously still "fighting" with her on it since I tried to get her to bed at 9:15pm tonight. But she's not asleep. Why do I bother?!?
Anyway, there's my story. Hang in there mama. When she's 11 she can be up all night, and you can be messing around on Mamapedia :)
I suggest that you have a routine and let her sleep or not. When she wakes up get her up and go on about your day. I suggest that she may be responding in part to your anxiety about wanting her to sleep. When mama is tense so is baby.
My daughter had one of those. She would sit in the recliner and sleep sitting up with the baby on her chest. They had to get some rest, it was that or send the baby away for a couple of days. She was so exhausted she was nearly in the hospital.
There is nothing wrong with using a sling or holding the baby on your tummy for a while to sleep. They will outgrow it and it is a special bonding time for you both.
My son is 2 1/2 months and we have the same thing, except when he is at daycare or my sister's house. They both get 11/2 to 2 hour naps out of him and I can usually only get just over an hour on a great day, 30 on a bad day. I have to go in at the 30 min mark and stick the paci back in his mouth or shh him back to sleep. I don't wait for it to escalate b/c then I have a hard time consoling. He will take LONG naps for me in the sling and sometimes after 30 mins to 1 hour I can put him down to finish the nap in the crib. I swaddle at night, but only sometimes for naps.
The basics that I wasn't doing that helped me that are common sense but I was missing: did you change the diaper before the nap?, is the temp good?, is it to breezy in the room?, did you take off bib and/or hoods?. Also (not sure if you use a pacifier) if at that 30 min mark he drops the paci as he falls into deep sleep and it will wake him up. Sometimes I will wait a little after putting him down and try to drag it out gently so he's sleeping without it.
Best of luck!
I would suggest getting a good, cozy swing and try naps in there. We did that from about 3 to 7 months and established a really good nap pattern (2 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon). It was really no big deal then to transition her to her crib for naps. Good luck!
Try to get her to resettle. So a few minutes before you think she is going to wake up, go in her room and make a little noise, enough to get her to roll over. This will reset the sleep cycle and help her to consolidate a nap.
Basically she is at the age where she is learning how to settle herself. Sleep cycles run for 30-45 minutes before a deep sleep occurs. So she is waking during the light stage of sleep and is not able to just roll over.
And you should feel like all you do is try to get her to sleep. This is what the first 6 months is about ;-) Helping them learn how to sleep. Annoying, but it will be over soon!
