Infant Napping - Blue Point,NY

I have a 2 year old and a 6 month old. My 2 year is very active. We have pared back her schedule a bit. For the first 8 weeks of my son's life, I just threw him in a sling and he slept on the go. Then, around week 8, I decided it was time to respect him a bit more. So, we stay home until he has a morning nap, unless we are going somewhere with a long car ride, then I just let him nap in the car. In the afternoon, we always stay home so he can have a proper nap in the crib. I also have my mom come over 1 morning a week when my daughter has an activity in the middle of his nap-time. It give my daughter and I some alone time, and he gets to sleep.

Having two little ones myself, I felt the same way - running the older one around to get a two hour afternoon nap, while my baby had to tag along. I started carrying my baby in a front pouch and he has found that to be a great place to nap, even when we are at the park - he can sleep while I tire out his older brother. I guess that all depends on how you feel about sleeping outside of the crib. With our busy out and about schedule, I figure if my baby can catch a few minutes of shut eye where ever we are is good.

Yes, he needs that nap.. I don't think your daughter's schedule really matters.... a nice soothing ride in the car should put him out.... and moving the baby to the stroller should be uninterrupted sleep if you have the carseat that snaps into a stroller..
I'd say overstimulation is the issue here ..... I vote for some soothing items to help him drift to la la land..... pacifier?, fuzzy blanket? , warm bottle? slow soothing lullabye music? I noticed my youngest really responds well to slow high pitched woman singing voice... I even used one of those nature sound machines... sounds of the rainforest.... That's really helpful too!
Oh and maybe a T-shirt with your scent on it....you can lay it on the crib, or over the blanket. The smell of mommy is sure to sooth any baby!!
Good Luck.

try sticking the baby in a carrier and letting him sleep on you during the day. I know some people feel very strongly about only sleeping in cribs, but when my boy was a baby, most of his day naps were the carrier and some in the car seat. He still slept perfectly fine in the bed at night.

Your infant needs much more sleep than he is getting, which you already know because he gets overtired, and he shouldn't be forced to stay awake to accommodate your daughter's schedule. So you need to allow him to sleep more, it's that simple. Put him down to bed earlier and give him naps during the day. Just like you most likely did with your daughter.

I have a 3 year old and a 4 month old. My 3 year old sleeps from 8pm - 6am and naps from 3 - 4:30pm. My 4 month old sleeps from 7pm - 6am (though not usually straight through) and has a 1 hour nap at 9am and a 3 hour nap from 1pm - 4pm. We go out to playdates, playground, etc. from 10 - 1 and 4:30 - 5:30. We are home during baby's naps as often as we can - almost always during the week; the weekends are a bit harder, but we try.

At 2 mos old he should be napping. Whatever you do at bedtime to put him down for the night, you should try the same at around 12-1 in the afternoon.If he'll sleep in the carseat, that would be great bacause you can lift him in and out as necessary if you have the bucket kind that clips onto the stroller. Then you can still do things with your 3 year old. If you need a stroller try looking on the web site called Freecycle. People are really good about sharing and giving away used things rather than selling them or throwing them away. hope this helps.
S.

My daughter is now 5 1/2 months and she did the same thing. Would sleep at night and then for naps, she fought it like crazy. After we did our sleep training and got her in the crib at night (she sleeps in there for a good nine hours), I thought it would be smooth sailing but we found that we had to sleep train her for naps too. After a few difficult days, following the same nighttime sleep routine, she now goes down in the crib for naps (she also quite often will nap in my arms if she falls asleep nursing which is fine, too). We did the Ferber method on the advice of our pediatrician (yes, I know it's controversial but it worked and our baby is the happiest child I've ever seen) but we waited until she was 5 months. Your son is very young still and probably hasn't really developed his sleep patterns yet. I often felt, in the early months, that we'd never get it right but as she's grown, she has naturally developed a schedule without my forcing it. The one thing that really helped was having a specific nighttime routine. We set her on the bed and sing to her and give her kisses. Then, we have one last song that is the same every night to "signal" that it's bedtime. We give her kisses and put her in the crib. The consistency has been so beneficial in letting her know that it's time to go to sleep. I even notice, now, that when we sing that last song to her, she gets sleepy.
Good luck. I know it's exhausting but I promise you, it will get better.

I have two daughters and two sons. Both of my girls slept less than their brothers. That's just the way they were. However, my youngest had trouble calming herself for a nap during the day and I had to be fairly vigilant in watching for signs of overstimulation or tiredness. I got her as a foster child when she was 3 months old and her birth mother said she never slept. I think she just didn't recognize signs that she was tired. Just watch your baby and you'll pick up on cues he gives that he's getting tired. I had to hold my youngest so that she couldn't look at anything stimulating. Actually, her favorite way of falling asleep during the day was sitting underneath my Boston fern so that she could stare up at it. I don't know why she found that soothing. My daughters are now 30 and 9 and still sleep less than average, but they're healthy! Good luck!
S.

I have a 3 yo and a 6 mo old and went thru the same thing~what worked for me was: making sure the baby had the same routine for each time she was put down (for me it was putting her in a sleep-sack, rocking, feeding and paci). I made sure the room was quiet (fan running) and dark, and then I found that putting her down 2 hrs after she woke up is when she needed her next nap. My best advice: establish a routine and stick to it - it is SO worth it. My little one sleeps well at night and takes 2-3 good naps a day now (45 min-2.5 hrs!).
Good Luck!

C.,
12-13 hours is GOOD. That being said, EVERY KID IS DIFFERENT.

What I would try is holding him, rocking him, and if you're still nursing, nurse him. There are many Attachment parenting things you can do to encourage naps - but nothing is ever guaranteed.

Good luck,
M.