M is nine weeks old, and his naps are very spotty. I can rarely get him to sleep for more than an hour at a time during the day. In a typical day, he'll take 5-7 naps ranging from 10 minutes to an hour each. I never know when he's going to fall asleep or how to facilitate this, so he ends up napping on my lap or in the swing in the living room.
This afternoon I decided it was time to institute naptime. I swaddled him and nursed him to sleep in the nursery with the lights off and the white noise machine on, then put him in the RNP (where he sleeps at night). He slept sweetly...for ten minutes.
Is there something I should be doing to get him to take longer naps at consistent times, or does this just come with time?
The only time my kid slept for an extended period of time at that age was with me in bed with her…so sometimes I would get her to sleep 2 hours - and I would get a 2 hour nap. Otherwise I was lucky to get 30-45 minutes.
Oh, and at that age there were no set nap times, she just fell asleep when she pleased and where she pleased…my napping with her actually didn't start til she was actually about 3 months old - so not 9 weeks.
We are still working on this at six months. The thing is, some days he's tired and some days he's not. I mean, we feed on demand, why not nap on demand? Hopefully this will help us not be slaves to "nap time."
When we do naps, we TRY to go upstairs and sleep in the crib.....but as I write this he's sleeping on my lap after nursing...so....yeah.
This. It's typically 20 minutes twice a day at daycare, at home we'll get random long stretches but never at a predictable time. Makes it impossible to plan around naps!
DS has no daytime pattern. He falls asleep any time he is in motion- in the stroller, in the carrier, in a car, etc. and also falls asleep any other time- while nursing, in the bouncer, when I put him down for a minute to go wash my hands after a diaper change.
Yesterday, he napped for three hours straight in the Ergo while we were apple picking and also slept for most of the car ride to New Jersey and back. And then, to my surprise, he managed to sleep for 7 hours straight at night even though he slept so much during the day.
Absolutely no rhyme or reason. The only thing I am big on right now is consistency with bedtime, and mostly because I need to deal with DD in the evening.
Post by chickadee77 on Oct 6, 2014 18:34:15 GMT -5
Remember that baby sleep cycles are 45-60 minutes. My key for getting L to sleep longer was realizing that and not picking her up immediately if she moved or fussed. If I gave her anywhere from 1-10 minutes (not of crying, obviously, just rolling around or grunting), she often settles herself back to sleep. Sometimes she would even give a random yell, but would still be asleep.
ETA I realize L is still little and this could all go to shit at any moment, lol. But it's been a pretty consistent strategy since she was about six weeks old.
Sounds very typical to me. It just takes time for newborns to figure it all out. DS consolidated to 3 naps a day, about 30-60 mins each around 4 months old. Before then his naps were exactly like you described, all over the place.
Post by badtzmaru22 on Oct 6, 2014 18:37:18 GMT -5
Just enjoy the cuddles and let daycare worry about a schedule. That's my plan anyway. They did an awesome job getting DD on a nap schedule, so hopefully they can work their magic on DS.
Ds1 only ever took 20 minute naps, unless my boob was in his mouth, until he was 9 months old... Then it was one 45 min nap late morning and a catnap in the afternoon. No amount of trying different strategies helped. I just accepted he'd only sleep if on me or in his car seat on the move.
Ds2 on the other hand is one of those magical unicorn sleepy newborns. He has taken two 2-3 hour naps a day since birth. It's night and day and I haven't done anything differently this time around.
One thing I do find that works well is side lying nursing in bed for naps. That way you don't risk a wakeup from moving the baby to a bed. I also wait 10 mins before getting up so I don't wake him up when he's still in a light sleep.
Post by greencrayon on Oct 6, 2014 18:54:11 GMT -5
Mine was never a good napper either. Now that she's 9 months she is down to one nap about an hour long. It's killing me! We didn't institute a bedtime until 5 months or so and usually just let her nap whenever.
Post by humpforfree on Oct 6, 2014 18:55:05 GMT -5
I wrote pretty much this same post 6 months ago Around maybe 3 or 4 months he consolidated into two naps, but I never really knew when they would be how for how long. Actually the afternoon nap ended up being like 3 shorter ones because he wouldn't stay asleep for longer than 45 minutes and I would have to keep putting him back to sleep. At 6 months he stopped needing to sleep on me and around 6.5 months he got himself into a 2/3/4 schedule and had actual nap times. I still never know how long they will last though.
I think it was right around this time when I first tried to figure out "napping" as opposed to just he slept on/off at all times. What I did was swaddle him, put him in RNP with his paci, rock RNP until he fell asleep. I then proceeded to lay in bed next to the RNP like a stealth ninja where I could see him but he couldn't see me. If he started to fuss before it had been 40 minutes I would rock the RNP until he fell back asleep. If he was wide awake I would add in some singing. I tried not to pick him up unless he was screaming.
Post by purplecow0206 on Oct 6, 2014 19:04:13 GMT -5
A started napping on a longer, more consistent schedule when she started DC at 3 months...at daycare. She didn't really nap well at home until almost 6 months.
Post by timorousbeastie on Oct 6, 2014 19:25:05 GMT -5
At that age, I distinctly remember putting in an hour or more worth of work into getting DD to nap, only for her to nap for 10-15 minutes. Ugh. Some naps were super short, some would last 3 hours. It didn't start to get better until around 6 months when we sleep trained (specifically ST for bedtime, but it helped with naps, too).
From months 2-4, the only way I would get DD to nap more than like 30 min. is to have her lay on top of me. It was a giant time sucker, but it worked and she slept well over an hour each time.
At that age, I distinctly remember putting in an hour or more worth of work into getting DD to nap, only for her to nap for 10-15 minutes. Ugh.
Yep, this is where I am. Sometimes H calls from work to see how things are going, and I'm like "all I've done today is try to get M to nap. And I failed."
He naps for 2+ hours once or twice a week. I feel like superwoman when this happens--I can shower in peace, do the laundry, clean the kitchen, pump, and still have time to rest! Unfortunately, these are like the damn unicorns of naps.
I know I need to get over the idea of all these things that "need" to be done, but I just want a couple hours a day! It doesn't help that I was debilitated for six weeks before M was born, too. Housework is becoming like forbidden fruit. LOL
At that age, I distinctly remember putting in an hour or more worth of work into getting DD to nap, only for her to nap for 10-15 minutes. Ugh.
Yep, this is where I am. Sometimes H calls from work to see how things are going, and I'm like "all I've done today is try to get M to nap. And I failed."
He naps for 2+ hours once or twice a week. I feel like superwoman when this happens--I can shower in peace, do the laundry, clean the kitchen, pump, and still have time to rest! Unfortunately, these are like the damn unicorns of naps.
I know I need to get over the idea of all these things that "need" to be done, but I just want a couple hours a day! It doesn't help that I was debilitated for six weeks before M was born, too. Housework is becoming like forbidden fruit. LOL
I'm so sorry. I want to cry just thinking about the nap struggles in those days! So many days, it just wasn't worth the effort of getting DD to nap. I tried anyway, of course, otherwise she would have been a grumpy beast, but an hour of walking her around the house needed a better reward than 10 minutes of peace! I know it probably doesn't seem like it now, but it will get better eventually.
Post by loskadoodle on Oct 6, 2014 20:14:23 GMT -5
Ds1 never slept longer than 45 mins until we went down to 2 naps. Not even exaggerating and it sucked.
That being said, I would try to keep a consistent routine like you did today and just keep at it. Maybe try to get on some type of nap schedule too. I know that's easier said than done though cuz Ds2 (8 weeks) is not on any kind of schedule yet.
The only time my kid slept for an extended period of time at that age was with me in bed with her…so sometimes I would get her to sleep 2 hours - and I would get a 2 hour nap. Otherwise I was lucky to get 30-45 minutes.
Pretty much exactly this. I've started to nap with her because it's the only way she sleeps longer than a catnap. Not exactly ideal for getting the housework done, but oh well. She also sleeps in her carseat/stroller if its moving and the moby wrap if I'm moving.
Post by thecatinthehat on Oct 7, 2014 4:37:43 GMT -5
Oh man I am trying to remember 7 weeks but I can't. My foggy memory remembers lots of short naps that last maybe 20min to maybe an rare 2 hrs with no rhyme nor reason
I remember asking question about nap schedules here. I was never a nap person so I rarely napped with him.