Napping Troubles

I would also try something in the room that makes a little bit of noise, like a fan (not directed at the baby) or a white noise machine. when I worked at daycare that did wonders for the kids, kinda drowned out the noise going on around the house to. Good Luck

Hi, Do you still swaddle him in a blanket before you put him in his crib? I'd try that if you're not. At 2 1/2 months he still needs to feel snuggled in. I did it with my 4th child until she was about 6 months. She was not a good sleeper if she wasn't wrapped up tight. Hope it helps!

It took several months to get my daughter on a sleep schedule. We started working with her to help her learn to go to sleep onher own- at about 4 or 5 weeks old.

My first tip - is buy the book healthy sleep happy child. The author is a pediatrician. It is the best child care book you can have.

your son has to learn to put himself to sleep- in the beginning we would lay my daughter in the bassinet with her pacifier.. and she would turn her head over and we kept putting the pacifier back in her mouth... eventually she could use her own hands to put the pacifier in her mouth.

It will take time for your son to learn to be agood sleeper. I wold not get him used to sleeping in bouncers or car seats or the like. If you want him to be agood sleeper- he needs to learn to sleep in a bed. We always respected my daughters need for sleep- I did not run errands when she needed a nap- I put her to bed and we did an errand when she woke up-

My duaghter never slept in car seats or swings or chairs. She still wont sleep anywhere but her bed... So we did struggle getting her to nap on a airplane trip- but overall we want her to sleep in her crib. and she does.

Your son is young and he cant comfort himself to sleep yet- you will have to stand byand pat his back and hold the pacifer or whatever it takes to get him to sleep.. but as he gets older he will learn to put himself to sleep-

but buy the book- it is the best thing I ever bought.

I'm currently reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley. My daughter's pediatrician recommended it and I'm finding it helpful.

This is a tough one because every baby is different. My firt baby had to be bounced to sleep from day one, that lasted until she was well over one. My second baby is the type to just lay down and fall asleep. Right now I think your baby is too young to let him 'cry it out'. But you can try different options. Try not even letting him get sleepy in his chair. Put him in his crib when you know it's close to nappy time. Stand there and soothe him: hum, pat his back, keep the paci in his mouth, cuddle him, rock him. It may take a while, but sleep is vital for lil one's developement. A routine probably won't be established until at least 5-6 months of age. It may take several days of you just staying home with no outings to get him into the habit, but it's well worth it. Just establish in your mind that his sleep time is the most important. When he needs to sleep, let it be at home. Even if this gets to be boring for you, have it be your quiet time or your time to get work done. When he's a little bit older, 5-6, months then you can start to train him with nap time and let him cry it out a little bit more. But for now, try the soothing methods.

Hi A. -

I have a seven-month-old son, so I've recently been through what you're going through now. Everything I've read has said that biologically, babies are not ready for regular naps (meaning at regular times, for regular lengths, and in their own cribs) until they're at least four months old. I didn't necessarily believe this, and I tried to get my son to take more regular naps earlier than four months without much success. Then at about four months, he just "got it" and started doing much better. I would put him down, in his crib, about an hour and a half or two hours after he woke up in the morning. If he cried I would let him do so for a couple of minutes and then go in and soothe him (without getting him out of the crib). I would continue this process, increasing the number of minutes I waited to go in to him, until he fell asleep. Then I would wait two hours after he woke up from his morning nap before putting him down for his afternoon nap in the same way. To this day he is an excellent napper - goes to sleep as soon as we lay him down in his crib, and sleeps for one hour in the morning and between one and a half to three hours in the afternoon - so I know it works! Good luck!

I am a first time mom to an 8 month old little girl and went through the same thing. I say just let him sleep where he will. I think it is much more important that he get sleep than where he gets it. He will get better about it as he gets older. It's just that he's so little right now and I thnk that the bouncy chair and carseat and other things like this are more comforting cuz they kind of cradle him and are smaller. I actually put my daughter in her carseat on the floor at night for her to sleep in because she did the same thing in her crib and cradle. I think it is a good idea to keep trying but I wouldn't be so rigorous about it because you really don't want to disrupt his sleep so much. Also just wanted to say I am pretty sure he should be getting about 15 hours of sleep per day at this stage, so if you didn't wake him at all and let him sleep where he wants he would likely get that amount. Don't worry so much, I went throught the same thing, I promise it will get better. The fact that you are so aware of all of this means you are already doing things right and are a good, attentive mom.

I let my son sleep in his baby swing until he was 3 months old for naps, b/c he slept so soundly, but at some point you have to transfer him to the crib, if he is hesitant to be in his crib, try investing in some toys meant for the crib, like a mobile or lights show (try walmart) some even have remote controls so he doesn't have to see you walk in and turn it on when he's getting fussy. My son had a really strong will power and sometimes he'd cry for 15 or 20 minutes, but he always falls asleep eventually ( I check on him every 5 minutes) he's almost 9 months old and takes great naps now...if only he'd sleep all night :)

I also tried the no-cry sleep solution at first. My son was a chronic cat-napper at first...all the way up until he was about 6 months old he would only take 3-4 half hour naps/day typically. And in addition to that he would only sleep ten hours at night. All I can tell you is that he's happy and healthy despite my thought that he needed more sleep, and he's now 10 months old and usually sleeps at least an hour or more for his naps (he's taking two a day now), and sleeps his same 10 hours at night, he's rarely cranky, he doesn't have meltdowns (although he's not a big fan of going to bed sometimes) so I think some babies just do ok with less sleep. He does seem to do better when his naptimes are around the same time each day and he goes to bed earlier in the evening, his bedtime is now 7pm and it used to be 6pm! so you might want to try that, he may still sleep til 7 or 8am. Good luck, and hopefully it helps to know there is another little one out there like yours who is thriving and happy :)

My daughter just turned 6 months old and we are just getting into schedules for naps...my ped. told me naps really do not start to kick in until 6 mons.
My daughter would fall asleep in her bouncy seat and I would just put the seat into her crib, so she would wake up in her crib ( I would do the same with the car seat). She took many naps in her swing.
My daughter was also just taking 30 min. naps up until this week. I put her down (lets say at 9:15 am and I make her stay in ther crib for one hour). I just started to letting her cry it out and she has cried no longer than 25 mins. and she is now (knock on wood) taking 2 1 hour 45 min naps a day. I just bought the book; the sleep easy solution...really a great book.
Good luck!
~M. B.