Napping - Moville,IA

I also have a 4 mo. old, and we face similar problems. for all of my girls this worked beautifully. now that it's starting to warm up here, me and my kiddos all go outside more often, and i can almost always count on her napping, reclined in her stroller when she is at all tired. i get her all cozy, and then push her on the bumpy sidewalk, and it works almost every time. then if/when i need ot come inside, i lock the screen door,open the screen door window, and park her right in front of the door, so she can still feel/see the light/ air. i also sometimes drape a light blanket over the peak on the canopy so she can;t see me and there is a little less stimulation. hope this works as well for you as it has for my little ones. i also begrudgingly had to halt my caffeine fix, and this week has gone much better for her with the sleep, never mind now i want to sleep always. haha. good luck. peace, A.

My youngest was like this for a long time. I had to wrap her in a blanket and put her in her carseat, otherwise she would NOT take a nap. We even had to do it at night. Once she was about 6 months old she went down in her crib like a dream, but until then it was the carseat or nothing.

My two older children were always up and about and she loved to see what they were doing. I'm wondering if this might have affected her sleeping. She always wanted to be in the middle of things (I swear, she'll be a social butterfly). I got one of those sling/harness carriers and it worked like a dream! I only had to hold her for about 15 minutes and she was so deep in sleep I could finally lay her down. I shortened the time I carried her day after day until I could finally lay her down in her crib and she'd drift off to sleep in there. (about 5-6 months old)

Good luck! I remember how tough this is!

The book "The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" did wonders for me in regards to getting my children to nap... and sleep in general. I went from having a 10-20 minute napping cranky baby to having a 1-2 hour napping happy baby. It is worth a shot!
Good luck

I have been thru this and can tell you a sling works great. I know it sounds like a pain, but short of letting him cry it out or do your work in the evenings, you maybe fighting a lost cause.
good luck
mary

I had that same trouble with my son from the time he was born and couldn't figure out why a newborn wouldn't sleep during the day. When he was 3 months and holding his head up I tried napping him on his stomach (I know the doctors don't condone that), but it was a miracle, he slept great. That is a personal choice, I don't recommend it if you not comfortable with it.

I would not worry about naps. Instead find things that will keep his attention so you can get some work done. My kids loved the swing, but only if the music was playing or if Baby Einstein was in front of them on the DVD. I love those videos! Not that I ever wanted to build a habit of watching TV all the time, but it so helped to put them in the swing for half hour in front of a show, then put them under a play mat with hanging toys to play on the floor, then when they get tired of that they might need to be held or talked to for a half hour, and then start again! I loved being able to play with them for a half hour and then put them in swing in front of tv, then move to floor and then hold them again. Usually this was time to nurse again anyway, but I got a full hour in between each time to get stuff done! Babies just want change at least every half hour because there attention span is so short. Good luck finding what works for you:)

I went through that many times with my kids.
What I do is to wear my baby in a wrap, so he is secure and my hands are both free. He sleeps on my chest and I have to work around him, but I can do it. My work is on the computer, though. I get the most work done during naps, too, so I need the time! I have tried doing it while they are asleep at night or get up before them. Right now they go to bed LATE and then they sleep until 10 am or more, and I get up at 8 and work. (my husband doesn't get home until 8 at night, so staying up late is when the kids can see him, so this works for us well. But most people with a normal schedule wouldn't want to do this)
The best wrap I have found (slings don't work as well for getting both hands free) is from sleepywrap.com but a cheaper alternative is The Ultimate Baby Wrap from Target.
Once you wrap the baby, their heads are even tucked in, so you can bend over, do anything, and they don't move! Baby sleeps so much better when mom is holding him, and they do grow out of it, but his is a short time in their lives and they really need mom. Out of my 7 kids, only 1 did not want to be held all the time or to sleep with us. And they all grew out of it and are so independant and secure. There is nothing to worry about as far as that or spoiling them. They just need their mom's touch.

i would invest in a very comfortable sling.
my son always wanted to be held as well, and so i held him! best thing i ever did. he is confident and independent for his age, though not too independent... just appropriatly independent.

anyway, slings were my lifesaver.. i loved them and it allowed me to still work while i held him. i do child care in my home, so i worked at home as well.

you are lucky he sleeps good at night.
HOWEVER, i had a 4 month old a couple months ago that did the same thing, only slept 20 minutes at a time, he was teething and also became UNBEARABLY fussy. so ask your doctor for teething recommendations, although i recommend hylands check out www.hylands.com. it worked wonders for my son.

but once that first tooth pops out they are a TOTALLY different kid. just remember the difficult time is short, and soon they will be happier and more pleasant to be around, and the sleeping will improve too!

My daughter was the same way at that age. I know, it is very exhausting. Just be thankful she's sleeping at night.
I think it is just a phase as my daughter grew out of it and now naps wonderfully.
Be patient and realize that this too will pass!

I also recommend a great book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. It is a great resource.

When my youngest son (now 14 months) was itty bitty I had a hard time getting him to nap as well. It turned out he was overly tired and couldn't settle down for a good nap. Have you tried putting him down earlier than normal? It's been said that babies should have no more than 2 hours of awake time at a time. So if your son wakes up at 7am then he should take his first nap around 9am. If he wakes up from that nap at 11am then he should be going down again around 1pm. This is actually the schedule we followed for my youngest and it worked perfectly. Even now he is only up for about 2 hours in the morning before he wants to take his first nap.

I have a similar story as the last response. I nannied for a little boy who always wanted to be held and that is the way he wanted to sleep as well. His mother and I held him so much we both had injured our shoulders. As soon as he would be put down he would wake up within 15 minutes. Finally she asked me for advice b/c she knew my daughter was older and was napping well during the day. I told her we let our daughter cry it out and all it took was 3 days. She really hated the idea but after 18 months she was exhausted and pregnant again. She let him cry it out and he learned to soothe himself within 3-4 days. She had to leave the home b/c she couldn't stand the crying but her hubby was happy to fill in. What was amazing after he started sleeping on his own was that he became such a calm baby. He was really fussy when he wasn't getting the "real" sleep. He wasn't rested enough. He became such a happy little guy that it was a shock to his mother. Obviously if you can't do the "crying out" then you just end up waiting it out. Good luck!

My 2-month old daughter has her awake days and her sleepy days, though many more awake days than sleep filled ones! I found that putting her in the front carrier (I have a BabyBjorn, but I'm sure there are other brands out there that work just as well) will usually put her to sleep and then I have both hands free to do housework and use my laptop. (I tried a sling, but she hated it.) If I'm bending down to pick something up, I generally will put my hand on the back of her head to be sure she doesn't slide out, but she seems pretty secure, so it's just an extra precaution. Even if she doesn't fall asleep, she's usually content for a good stretch of time.

A new thing I tried today that worked... I got out the pack and play and put her down on her stomach when she was being a bit fussy. I know it's not recommended now, but I figure my parents put me and my brother to sleep on our stomachs all the time and we did fine, so I did it during the day when I was in the room and could keep an eye on her. She slept for several hours this way!

We had the same problem with our daughter when she was that age. Finally one day we put her in the playpen after she'd fallen asleep and she slept for half an hour to an hour. It was at least a start. She took naps in there for a while. My husband was deployed at the time, and when he came home when my daughter was about five months, he was tougher than me and we let her cry it out. Some people don't like this approach, and it was hard at first, but it only took a few days and she learned to fall asleep on her own. She then took two good naps a day and then eventually one 3-hour nap a day. I worked at home a lot so that three hours was a HUGE blessing. I also noticed it was much easier to get her to take a nap if I caught her at the right time. If she got overly tired, it was much more difficult to get her to sleep. The same's true now and she's almost five! Of course she gave up naps around 3, which was a bummer. Don't know if this helped, but hang in there. You'll figure something out.

My 4 1/2 month old is the same way...so was my older girl. I have no advice, just sympathy and reassurance that you're not alone!!!! It's tough when every other baby appears to be "super napper". I would suggest doing the same bed time routine you do at night for naptime. (maybe you've already tried.) they're never too young to look at a book and then rock to a lullaby or 2 before being put down. Try it at the same time every day for 3-4 days... it is starting to work for my little one. Each day she cries a little less. Good luck!!! :-)

I remember when my youngest was nine months old and would cruise on out to the bathroom to shriek at me every time I sat on the potty to go. This phase was horrible and to this day it still perplexes me what her problem with me going potty could have been! I suggest you indulge your 4 month-old and hold him as much as he tells you he wants. For a baby that age, there is no difference between a 'need' and a 'want'...in other words, if you don't give what he wants right now to him, he will demand it later via regression. Ensure that you will not have a clingy two (or three, or four!) year-old when he is older and just hold him as much as he wants (i.e., needs) now until he is secure enough to have you put him down so he can parallel play on his own. You already have a job (being a mom) and you are training for another one. How generous to the world of you. But this is a lot of pressure on a mom. You are taking full-time care of your baby and in the midst of that, seeking even more work to do for others. The world around us sometimes expects we should be 'doing it all' but living with a child constantly regressing because they weren't reassured as infants makes it absolutely impossible for a mom to ever 'do it all' in the future. I say baby your baby now so when he's more grown you don't have to. In the long run it will help everybody so much more.

The one thing that works for me is when i am done feeding my almost 5 month old daughter is I walk around the house a couple times to make sure she is asleep..Then i put her in her bed in her room and i put on her mobile and she falls back asleep. If she wakes up I try to give her a couple minutes because she and I both know that she is tired.

Good Luck and happy sleeping

Have you ever tried swaddling your child. Babies can startle themselves awake with thier movements and contiually wake themselves up, leaving no time for us mommies to get anything done!!

B.
When a child has fallen asleep for at least 20 minutes, they are down till you wake them. They go into the REM sleep for up to 4 hours, so work on the 20 minute holding if needed.
S.

My daughter is the exact same way! She's almost five months old and we've been going through this since her birth. Fortunately for me I only watch two girls for roughly 20 hours a week, so I'm able to hold my daughter most of the time when she needs it, and can usually hold her while she sleeps. The downside is that often times her nap time falls into when the girls should be eating there lunch, and that is when we really struggle. I wish I had a suggestion for you, but at this point I'm kind of in the same boat. My poor house is severely neglected because my daughter wants to be held and played with while she's awake and then wants to be held while she sleeps - if I put her down even after she's fallen asleep I probably have about 15-20 minutes before she'll be awake again. The only thing that helps me is to remember how quickly they grow up, and soon I'll be wishing that she wanted more of my time and affection. It's been recommended to me to get a Moby Wrap (mine should be coming in the mail today, actually) and in theory this should help you hold your son while he sleeps but still give you the use of both of your arms/hands. Good luck!