naps during the day

[badgergirl]

Sprog is 5 weeks old tomorrow. We're really lucky with our nights - he sleeps from about 10/11pm to 8/9am with only a couple of feeds and a nappy change in between, and goes straight off to sleep after these. In a morning he's lovely, chattery and with first smiles (yay!) for a good hour of play.

The afternoons and evenings are hard, however, since he refuses to nap. At all. We might get a few minutes every so often when he drifts off to sleep in my arms after a feed, but that's it, and by 6pm he's usually really cranky - but still refuses to sleep. If I put him in his moses basket for a nap he'll bash his arms on the side and scream, and if I put him in his cotbed (where he sleeps at night) he'll snort and snuffle for a while, think about sleeping (and maybe drift off for a minute or two) and then start crying.

I know he needs a couple of naps during the day (and I know it'd make him much less cranky!) but how do I let HIM know that? I realise he's only just starting to get his own routine, but I'd love for him to nap for his own sake, and so I can get some housework done!

Health visitor has suggested controlled crying, but I think he's too young for this too, as I didn't think they really remembered routines etc til at least six weeks?

 

[lauramumof2]

I think that to be getting cranky at 6 is about right. Do you have a bedtime routine. I would suggest a bath, then his bottle, a story (i know that sounds daft with him being so wee but the soft tone of a story might help) then his bed in a darkened room. A total wind down from 6 then to bed at 7.

 

[badgergirl]

Doesn't sound daft at all - we read 'The Cat in the Hat' most days, a the rhymes and rhythms seem to make him smile!

 

[Magic Monkey]

We put Ella into her cot and put on her Winnie the Pooh lightshow thing everytime she needs a sleep. We give her a dummy and then leave the room, just going back in to put the dummy back in. This works 90% of the time as she seems to realise that this means sleep.

I know that they say you should always put them down awake and have things so that they know its bedtime e.g. mobile/lullaby on. Also we try to put her down just as she starts to get sleepy before she gets over tired and starts fighting us!

 

[Sherlock]

Our LO has been awake most of the day since he was about 10 days old. He is 5 weeks old this coming Saturday We skipped the whole newborn bit it seems. He often goes 6 hours plus without sleeping, sometimes 9am- 3/4pm, other times he goes till 7pm. Often his sleeps are short and sweet.

I found it really hard to begin with as I wanted to use his sleeping time to do stuff around the house. But as he is awake so much and for so long during the day, I've simply gone the other way. I do things when he is awake. Sometimes I have him with me, either in his pram, basket or on the play mat, other times I'll leave him settled and quiet in his basket and go off and do things. He is quite content for up to an hour a time in his basket (though sometimes he is having none of it and grouses till I come back). I check him regularly but I don't spend every waking moment with him otherwise I'd get nothing done. I talk when I am around, put on music for him and he is happy. If I need to hang out the washing I'll take him in the pram, park him in a nice spot and let him watch the roses blowing in the breeze. Plus I take him for walks when wide awake and put him in his cot with the mobile playing for 20 minutes.

I find I can get things like laundry to hoovering done and while I can't do some things, I can get most of my household things sorted in the day. I like I am not tied to him so much when he is wide awake and I'm able to do things. Its good for both of us

Don't get me wrong, I had to work hard to get him used to being put wide awake in his basket. I keep skin on skin contact for a few minutes once he goes in, stroking or touching his head. We've done this since he was 2 weeks old as he was a very demanding feeder and hated sleeping away from me as he loves to comfort feed. But he will now fall asleep in there also from being awake which is great. Not all the time but he does go off in there now. Plus we use a dummy when coming off my boob to go into the basket/cot. Makes a huge difference since we started using that in certain situations. He does not have it outside of then and it works for us.

 

[Sage]

Even though ky is 5 months now he really needs a nap after hes been awake for three hours or he gets grumpy as hell. He usually sleeps from 7.30pm till 6am but he needs another nap already by 8am! He likes his nap naps

When he was a newborn and wouldnt sleep also in the afternoon we had to buy a bouncer and bounce him til he slept it was the only way other than a trip in the car to asda and back again! god those trips were great at 1am