Nap help

[Brie]

First, we are pretty lucky in that C is a great sleeper at night. He usually does a 5-6 hour stretch, eats, and then goes back down for another 4 or so hours.

BUT. He does not nap during the day, unless I'm wearing him in the Ergo. Today I put him in the Ergo, he hung out awake for awhile and then fell asleep. Half an hour later, when he was out so hard he was floppy and snoring, I took him out and put him in the RNP and he woke up about 5 minutes later. If I wear him, he will nap for 2-3 hours. He also sleeps in the carseat when we're driving somewhere, but I can't drive around for hours every day (he wakes up when the car stops).

I have tried swaddling, not swaddling, swing, bouncer, nursing, white noise...but during the day, he just will not stay down. He will fall asleep and is clearly tired, but if I set him down, he is up within 10-15 minutes at most.

Any ideas?

[Deleted]

Well, with anything that drives you nuts, a month will probably solve it. Can you live with Ergo naps for another month?

Have you pushed the S's simultaneously? Swaddle, in the swing, with the white noise, and a soother? In the car seat on the dryer is another oldie (obviously, make sure he can't jiggle off the dryer, but at his age I assume he's not moving too much in a car seat).

[dcrunnergirl]

How often are you offering naps? How soon after he gets up for the day are you offering his first nap? The real key for us was catching their drowsy cues before they got to the point where they were yawning and rubbing eyes and making sure they weren't awake too long. IIRC, at around that age, they'd be up for the day around 8am and need their first nap by 9am-ish.

[jr009j]

DD was like this (except she wouldn't sleep in the carrier, but rather only on my chest while I was sitting. If I moved, she'd wake up). We just kept trying to put her down in the crib over and over again. I'd always swaddle, darken the room, turn the sound machine on and then rock her to sleep. I'd always try to get her in the crib before I resorted to letting her sleep on me for at least a few naps a day.

I think the first time she stayed down more than 5 minutes was around 6 weeks, but it was sporadic until about 10 weeks.

[Brie]

I don't mind Ergo naps at all, but he will be in DC after the holidays and I don't want him to be too reliant on it.

We start trying to put him down pretty early in the day. Usually he wakes up, I nurse him, he chills while I shower, I dress him, he eats again and usually falls asleep while doing so.

[catbus]

Nov 3, 2012 14:34:29 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl said:

How often are you offering naps? How soon after he gets up for the day are you offering his first nap? The real key for us was catching their drowsy cues before they got to the point where they were yawning and rubbing eyes and making sure they weren't awake too long. IIRC, at around that age, they'd be up for the day around 8am and need their first nap by 9am-ish.

Ditto. E went on a bit of a napping strike Thursday and yesterday, so today we're heavily pushing getting him down to nap starting when he's been awake 45 minutes. For comparison, yesterday he took four 30-minute naps (crazy compared to his normal naps that total six hours or so!), and today so far (12:40 PM) he's already over two hours of naps after waking up at 9 AM.
But if you're already doing this, um... see Token's advice? E has had weird days, probably coinciding with growth spurts or mental development, in which he will only sleep on H or me, or only fall asleep nursing, or only in his bouncer. Like your guy, he's fine with nighttime sleep, but daytime naps are an enigma. As recently as five days ago, he'd fall asleep practically as soon as the car started moving, yet now he just wants to stare out the window.
Babies are weird.

[Mushe]

My baby was like this, to the point that I'd text MH pics if he actually fell asleep other than in the wrap. We tried everything that you mentioned, but ended up just waiting it out. I would do one big walk each day, and then just keep trying the swaddle and swing/RnP/bouncer. By the time he went to daycare at 4 mo he would nap in the swing there. He's still not a big napper, though.

[Deleted]

I would not suffer now for what probably won't be a problem in January.

[knitty]

Nov 3, 2012 14:41:34 GMT -5 Brie said:

I don't mind Ergo naps at all, but he will be in DC after the holidays and I don't want him to be too reliant on it.

As in January? Don't sweat it - between now and then are three growth spurts and a sleep regression. Even if he was napping alone now he might not be by then.

If you'd like some ideas, Elizabeth Pantley's no-cry sleep solution has some things you could try.

[biscoffcookies]

Since it sounds like its not so much an overtired issue (since he is sleeping well at night and you are not keeping him up too long between naps), this might just be how he is for now, and I echo those who say just go with it for a little while and it will probably change on its own.

At this age, DD would not generally not sleep unless I was wearing her or holding her while standing. Very rarely I could sit down, but typically if I did she woke up. Tolerable because her naps were always short (although that's a whole other issue). But by 2 months I was able to sit/recline with her, and if I waited until she was in a deep sleep, I could put her down for the remainder of her sleep cycle (at the time and given her history, being able to be baby-free for even 15 to 20 minutes was a big deal!). Fast forward to around 10 months, and she started demanding to be put down before she would fall asleep.

ETA: Try not to worry too much about daycare. He may have a couple days of limited/no naps as he adjusts, but I think that's true of every child. But he will sleep eventually there when he gets super tired, and that will help him learn to sleep Ergo-less.

[Deleted]

Have you tried using a heating pad on the surface where you want him to sleep? I do this for DD's RNP while I am trying to get her to doze, then I remove it before I put her down. I think that the cold surface sometimes startles her awake, and this seems to be working well.

[vanillacourage]

Nov 3, 2012 15:54:56 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

I would not suffer now for what probably won't be a problem in January.

Agree. Enjoy the teeny snuggly phase while you have it. If you're in early to mid December and still having problems then worry about it then.

[Brie]

Nov 3, 2012 21:23:58 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

Nov 3, 2012 15:54:56 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

I would not suffer now for what probably won't be a problem in January.

Agree. Enjoy the teeny snuggly phase while you have it. If you're in early to mid December and still having problems then worry about it then.

Thanks, guys. I look forward to Ergo nap time every day. He's always so sweet and cuddly and it calms him down so fast it makes me feel like a superhero, ha. I just worry that I'm starting some sort of terrible habit that will be hard to break.

[hannamaren]

You cant spoil a newborn.
I think the first 2-3 mths are do what you can to survive.

Also, from my small sample size, I have found that babies that sleep well at night are not good nappers.

[Deleted]

Nov 3, 2012 21:23:58 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

Nov 3, 2012 15:54:56 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

I would not suffer now for what probably won't be a problem in January.

Agree. Enjoy the teeny snuggly phase while you have it. If you're in early to mid December and still having problems then worry about it then.

I agree with this. Get baby to sleep however you can!