My son just turned 4months old and sleeps well at night, waking 2-3 times to eat(he is breast fed) and goes right back to sleep at night. During the day however he doesn't sleep longer than 45 minutes at a time and wakes up grumpy and wanting to be held because he hasen't slept long enough. I have tried letting him cry when he wakes up after 45min but his cries only escalate till he is drenched in sweat and soaking his sheets. I have also tried rushing in before he wakes himself up completely and he will fall back asleep in my arms but when I put him back in his crib he wakes and cries.I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any suggestions?
My baby started napping much better at around 5 months. We now have a great napping schedule at 7 months. So hang in there and it will probably get better.
I feel your pain. My whole day used to revolve around trying to get my daughter to nap for more than 45 minutes, to the point where I was not showering and missing meals. I tried everything the books said to get her to nap the 2 hours she was "supposed to" nap. Eventually I learned that if I kept her awake one minute longer than 90 minutes she wouldn't nap at all...so in the morning after she wakes up I only keep her awake for 1hr. and 15 min, then I read to her and sing a song, and put her in the crib...giving her about 15 minutes to fall asleep on her own. She doesn't even seem tired when I put her down, but she usually will sleep for 2-2 1/2 hrs in the morning. I find if I wait until she starts yawning or rubbing her eyes it is too late. She also had reflux, and would sleep much better in her car seat for a while...she is now in the crib and doing fine. I also adjusted her feedings from every 3 hrs to every 3 1/2, and that seemed to help the sleep. It helps to get a good burp out of her before putting her down. The afternoons are still sometimes a struggle, but I usually can get 45 minutes and as long as she had the long morning nap I was happy. We had several weeks of the 45 minute wake up, and I thought I would go insane....it does get better...just keep trying. When things got really bad, I finally told myself that it is OK if she only sleeps for 45 minutes, and I would just bring her in the bathroom with me while I showered...if she cried..oh well...I just tried to focus on enjoying every minute of her grumpy or happy. One last tip....I started putting her in bed at 6:30 at night....she usually only wakes up once and then gets up at 7-8...I think that really helped with her daytime sleep. I have generally found that the better she sleeps at night, the better she sleeps during the day and vice versa. Sorry if this is so long winded, but I remember driving myself crazy at that point and needed to know there were others out there with the same problem. Good luck!
J. W
HI K.. I also have a cat napper.... he's 7 months old and has never napped more than 45 minutes. (He was sleeping 10 hours at night at 4 months, tho). Our ped said that as long as he was sleeping 10-12 hours at night and was offered the chance to nap at least 3 times a day, he was sleeping as much as he needed to. HOWEVER, if you feel like yours is not happy with his sleep, I would consider if he is hungry. 4- 6 months is the peak of the ammount of breastmilk they eat, and he may just want more breastmilk (or, in our case, we supplemented with some formula and, with the doc's permission, started solids). Good luck!
Hi K.. Been there!
My 4 month old(now 6 months) started sleeping less and less and eventually went on a nap strike because she was so exhausted. I got the book The Sleepeasy Solution- it's an easy read, very quick and to the point and it works!!!!- and now my little one sleeps 3 hours (naps) and 12 hours at night. I can't recommend it enough.
Best of luck!!
R.
Hi K.,
My son was always a cat-napper. He never took longer than a 30 minute nap until he was closer to 18 months old. You son may just be a short napper. I would say put him down more often. At 4 months or so, my son used to take 4 30-minute naps per day. Another thing you can try to get him to sleep longer is to swaddle him - maybe his movements are waking him up. You can also try putting him in a swing instead of his crib (but this is a really hard habit to break later when he outgrows the swing). They key to the swing, if you decide to go that route) is to make sure you turn off the movement after he falls asleep - you don't want him to get dependent on movement for sleep.
Good luck!
J.
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My little guy did the same exact thing. He didn't nap longer until he was able to roll over and sleep on his belly... then he napped 2-3x a day for 1.5 hours each... so if you can hang in there, once he can roll over, he might nap a little longer. He probably just sleeps better on his belly. Also, not sure if this is relevant or not, I think it was just my situation, but when I was nursing him, and didn't let him empty out one breast before switching sides to the other breast(letting him get enough hind milk) it upset his tummy... and he had trouble sleeping, and could only sleep when he was held. Hope that helps. Good luck.
try a baby swing. sometimes that will help soothe them. another thing you can try it is made by boppy is a vibrating saucer and it vibrates and makes different sounds such as the heart beat or you can do music. you can buy both in target. another thing to to to try to relax him is to try a warm bath and see if that helps.
Hi K., maybe you should try playing some soft classic music in his room and/or maybe some room darkening/light blocking shades at his windows. The shades only cost 5 to 10 dollars at any store (even walmart and home depot) and only take a few minutes to mount (I recommend you buy the "outside" mounting brackets they are about a dollar and you buy them seperatly). Good luck!
Babies need something to comfort them and make them feel safe. It sounds like he is using you as his comfort. Have you tried using a pacifier? If you haven't, it might be worth a try.
I assume he is eating a bit before his naps? Also, have you tried a little white noise in his room? It does wonders for drowning out any annoying noises he may be responding to. I always ran a cool mist humidifer in my son's room. OR you could try some soft lullabye music on a CD player. Hope this helps.
My 11-month-old son never took a nap for longer than 45 mins until he was about 6 months. So you are not alone, and it is not that unusual. I used to take him for a long walk in the stroller almost every morning, just to get a good nap in that way. The getting up to eat at night is totally normal for a breastfed baby too. My son is just now cutting down to only once a night. Keep up the good work mama!
"Sleepless in America" by Mary Sheddy Kurcinka. This book took my baby from napping 30 minutes at a time and waking up every 1 and 1/2 hours at night to sleeping 6 hour stretches and taking 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps! You have to find his window for sleep and find out what soothes him back to sleep while eh gets in the habit of sleeping longer. This book saved my sanity. I used it for my older boys who had sleep problems to. It worked a charm.
