I have a 2 1/2 month old son. I have got him to sleep in his own crib at night but he will NOT take naps during the day. He goes to bed at 9-10 pm wakes up at 4 am for a feeding and then at 8 am for the day. During the day I watch a 4 yr old and a 6 month old. For a while I had the two babies on the same naps but now my son wont take any at all!! Today he took 3 naps but none of them lasted for more than 30 minutes. He is so cranky during the day it stresses me out. How can I get him to take naps during the day??
Thanks everyone for the advice!! I am going to try some things but right now my son has the flu!! Swaddling is out of the question he likes his hands to be free. The swing isnt much help eaither...he doesnt like being high up! Thanks again for the advice!!
It may be where he's sleeping. When my son was a newborn, he liked to sleep on the top part of the pack n play ( where we were supposed to change his diapers) and if I put him in the normal part of the playpen, he'd scream and cry. Or try giving him a bath and sing a round or 2 of you are my sunshine.
try swalding nice and tight and puting him down in a real dark room
When my daughter was this age, she took naps in her carseat. She would feel safer and tighter in there. It is nice because you can move them around the house once they are asleep. She graduated to the swing at 4 months and her crib at 6 for naps.
Hi J.,
Both of my boys didn't establish a good nap routine until about 8 months. They would take about 2-3 small naps throughout the day. Then when they were about 8-9 months old they would take only one 3 hour nap. When they were little I would let them nap in the swing. That was my best bet for a nap for them. Good luck.
Chris
I didn't have a problem with naps; well, not really. My daughter would just sleep occasionally in a swing. However, she was a terrible night sleeper, waking often. I would put her to bed about 10:00 so that she would have less wakenings during the night (so I could get some sleep), but putting her to bed so late was actually the cause of the sleep troubles. Try putting your son to bed earlier, gradually. If he now goes to sleep at 9:30, cut back to 9:00 and then to 8:30, etc. It didn't make much sense to me, but it did work. I had the same types of problems with my son; and when I put him to bed earlier, 7:30 or 8:00, he would sleep 12-14 hours a night (at 10 months, when my daughter was born), and he would actually still take a nap during the day. Of course, all children are different...both of my kids usually only average 9 or 10 hours a night now at almost 2 and almost 3 years of age. However, earlier bedtimes seem to work for almost all children with fewer wakenings during the night and longer periods of nighttime sleep. Hope this helps.
My little boy had to take every nap in a swing until he was 9 months old. I had the Papasan swing that rocked side to side and had music. I could just put him in there and he would be asleep in minutes. It was a sad day when he out grew the swing, but if you're desperate, give it a try.
Good Luck
M.
