5 1/2 Month Old Resisting His Naps

I had trouble with my son too and found that he did well with a long (two to three hour) nap in the middle of the day. He'd be up for about three, four hours then nap and then be up for three or four hours at night before bed. Worth a try.

Could just be a growth spurt, seems like it has been a short time...they say that when they are going through a growth spurt, they eat, eat, eat and then they sleep more after....

I had a friend who's kids did great morning naps and virtually no afternoon nap. It worked for them. Is he happy after sleeping only 30 minutes? Also, does it work better if you put him down later? Our first one napped from 3-6 in the evening. I loved it because I was free to make dinner undisturbed and it worked for dinner to be that late for us. (Bedtime also became 9:00 which is a bit of a downer because of the lack of together time after the baby's gone.)

As for swaddling, if it's working, don't change it now while he's already having a hard time. He's not too old. We swaddled until 7 months and only quit then because our son was outgrowing the swaddling blankets. He didn't like the change, but it wasn't a bad adjustment. He learned to wrap himself up in a blanket, bu tmake that change at a smoother time.

Hope you find an answer soon! :)

I have always heard that babies who are transitioning into a big development milestone (crawling, walking, teething, etc) have a hard time napping/sleeping. I know I've noticed that with my 10 month old daughter - right before something "big" happens, she changes up her sleeping patterns. My guess is that your son will get back into the groove again in a few days. As for the swaddling, I stopped swaddling my daughter when she was about 5 weeks old and started using the Halo Sleepsack. 5 month old babies are pretty active, and I would imagine he doesn't like being restricted like that, but you definitely know your own child! Maybe try a few nights without swaddling and see how he does. Good luck!

Get this book: Solving your childs sleep problemsby Richard Ferber creator of the Ferber Method. For us it was a godsend. It will inform you of sleep cycles, and usually babies have to be taught to sleep! We learned to NOT let her fall asleep with us then put in crib, but to transition her to crib with a routine..i.e. milk or reading then when still awake put her in crib, and let her cry for 5 minutes, then go back in sooth her briefly(not pick her up or a lot of interaction)then leave again for 10 mintues and repeat, then if still crying leave for 15 mintues...but read the book for the full deal, it was really helpful for us with a very light sleeper. Good luck!

He is way too old for swaddling. With my first child, we swaddled him a little longer than we should have (what did I know?), and one morning (around 4:00 a.m.) I woke up from a dead sleep and ran into his room to find him with his blanket wrapped around his head. I don't want to think about what would have happened if I hadn't gone into his room. He was younger than five months old at the time, so I would stop swaddling now!
As for the naps, I would watch him to see when he's getting sleepy, and lay him down AWAKE at that point. If babies are held to get to sleep, of course they'll wake up when they're laid down. It might be hard the first few days, but it will get better, and he needs to learn how to fall asleep on his own. I would go into his room every five minutes, don't say anything, just pat his back, and then leave, and stretch out the time (10 mins., 15 mins., 20 mins.) every day and soon, he'll be falling asleep on his own. I hope this helps. :)

Has he had a slight cold at all? When my Boys were that young I found that they had an ear infection that I was not aware of and the pressure was much greater in the end of the day especially when they laid down flat. It may not be your answer but, it is worth a look. Good luck.

Hi J.-Could he be teething or has he had a recent developmental change? That was exactly when my daughter started having sleep issues--but at night as well. His needs may be changing as he grows & develops. There's a woman in Boulder named Eileen Henry, who does classes called "Compassionate Sleep Solutions" at various locations. It's usually like $15 & really helpful. From what I've found, the whole cry it out thing just ramps the babies up if we ignore their escalating cries. Doesn't seem to actually teach them anything except we're not coming. Eileen would work with you and the few others in the group to figure out solutions that meet your baby's specific needs. Here's her contact info:
Compassionate Sleep Solutions™
1705 14th Street
#151
Boulder, CO 80302
###-###-####
____@____.com

Good luck!

My 3 kids all loved being swaddled. I would usually semi-swaddle them while nursing before naps and bed as long as they were nursing. My semi-swaddle was to simply lie the baby on the long side of the rectangular receiving blanket, then pull each side over, tucking the arms in. This method helped calm all my babies before sleep, but it was easy for them to get their arms out and move them around once they were put down, so I didn't feel like anything was wrong with that.
My first child was very difficult with napping, that's why I also read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Stick with it, because 4 days seems forever to us, but it is not really a long time, and temporary hiccups in baby's schedules can upset them for a week or so. I agree with the suggestion that the morning nap may be too long. My first child would sleep 3 hours or so at the first nap (sometimes 4!), so no wonder he wasn't tired a few hours later. I think I had to start waking him up after 2 hours. Stick with it and do the best you can (I highly suggest checking guidelines in Weissbluth's book to help determine your schedule), and be consistent. Some babies are just more difficult than others. I didn't realize this until I had my second, who was pretty much a textbook sleeper. He did not give me the problems that my first one did. I felt better knowing that it was not just me not knowing what to do! ;-) Good Luck!

I found that napping 'patterns' changed a lot during the first two years. Teething, growth spurts, and just plain getting older can cause shifts in the time that they are willing to go down for a nap and how long they sleep once they are down. Our boy always slept a lot during growth spurts and not very much at all when he was teething. He quit taking afternoon naps at around 6 months and just took one long nap in the middle of his day. During the times that he didn't want to sleep alot, I would wait a little longer than usual to put him down for his nap, which helped a little. I also made sure his belly was full enough to get him all the way through naptime without getting hungry.

Naps get easier when the baby starts going to bed early (and at the same time every night), which is easier to do between 6 and 9 months, when they don't have to feed so much.

As for the swaddling, you'll probably know when it is time to stop. All the books will tell you not to rock the baby to sleep or put the baby down with a bottle, but I say do whatever works for you and your child - and whatever gets both of you the amount of rest that you need. We helped our boy get to sleep (either with a bottle, holding him, or rubbing his forehead until about 18 months). After that, we'd jsut turn some music on and give him some books to look at until he fell asleep.

When he was a baby, having some white noise in the background helped our boy fall asleep faster and sleep longer. We used the vent/fan in the bathroom that was next to his room.

Hang in there!!

Let him go without it or let him just nap for the 20-30 minutes. Both of my kids have done that. My 7 1/2 month old has one long nap 1-1 1/2 hours and then has a couple cat naps. He sleeps from 10pm to 7am and is healthy and happy. Just go with whatever works for him.

How long is he napping in the morning? Maybe he's just not tired enough for an afternoon nap. If he's sleeping for a long period of time in the morning, I would try waking him up to see if he naps better later in the day.

Neither of my girls were great nappers in their crib. They often nap in their swings, even if it wasn't on.

And he may not like swaddling anymore. Both my girls outgrew it before 3 months of age.

It might be a phase, or it might be seperation anxiety. This is about when seperation anxiety starts. I totally do not believe that babies need to learn how to fall asleep on their own that young. That honestly probably has little to do with why he is waking up. Maybe he is just getting too much sleep! If he's sleeping a lot at night, then maybe he needs less nap time. I have always nursed my son to sleep, and he will have times when he naps great (usually), but sometimes he has a hard time. have you tried going back in and rocking him to see if he'll fall back asleep? In one of my favorite books, The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantly, she talks about this exact situation. She says to get in there ASAP, put them back to sleep before they fully wake up, and after a week, they stop waking up. I have found this to be true with my son.

Remember, you little one is only a little guy for a short while... enjoy it! He has plenty of time to learn to be independent from you, when he is older. Right now, he just needs to learn trust.

I am not sure what your routine is, but setting a normal routine is very important. It is also very important for him to be able to self soothe. This means falling asleep on his own. This is hard to teach, but will servie him well for years. We have done this with our son, who has has great sleep habits, and for out 5 1/2 month old twin girls. Believe me, I know putting them down awake is a challenge. The key is to go in and soothe them without putting them to sleep. Start with letting them cry just a few minutes and slowly move that up. Ou girls regularly go down without issues, but when they do, we let them cry up to 20 minutes. This is just long enough for them to realize they are OK and usually fall asleep. That said, you know your son's cries and if he is crying like something hurts, do not let him continue to cry. They do get worked up and you make have to go in every 5 minutes for a couple of weeks, but the times passes, the naps get easier, and everyone is happier in the end. I have a good book I can reccommend if you would like. I have used it to establish a routine for our son and our girls and all those I have shared it with have had success. Good luck!

The best advice I received when I was worried about when to stop swaddling (while simultanesouly trying to start a nap schedule) was that my baby would outgrow the swaddle when she was ready, don't worry about her age. My 5 month old was a great night sleeper when she was swaddled as a young infant. When I finally got into a nap routine (not easy!) she started to outgrow her swaddling blankets which terrified us b/c she slept so well while tightly wrapped! We gradually tapered her swaddling by 1st getting rid of the swaddle blanket (we were "double swaddling" the little escape artist in a receiving blanket and Kiddapotomus)and only using the Kiddapotomus. After that we started leaving one of her arms out (since she usually wrestled one free at this point anyway). Finally, after we couldn't fit her in the Kiddapotomus anymore we started using a sleep sack. There were some bumpy times but we just tried to stick to the rest of our routine. Good luck! Could he be having his 5 month growth spurt? Just an afterthought.