napping during the day - rountines?

aristotle25

Hi,

Our 3 month old son naps for about 2-3 hours during the day, usually split over 3 naps.

It is easy to know when he is tired as he gets cranky and lets out a few "wah wahs" so we put him into the buggy with some blankets and basically wheel him around the house until he sleeps.

This usually only take 5-10 minutes for him to nod off but he usually cries hard and sometimes hysterically until he sleeps.

What do the rest of you do to encourage your baby to nap\sleep during the day? I would like to get to the stage where he will nod off himself without the buggy and without the crying.

Thanks

Gee_G

aristotle25 wrote: »

Hi,

Our 3 month old son naps for about 2-3 hours during the day, usually split over 3 naps.

It is easy to know when he is tired as he gets cranky and lets out a few "wah wahs" so we put him into the buggy with some blankets and basically wheel him around the house until he sleeps.

This usually only take 5-10 minutes for him to nod off but he usually cries hard and sometimes hysterically until he sleeps.

What do the rest of you do to encourage your baby to nap\sleep during the day? I would like to get to the stage where he will nod off himself without the buggy and without the crying.

Thanks

My son takes the same sort of power naps during the day. Sometimes only for half hour. But after he is fed and changed I either put him on his mat or in his bouncy chair to tire himself out first. We then put him in his basket and put on soMe classical music on the TV very low which also seems to really relax him and He dozes off then.

Squiggler

Our little man loves being bounced, which usually means either me or OH holding him while bouncing on an exercise ball Puts him to sleep very quickly usually. He's not in great form these days though as he's teething already

pwurple

Bouncy chair in a dark room was our daughters favourite napping spot. Have you got one? They are about 25 to 30 euro and was the best thing ever. Take the toys off, small drink, favourite blanket, bouncy, and off she went without a whimper usually. We used a soother too, when I stopped breastfeeding she got great comfort from it, but I know some people don't like the look of them.

She loved the buggy as well, and sling, and car, so in general we were able to be in or out, she would nap in something wherever we were.

lounakin

My daughter is 6 months and she just recently started regular naps... usually every two/three hours she goes down. Most of the time we bounce her on the exercise ball for a few minutes and put her in her bed. I was always reluctant for her to sleep in the buggy or out of her bed too much as I wanted her to get used to it.
She still has no routine though, she'll sleep for 4 hours total one day and 1 the other, but she'll always nap at least twice a day.
Usually when she cries hysterically right before it means she's really tired and ends up sleeping longer!

Quiet_thought

My little guy is 3 months too. He gets tired around the same times each day and I bring him to his room, put on his lullaby, put him in his crib with his soother and his teddy bear and he nods off on his own. If i miss the tired signs and let him get over tired then it's a bit more of a struggle!

Princesshazel

I have a 1 year old he would go for nap after lunch at 1. he would sleep for maybe an hour or 2 and that is it we would give him some lunch and a nappy change and into the cot he will nod off himself

lazygal

We don't have a great napping routine. Baby is nearly six months and will only do two, sometimes three, half hour naps. Tried a few things consistently to improve this but it seems to be her schedule. If she's not interested in a nap, she simply won't sleep, no matter what! Not too bothered though as she's a good sleeper at night.

Suucee

My 6 month old is very lazy goes for 3 naps a day usually every 2-3 hours. Sleeps for anything between 45 mins to an hour and a half. if she has a short nap in the morning will have longer in late afternoon. When i see her getting tired (rubbing her eyes, sucking her thumb, cuddling blanket or teddy) i usually put her in her cot in her room or in her playpen/travel cot in the sitting room. She usually falls asleep straight away once she has her lil blankie. If im out of the house she will fall asleep in the pram or car seat. Only problem i have is if im in someone elses house (eg my parents) and she gets tired she wont go asleep in her pram or on your lap as she likes to sleep on her side so will only go asleep in pram if i go for a walk with her. (Prob could do with a travel cot for my mams to solve this problem).
She then goes to bed at 7.30 and some mornings i have to wake her at 8 to get her ready before i go to work. Sun morning she actually slept till 9.30 (couldnt believe my luck)

JTormey

our 4 month old did need to be rocked or nursed to sleep til about 3 weeks ago.
we then did some sleep training and set a daily set routine a... he is now much happier and is able to go to sleep by himself - we just put him in the cot, swaddle, white noise and turn off the lights - and he usually falls asleep within a few minutes with no stress. and whilst before he was cranky, now we are on the routine he is much happier.
nap routine we are doing is up at 8:15am, nap 1 at 9:30am for 45 mins, nap 2 at 12:15 (usually for 60-90mins, depending on how tired he is) and nap 3 at 4pm for 30-45 mins. then bed at 7pm.
the sleep training was tough but it only took a few days and was well worth it...

Mink

My wee lad is 3 months too. He seems to only get hysterical going down for a nap when I've missed the "I'm tired" signs and he gets overtired. He needs a nap every 1.5-2hrs after he last woke up. Usually his naps are 1/2hr to 45 mins but the odd day he'll do a couple hours.

If he's not overtired, I see the tired signs, cradle him in my arms and either give him a bit of bottle or the dodie, rock him til his eyes are heavy and then put him down in his cot. He'll usually drop off himself, the odd time I've to go up and reinsert the dodie a couple times.

When he's hysterical I have to do all sorts of tricks.

He's not great for sleeping in the buggy or car anymore, everythings too interesting!

aristotle25

We just started sleep training this morning and it took 40 mins for baby to get to sleep in the cot (although I think he actually fell asleep in my girlfriends arms first).

Basically soothing him, put him in the cot, take him out, sooth him, in for a bit longer etc and crying all the time.

Hopefully after a few days it will get better.

JTormey

aristotle25 wrote: »

We just started sleep training this morning and it took 40 mins for baby to get to sleep in the cot (although I think he actually fell asleep in my girlfriends arms first).

Basically soothing him, put him in the cot, take him out, sooth him, in for a bit longer etc and crying all the time.

Hopefully after a few days it will get better.

up


We didn't pick our guy up. Just went into him and tried to soothe him by rubbing his chest or just saying hello. went in every 5 mins at first going up to 10 mins. first nap he cried the whole way thru but it did get shorter and shorter periods of crying. by day 3 there was no crying.
hope it works for you.

Neyite

Our 6 month old is fairly predictable now. Usually every 2 hrs he naps. He got too heavy to rock or bounce to sleep - and used to wail when we did it as he knew we were trying to send him off .

Now I put on a lullabye app set for 15 mins, and lie him on his side on our bed, facing me, also on my side. He loves to touch my face falling asleep so I hold one hand and stroke his head. Usually off within minutes, then I transfer him to his cot and wrap him in his blanket on his back.

I prefer him to nap in the cot because we have the sensor mat and its peace of mind.

He has only once napped for more than 40 mins, but that's all he will do.

aristotle25

I thought I would update again with the latest.

At 4.5 months old now our fella sleeps from about 8.30pm to 8.30am although sometimes wakes up once or twice around 9pm/9.30pm but does go back to sleep very easily with some more bottle. So that is great.

During the day he is taking 3 or 4 naps of 30mins each. We tried letting him get to sleep by himself in the cot but he found it difficult and was crying hysterically.

So we did give in and now let him nod off on our shoulders but usually only take 5 mins for him to nod off and then we put him into the cot. And personally I really like putting him to sleep this way.

Looking back it was just a matter of time for him to fall into a routine although I know with teething etc this routine wont last forever.

staticdoor71

My daughter is 8 months now and only has two naps. She sleeps 8.30-8.30 straight through. Naps from 11-1pm give or take then again from 3-4.30 ish. I give her her soother, put her on my shoulder and she rubs the label on her blanket.
I love this way. It's down time for both of us. Wouldn't have it any other way. And thankfully she will sleep this way too for her dad, my siblings and her grandparents. She is a lazy sod tho so maybe that helps