Hi Ladies, So I need some help with E's naps. Since 3 weeks old, she has been taking 45 min naps (despite everything- white noise, total darkness, holding her, swing, etc.). Her pediatrician at that time said she was on the tail end of what is considered "normal" sleep for that age.. Fast forward to now. Naps are now 30 minutes 3x/day. Sometimes She does nap longer if I hold her. She eats a full bottle before each nap (another habit i probably should change). I think I need to intervene now that her daytime sleep seems worse and she is rubbing her eyes pretty much all day long. My question is: if you sleep trained for naps, what did you do and do you feed before naps? Was it successful? Any help is most appreciated! Thank you!!
Post by younglove316 on Feb 7, 2015 19:36:56 GMT -5
I'm going to follow this because I'm in a similar situation. I get 2 naps a day from her about an hour each, but they have to be on me or she won't sleep. Next week I may try the sleep sack for naps and see if that helps at all.
Post by bennieangel on Feb 7, 2015 23:17:09 GMT -5
Bebeski - how long is she up between naps? We have the best luck of it's exactly 2 hours of awake time. Also if he wakes up we give him 10 minutes to see if he will go back to sleep.
Thanks all! We are at 2.5-3 hours awake time between naps but haven't seen a pattern with differences in napping length depending on awake time. We did Ferber at night around 8 months and it worked great for a while, but will be likely cutting out her 3-4am feed soon so will probably have to Ferberize again. I should have nap trained when I nighttime trained but was too much of a chicken. I heard naps are more difficult to train too but think she could really benefit from it.
We sleep trained early on as well. Naps and night time at the same time. Naps were harder and too longer but was necessary. Now we are down to two naps/day. The first nap is anywhere from 1.5-2.5hrs and the 2nd nap is 45min at home, 35 min at daycare. At home, when he wakes up at 35min we leave him in the crib for another 20 to see if he falls back asleep and 50% of the time he sleeps another 20min.
There's a rare day here and there where he refuses an afternoon nap. On those days he still spends an hour in the crib and then goes to bed a little early.
I suggest you train. It's hard, but the pay off is great for both you and baby.
Some babies are terrible sleepers/nappers, whether you sleep train or not. I'm personally not a fan of sleep training. Here are my suggestions:
Watch closely for drowsy signs (heavy eyes, yawn, rubbing eyes, not interested in playing, staring into space). What time does LO wake up? After 2.5 hours of waking up (or as soon as you see one of the drowsy signs above), start a routine leading toward a nap: "quiet play" (play with toys that aren't loud), read a few books, listen to soft music, give bottle, nap. Repeat this same routine for an afternoon nap. (So wake up time is when she wakes up from her morning nap.) Since LO only takes 3 short naps, I would try for 2 longer naps (one morning, one afternoon). Protect nap times (don't be out running errands or having play dates when it is getting close to nap time).
I don't think giving a bottle before a nap is a bad habit at all. I nurse LO to sleep for naps and bedtime.
Where does LO sleep at night? If you want her to take naps in her crib, then I would suggest having her sleep in her crib at night.
I think fish8412 has great suggestions and it's exactly what we do for our LO too. Regardless of training or not training, routine is a must. I too still nurse or bottle or nap before some naps and every night before night time. I agree also that if you want LO to nap in the crib, LO needs to sleep in the crib at night.
Thanks ladies, those are great suggestions. We don't have much of a nap routine other than go into room, turn on white noise and eat a bottle with a little rocking. She always sleeps in her crib for both naps and bedtime so at least that part is consistent!
Thanks ladies, those are great suggestions. We don't have much of a nap routine other than go into room, turn on white noise and eat a bottle with a little rocking. She always sleeps in her crib for both naps and bedtime so at least that part is consistent!
I think nap routines are just as important as bedtime routines
I wish I had some awesome suggestions here, but we just kinda let our LO forge his own schedule. He's pretty consistent....usually wakes at 6:30, naps for 50 mins at 8:30am, 50- 90 mins at 12:30, 50-90 mins at 3:30pm, then bed at 8 pm. lay-down times might vary by 30 mins to an hour, but he lets us know when he is ready by rubbing his eyes or laying his head down on the floor. When I notice the signs, I'll feed him if he hasn't been fed in the last 2 hrs and then put him in his swing. I put it on the 2nd to slowest setting, turn on the multicolored lights, and the bedtime music (no mobile). sometimes if he is having a tough time calming down enough to sleep, I'll put one of those 2-hour long kaleidoscope videos from youtube with the classical music playing in the background for LO to watch on my ipod. his swing has a clear plastic place to put an ipod right above him so he can watch it while he lays there (I could also set it against the crib next to him if it didn't have that). he sleeps best without that on, but it helps on days when he is too excited to sleep.
Post by RandomName on Feb 10, 2015 20:03:37 GMT -5
We still use a sleep sac for all naps and bedtime. Its part of our routine. DDs arms are out and it's pretty loose so she can still move around etc. It is mostly for extra warmth.
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