Napping advice required

[Mildly]

Oscar is refusing to nap during the day. I used to be able to get him to nap in his swingy chair with his dummy in. He will still sleep in the car and the buggy which is great but not that handy if I want to get things done or have a nap at the same time. I'm starting to feel a bit exhausted especially as I have to spend the evenings doing all the things I haven't been able to do during the day. He sleeps really well at night though so I feel guilty for complaining.

Any tips?

 

[charlie84]

Umm not sure if i will be of any help but have you tried popping him in his cot/basket when you think he starting to get a little tired. Have you got a mobile you could put on that may lull him to sleep. Give him his dummy and leave to see if he will settle.

I found that Calleigh had to have naps or i would have one hell of a grumpy baby on my hands. I would see her sleep signals and take her to her my bed/her cot and settle her down to sleep. Sometimes she will fight it though so i pop her in the cot turn on the mobile and cover her with a blanket and leave. I would only return if she really cried if it was just a whinge/moany cry then i would give it a few minutes and she usually would settle herself.

Now she has got into a routine where she has two naps, first usually 3 hours after she has woken in the morning then another nap late afternoon.

 

[sarah2807]

My Lo is the same, but has definately got better with time.
Like charlie said you have to look for the tired signals and then try putting him to bed (even if he doesn't look really tied)
I recorded the times my Lo did sleep for a few days and tbh it's usually a similar time each day so that helped.

 

[millylillyrose]

maybe try feeding him as soon as he wakes in the morning, then time for some active play.....and then around 10ish putting him down in his crib (or what ever he sleeps in) with a dummy, and every time he crys, just go back in and put the dummy back in untill an hour is up

India had a habbit of cat napping in the day, about 5 20min naps, which was tough, cuz she wanted to sleep, it was just so broken up. I dedicated a good 4 days doing the above everytime she would wake before an hour was up. and now she'll have an hour sleep in the morning and a good 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
i also found that putting her in her room in her crib helped, as before she was sleeping downstairs in her carry cot or on the sofa.

 

[purple13]

i sling connor when i know he's getting tired... otherwise there's too much that he could be doing and sleep just gets in the way if i wear him, then he's limited in what he can do, other than pull my hair and look around - he gets bored of doing that quite quickly and drops off. and then i get on with the housework

 

[Mildly]

Thank you for your replie ladies

As I type Oscar is napping on the sofa As we normally start him sleeping on the sofa at night times (I take him up to his moses basket when I go to bed) I decided to put him down there instead of his swingy chair. I also swaddled him, which I do at night times also. He did resist a bit but I sat besides him and he dropped off after five minutes. I made us get up at 8am today (quite often we sleep til about 10-11am ) and fed him downstairs instead of in my bed, then we played for about another hour til he started looking tired.

Charlie, Oscar is so grumpy in the early evenings unless he has napped really well too. I feel bad because that is when OH comes home so all he sees after a day at work is a whingy baby. Sounds like Calleigh is napping really well

Sarah, I think I might start recording how long he does sleep, then I can get a good idea of how many naps and for how long he needs

Millylillyrose I aspire to India's hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon napping schedule I think my problem is that I've been keeping him up past the point of no return! I have employed the down at 10ish idea though and so far so good (hope I haven't jinxed things by saying that ).

Purple, I shall definitely try slinging if he gets wise to me putting him down to sleep. I know he usually drops off in the mei tei or wrap (he likes being vertical so refuses to be in a traditional sling).

Edit - he just woke up after 40 mins but still looked tired (he was still a bit pink around the eyes) so I popped the dummy back in and sat with him for a minute or two. I'm hoping he sleeps until 11.15ish and then he can have a long feed