Having a hard time with naps…

[Anonymous]

First, let me say that Amelia is doing well with her night time sleep, and I am very happy about that! She will sleep from about 7 pm until 5 am. Her naps, however, are a different story. She is still only taking one or two naps for 20-30 minutes. Occasionally they will be 40 minutes and once in blue moon she will go 1.5-2 hours (not without waking every 30 minutes, though)! I get so excited on those days thinking that will be the new norm, only to have my hopes dashed the very next nap! I have tried absolutely everything! I do let her cry up to a point. I have seen her covered in throw up from getting so upset, so I go in if she is in an all-out scream. I will not let her CIO beyond that. Also, if she crys, I do look in to make sure her leg isn’t stuck in the crib slat or her pacifier hasn’t fallen out of the crib (it would be so much better if I could put the bumper back on the crib, but “they” scare you so much about SIDS that I am afraid to put it back). Also, I have been napping her on her side or tummy which I think works better for her, but yesterday she turned her head straight down into the mattress! I looked in on her and saw it and it scared me to death! She did have her pacifier in her mouth (it’s a Soothie and the little handle on the back of it had her head a little higher, but I couldn’t sleep last night worried that she would roll onto her tummy with her head down and suffocate!)

She sometimes roots when she needs a nap. I have been caving lately and feed her thinking she must be hungry and that maybe my milk supply is waning. I’d love to hear from anyone about that.

Yes, I am a worrier! Are any of you having similar nap problems? I feel like I am being judged by other moms (not on this site but from “friends”) that I am the one creating Amelia’s sleep problems. The books have me believing that as well… maybe I am caving??? Or, maybe Amelia is just that way??? Laura, what did you do with Jonah (Sir No Nap?)

Sorry this was so long!

[Anonymous]

I have breathable bumpers for the same reason. you can get them at onestepahead.com, they have helped me. I also use the AngelCare monitor b/c Cooper smooshes his face into the mattress as well as his soother bear and I am paranoid about SIDS. I don’t have much help with the sleep thing. We take great naps but are up every 3hrs for our paci at night….

[Anonymous]

Alana has never been a great napper, but sleeps well at night. From about 6 months she was on 2-3 30 minutes naps a day. Is she happy apart from this, if so I probably wouldn’t worry about the napping thing (although its a bugger because naps is sometimes the only time things can get done!). Some babies aren’t just great nappers and if she is doing well at night, thats great.

[hellbennt]

ah, Sir No Nap…

I tried EVERYTHING: splitting medicine doses differently, giving zantac, giving mylanta, tums, rocking, singing, slinging, rocking him IN a sling (wearing him)…I even tried CIO but he cried a full hour (!!) and after an hour that’s the end of the ‘nap’. we had our routine. books, boob, etc. I tried nursing him to sleep, not nursing him, snack before, trying various nap times, on & on…

I wish I had some hindsight for you, but alas, I do not.

This is not great news and, for that, I’m sorry…

He did, however, become a napper at 18 months and he still naps now at four!

So just keep on keeping on.

sending Amelia sleepy nap vibes!!!!

[Anonymous]

o.k, you sound JUST LIKE I DID! i couldnt figure out for the life of me why my sons naps were either 30 min. or none at all.. and if i did get a long one… which only started happening after 5-6 mos.. it would be just like you said…wakes after 30 min. than again after 30/40 min. I dont have too much advice..BUT i wouldnt worry too much about SIDS, and the tummy sleeping, I did it with my son, and that is how he slept the best, plus your daughter is 6mos old now right? does she lift her head up? or roll over?

as for the naps getting better.. they do. i think shanes naps were cut short so often because of the reflux.. not that a higher med would even help it. If you think she is waking up crying/ a painful cry, than i would try higher meds. But in our case it didnt help, not mylanta either. So we are at the point that he does take 1/5 hr naps but does still wake up 30 min. into it, but falls back asleep. So, there is hope and it will get better!!

[Anonymous]

Sometimes, not always, but often enough the problem with short nappers is that they have a hard time putting themselves back to sleep when they wake up during a light sleep stage. Babies have shorter sleep cycles than adults and they typically enter a light sleep stage 30-45 minutes into a nap. When I was a nanny I noticed that nearly every baby I took care of would do this…fall asleep easily….but be up and crying 30 – 45 mintues later. And I could tell they were still tired.

Anyway, my babies did this too. I used a variety of tactics to try to teach them to put themselves back to sleep. One thing that often helps is white noise in their rooms. Keeping the room dark. Putting them to bed awake but groggy so they are learning to put themselves to sleep. When my babies would wake up after 30-45 minutes into a nap I’d wait a few minutes to see if they would put themselves back to sleep and if not I’d go in and pat their backs, say shhh….shhh…, give them their nuk or favorite blankie, etc. I’d come and go for as long as it took for them to go back to sleep, or until they became so upset that I knew it wasn’t going to work. Sometimes it even works well to sneak in a few minutes before you expect them to wake up and be ready and as soon as you see the slightest little stirring start patting them gently so they go right back to sleep.

I know this all sounds exhausting and tedious (and it is) but with time all of my babies learned to sleep past that 30-45 minute light sleep stage and became great nappers.

I still have the breathable bumpers for Myles and they work well in keeping his arms and legs inside the crib. Also, I always had a camera and monitor in my babies’ rooms. That way I could check without disturbing them if they were making noise.

About rooting when she wants to nap. I think most babies enjoy that feeding and relaxing in mom’s arms when they are tired. I fed all of my babies before their naps. I just made sure they were awake when I laid them down. If you feed her until she’s out like a light and then lay her down she may have some trouble learning to put herself asleep and stay asleep.

I’m def not a sleep expert, but those are some things that worked for me.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all!

Beth, I think I will go and get a breathable bumper. It will prevent the legs/arms getting caught in the slats and her pacifier falling on the ground. I think I picked up 5 of them under her crib the other night!

Therese, Amelia is fairly happy even when she doesn’t nap well. She does wake crying most of the time, though. I have read that it is because they didn’t get a long enough nap. Also, she can sometimes get cranky at the end of the day. Today she had a nap of over an hour and then another one for 40 minutes and then she got cranky at about 5:00. Yes, I have come to accept the fact that I don’t get much done during the day!

Laura, you sound like me… I have tried just about every combination of things out there. Tweaking the times, nursing, not nursing, reading a book, music, no music, a white noise machine, etc. etc.! And like you said, if she cries, it would be most of the hour which is the time alotted for the nap. I have even questioned that maybe I started too early and tried again for another hour! UGH! Thank you for the good nap vibes !

Lauren, it’s nice to know I am not alone, but sorry that Shane went through this same thing! Very good to know that he is napping longer now! I wonder if they may be waking up because of gas??? Amelia does not usually burp when I burp her. I am wondering if that could be part of the problem… I guess I won’t know until she can tell me herself, and by then she will not be napping anymore! Glad to know things have gotten better with Shane’s naps… there is hope!

[Anonymous]

Thank you Christine! I have read a good bit of what you have said, but it’s good to know that it works! As of late, I have been trying to anticipate her waking and go in to put her pacifier in the moment she stirs. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I know she is capable of putting herself to sleep. I guess I do put her down asleep when she nurses to sleep. I just feel so badly keeping her awake or waking her up before I put her down because sleep is what I am trying to accomplish! But, I know it’s better for the long term goal! Your tactics are certainly worth a try!

newmomofone2007-07-20 20:33:34

[Anonymous]

haha, i just re read my post.. i am glad you understood what i wrote.. i didnt mean 1/5 hr naps now.. (haha, doing fractions with the naps. )

i meant 1 1/2 hr. naps..i have no clue where that came from!

but as for the gas.. maybe it can be.. does she act gassy at all during the day? shane wasnt too gassy… but who knows, it can be gas pains that they cant release. maybe you can try gas drops.. some people find help with them, we havnt.. but if gas might be making her uncomfortable i would try it. i think actually gaviscon, that is like mylanta is made more gas as well.. so you could cover reflux/gas in one! 😉

[Anonymous]

Christine (ndrose),

Amelia doesn’t usually respond when I go in to comfort her in her crib. She will smile thinking it’s play time, or fight me and push away my hand if I try to give her the pacifier and cry harder. If I try to pat her back, she rolls over onto her back because I think she knows I am trying to get her to sleep (I always put her on her side to sleep and it’s always the same side because it’s easier for me to pat her back on that side — I think she’s made the connection that when I roll her to that side, she’s being put to sleep). Today, I put her in her crib after feeding her. Her eyes were closing when I had her up on my shoulder, so my assumption was that she was groggy but awake. The instant I put her in her crib, she became wide awake and has been fighting it ever since (right now it’s been 45 minutes). I know she is exhausted. She woke up at 4:30 this a.m. , I fed her at 5 (because she was crying) and she went back to sleep for maybe an hour (usually it’s two hours). I am at my wits end with the fight every day for naps, not to mentioned exhausted. It sounds like you have quite a bit of experience in this area. If they fight your efforts to comfort them, what do you do?

Thanks in advance!

[hellbennt]

when all else failed/fails:

Babywearing: https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1044&PN=1

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