Baby Napping Help

[Kit]

Hi....I desperately need nap help!

DS is 5 months, goes to daycare.  Usually takes two naps there - a morning and sometime in the afternoon. 

At home on the weekends/our days off, he will generally take his morning nap, but doesn't want to in the crib. So, we put him in his boppy on the couch and he sleeps for an hour, sometimes more. 

The afternoon nap is a disaster.  He will nap in our arms, but obviously that is not a long term solution and needs to be stopped asap.  But out of desperation, we sometimes do it.  We put him in his crib and he just does not want to nap. I don't know if it is the crib (he sleeps in it just fine at night) or if he just doesn't want to nap.  And FORGET IT if we are at someone else's house. He won't nap.

Things to note:

-He is in a Pavlik Harness for his hips, and cannot nap in his car seat.
-Doesn't nap in the swing or bouncy chair.  Whines/fusses the whole time.
-I think daycare lets him CIO till he eventually sleeps, which I'm not a super fan of, but I can't control that. 

Is my kid doomed?  Any tips or tricks? 

[jeaniebueller]

Does he need two naps on the weekend?

[Kit]

jeaniebueller, I think so, yeah. By about 3 pm, he's showing signs of being sleepy, so we try to get him down before he gets OVER tired. And it always fails.

There have been times when he hasn't gotten that second nap and he's been fine, but generally he needs it.

[patbutcher]

The only way we could get dd to nap in the crib at 5 months was doing CIO. Otherwise she would only sleep in our arms.

[patches31709]

This probably isn't a wonderful solution either but the only way we can get DD to nap in her crib is to have her fall asleep in our arms, then transfer to the crib when she's asleep.

[Kit]

patches31709, we try! He wakes up! Grrrrrrrrrr.

[patches31709]

Mar 4, 2016 11:15:00 GMT -5 Kit said:

patches31709 , we try! He wakes up! Grrrrrrrrrr.

That stinks! Our daughter wakes up a lot too. It's always the second her head hits the mattress. I usually try and wait her out but sometimes I just give up and let her nap in my arms. 

[Kit]

Mar 4, 2016 11:54:15 GMT -5 patches31709 said:

Mar 4, 2016 11:15:00 GMT -5 Kit said:

patches31709 , we try! He wakes up! Grrrrrrrrrr.

That stinks! Our daughter wakes up a lot too. It's always the second her head hits the mattress. I usually try and wait her out but sometimes I just give up and let her nap in my arms. 

Yep, me too. And I know that has to stop but I'd rather he get some sleep!

[lolo]

If you don't mind, I would just hold him right now for his second nap.

[lala]

I think getting a second nap in, any way you can, is important. Many babies still take 3 naps at that age.

I rock up sleep for naps well past that age, I still rock my 22 month old.

Things that help - minky side up of a blanket in the crib so it's warm & cozy, white noise, room darkening shads or curtains on Windows, when I transfer uo the crib I shush & pat if needed to get them to stay.

I might be the odd one out, but I'd be ticked if my 5 month old was left to cio at daycare.

[Susie]

Hobbes is only 3.5 mos, but we're having the same problem. We mostly let her fall asleep in our arms and try to transfer to the crib or swing. I know the swing is a crutch, but I feel like she needs the sleep more than she needs to break the habit right now, especially since she sleeps well in the crib at night. We usually try for the crib first, and if it fails we try the swing (the easier get) second, and third we give up and let her have an arms-nap.

[Kit]

lala, I asked daycare how they get him to sleep, does he cry, and she said that they let him fuss/cry for a little bit, then check on him, then fuss, then check, etc. So more like controlled crying, I suppose? I don't like it, but I don't know what else to do. I wish I could be home with him to control all of this stuff, but I can't.

[cincodemayo]

My son only napped on me on the weekends for quite awhile. It changed when we moved to one nap when he was 13 months old, but even now at 2.5, he sometimes will literally only nap if we hold him or lay down with him. It wasn't ideal because I felt like I was "wasting" cleaning or relaxing time or whatever, but I enjoyed the rest of my day much more if the kid had napped.

[mekia]

This was DS. Either on boppy or on us for months. It sucked when I had to pee, but with him asleep on me!

Sometimes DD takes a LONG morning nap and then doesn't seem like she needs to take a PM nap.

If I were you, I would let him cry/fuss and see what happens. DD needs to fuss before she falls asleep. She doesn't do well if we try to hold her or even rock her. It's like getting the last energy out before being able to sleep.

[Kit]

Mar 4, 2016 14:46:53 GMT -5 mekia said:

This was DS. Either on boppy or on us for months. It sucked when I had to pee, but with him asleep on me!

Sometimes DD takes a LONG morning nap and then doesn't seem like she needs to take a PM nap.

If I were you, I would let him cry/fuss and see what happens. DD needs to fuss before she falls asleep. She doesn't do well if we try to hold her or even rock her. It's like getting the last energy out before being able to sleep.

The couple of times I let him fuss, he went nuclear.  Maybe I need to wait longer? idk. I don't know what I'm doing! lol

[mekia]

Mar 4, 2016 14:50:58 GMT -5 Kit said:

Mar 4, 2016 14:46:53 GMT -5 mekia said:

This was DS. Either on boppy or on us for months. It sucked when I had to pee, but with him asleep on me!

Sometimes DD takes a LONG morning nap and then doesn't seem like she needs to take a PM nap.

If I were you, I would let him cry/fuss and see what happens. DD needs to fuss before she falls asleep. She doesn't do well if we try to hold her or even rock her. It's like getting the last energy out before being able to sleep.

The couple of times I let him fuss, he went nuclear.  Maybe I need to wait longer? idk. I don't know what I'm doing! lol

None of us know what we are doing, promise

[Kit]

Mar 4, 2016 15:09:56 GMT -5 mekia said:

Mar 4, 2016 14:50:58 GMT -5 Kit said:

The couple of times I let him fuss, he went nuclear.  Maybe I need to wait longer? idk. I don't know what I'm doing! lol

None of us know what we are doing, promise

True story. :-)

[kaycee]

My 5.5 month old will only nap on me. I'm just going with it right now. If I need to be productive I wear him while he naps. I wish I had some advice because I would really like him to nap in his crib occasionally. Or anywhere other than me.

[soozy87]

I would either let him nap on you or let him cry in his crib with checks. It is tough at this age. I am an advocate of do what works to get the most sleep.

[booboo173]

My oldest would only nap on me on the weekends until he was probably 9 months old. I just let him, no negative impact as he still takes good naps in his crib at age 2

[bananapancakes]

My little guy didn't nap in his crib until he was 9 months old. I tried every once and awhile and one time it just worked. Before that he napped in the FP infant to toddler rocker with the vibration on. I always had to nurse or rock him to sleep until about 17-18 months or so. Daytime sleep is totally different from night time sleep.

[turtlegirl]

No magical solutions. DD is 6 months old and naps are still crappy, short and have no real pattern. It sucks because she's the 3rd kid and every day is so different with the older kids schedules, different car govers, etc.

This morning she cried for about 15 mins before falling asleep and then napped for maybe 30-40 mins. Awesome (not!).

[genet313]

Mar 4, 2016 11:14:05 GMT -5 patches31709 said:

This probably isn't a wonderful solution either but the only way we can get DD to nap in her crib is to have her fall asleep in our arms, then transfer to the crib when she's asleep.

Same. I had to wait a good 10-15 minutes after I was sure she was asleep. Also we used the Merlin sleep suit which helped slot at that age. It muffled her startle reflex so she didn't feel us transferring her to crib.

[jsillyfun]

Both of my kids would only ever nap on me, while driving, or being rocked in the stroller. It kind of sucks but I want willing to do CIO so I didn't have a lot of options.

[aprilsails]

DD is 6 months and her weekend naps are a mess. I'm on maternity leave still so it boggles me mind that weekends are so wildly different but just having DH home makes her incredibly difficult to put down.

So she naps on me or in the car. You do what you've got to do.