Babies that just won't nap???

[KellyBelly]

This is my 4th baby... the first 3 napped during the day just fine. This one naps in 15 minute increments (even in the swing) and it is making life very difficult!! ARGHHHHHH!

Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions?

(He is 4 months old and should NEED some sleep, I'd imagine!)

[Mom2legomaniacs]

My younger was that way. He just doesn't require the kind of sleep that I think he should! For the first year of life, rarely slept during the day. For a while during the time he was 1, he took a shorter afternoon nap. But that didn't last long. Done by age 2.


Does he sleep well at night? Mine did and that was my saving grace. I don't have any advice, just commiseration. It was tough sometimes!

[KellyBelly]

Yep, he sleeps great at night and I LOVE him for it:D

But he just doesn't sleep during the day - not even in the car! I always hope he'll conk out on a car ride, but I peek in and there are his little eyes staring back, WIDE AWAKE!!! I guess this little guy just doesn't want to miss a thing!

[Ellie]

I only have 2, so I can't do much comparison...I can just share my limited experience.

I'm not a fan of letting infants cry it out. At all. However, I am a fan of getting enough rest:D Older dd mostly fell into a two-hour-nap pattern by the time she was about 5 months old; I started putting her to bed around 7 when she was that age, as well, and thankfully, she slept all night.

Younger dd was different. She did the same thing yours is doing, short little catnaps. Argh. So when she was about 3 or 4 months old I determined I was going to put her to bed around noon and let her cry it out. I waited until she fell asleep on her own when she nursed; when I stood up she woke up, of course, but I put her to bed anyway and walked away. Oy. She cried and cried and cried. Finally, after about half an hour I went in and picked her up, poor thing. But amazingly, the next day when she fell asleep around noon, she didn't stir when I stood up and put her to bed, and she took a two-hour nap. She took a two-hour nap every day until she was 4yo.

So maybe you could try letting him cry just a wee bit each day...a tiny wee bit...and see if you can help him sleep longer.

[Diana in OR]

My oldest ds was like that. He did sleep well at night, but during the day, he was not a napper at all.

I remember when he was around 6 mo. and becoming mobile he would take a short nap in the afternoon. One day, I had an older mom visiting when he awoke from his very brief nap. She asked me, "When does he take his second nap?" Honestly, until that moment, I had NO IDEA that babies took 2 naps a day!:eek:

[KH_]

My ds was like that - he just didn't want to nap. He'd drowse some when he was nursing, but other than that, I was lucky to get a 30 minute nap out of him a day. When he was about a year old, the only way I could get him to nap was to wrap him in a blanket and lie next to him and hold him (he'd kick and fight, but would finally give up and fall alseep). But he stopped napping altogether shortly after that.

My dd was a little better - she'd actually nap for an hour or so in the mornings, and that was so weird for me!

[Ellie]

She asked me, "When does he take his second nap?" Honestly, until that moment, I had NO IDEA that babies took 2 naps a day!:eek:

I never knew that "most" babies took two naps a day. I was pleased as punch with one 2-hr nap; I'd much rather have that than two 1-hr naps.

[GailV]

My older dd took 2 15 minute naps per day, and slept 8 hours per night when she was an infant.

When she was 2, though, she would sleep like a log all afternoon, and sleep 11 hours at night.

I've decided she had food intolerances that were keeping her awake when she was an infant. When she was older perhaps her body handled these foods better. But who knows -- there's no way to go back and check now. I could be totally wrong.

[amy g.]

I only had one out of four who napped at all.

We still talk about what a great baby she was, sleeping, and all that.

I thought no nappers were normal!

[CalicoKat]

This is my 4th baby... the first 3 napped during the day just fine. This one naps in 15 minute increments (even in the swing) and it is making life very difficult!! ARGHHHHHH!

Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions?

(He is 4 months old and should NEED some sleep, I'd imagine!)
no advice, still waiting for my dd9 (oldest) to sleep for more than 15 min a pop. :grouphug:

It requires some serious crib/play time training so Mom can get a nap. DD had to learn to stay in her room to play (safe place) so I could make it through the day.

[abbeyej]

A sling. It's the only way I survived my firstborn. And yes, I got very strong wearing him in one for many hours a day, lol. He couldn't and wouldn't sleep otherwise -- and even in a sling, he preferred to sit there and look out and watch the world most of the time (though he would doze off eventually and sleep longer in the sling than he would anywhere else). He was just very engaged in what was going on around him (and is a very thoughtful and academic "big kid" now), and in retrospect I believe he had a tummy ache for the entire first 4 years of his life, and it was worse when I put him down.

But the sling allowed me to survive.

I can't tell you how easy my second baby seemed when she actually took naps on a regular schedule.

(Oddly, when they were a little older -- two to four years old -- she's the one who gave up naps completely, and he's the one who consistently took an afternoon nap.)

[Joanne]

This one naps in 15 minute increments (even in the swing) and it is making life very difficult!! ARGHHHHHH!


This is one common behavior pattern/issue with babies who have a dairly allergy.

[Mamabegood]

I have 5 kids--the first four took naps, my baby has just finally started taking naps the last month or so (he's 10 1/2 months). But he is a great night sleeper, and has been from early on, so maybe that's the common thread?

Even if he wouldn't sleep, I would occasionally still set him down for a nap when he was really tired and crabby. I figured if he was sleepy (which he clearly was), wouldn't he eventually fall asleep? 9 times out of 10, no. I started calling it "taking a cry" instead of taking a nap.

Hang in there!

[KellyBelly]

I started calling it "taking a cry" instead of taking a nap.

Hang in there!


:lol: That is so funny!!!! I'll have to start using that expression! BTW, the little no-napper was just asleep for 9 minutes. Now he's awake and yelling again. Grrrrrrr.

[Alice]

My second one who had bad reflux was like this. He would only sleep on me..in the sling or the Baby Bjorn. I basically wore him for the first 6-8 months. Around 8 months he would start to nap a little IF I lay down with him and fed him to sleep. He started taking real naps around 12 mo and now does 2-3 hrs a day at 18 months. So...no great advice except to hang in there...it might get better. :)

[Sasharowan]

My dd was like that, the only way she would sleep in the day was in the front pack or curled in bed with non moving mom. My boys took regular naps. My ds6 would sleep all day, only waking to eat or get changed for the first 3 mos. It seems like. Even now at 6 he still takes irregular naps.

[Amy loves Bud]

Boy, I am sorry.

Romy was like that, too. She slept in 15 minute increments. I was losing it! Somewhere along around 7 or 8 months she settled down a bit and now she takes two really good naps each day and usually only wakes once at night. I don't know what snapped her out of it, but it is like night and day.

I hope the same thing happens for you, only sooner. I know how crazy-making it is! :blink:

[Eliana]

My eldest almost never napped, even as a newborn. (My eldest three kids napped very, very little, my 4th a little bit more, and the twins had (mild) jaundice and slept a lot at first, but not so much after they'd recovered.)

When they were tiny I wore them in a sling a lot of the time (or dh did - he worked from home, and would program away with a little one cuddled on his lap).

I'd prop them up right next to me on the (deep) sofa (with cushions on the floor just in case) while I held other kids on my lap and read.


Sometimes they liked a little bouncy seat set right next to me while I washed dishes or sat on the couch covered in older siblings.

We had a small futon mattress on the floor in one of the main rooms, with mirror on the wall (running the length of the futon) - it had a bar a little one could use to pull up on and another mirror right above the bar) - some kids loved watching themselves shake a rattle, others liked having their own space in the midst of the family, but one they could crawl off of (once they were old enough to do so).

My eldest, to this day, does not sleep as much as other kids her age - and she still love to be in the midst of whatever is going on. (dd#2, otoh, used to cry to be put down with her mirror and wooden toy hanger so she could get to work on figuring out how to move herself!)

[Luanne]

Not even as a newborn. She did start sleeping through the night at 2 months of age though and even though she didn't nap during the day, she was rarely fussy. I guess she just didn't need that much sleep.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My daughter didn't nap even as a newborn either. She did sleep through the night at only a couple weeks old though. My daughter was in daycare at 6 weeks unfortunately and the childcare workers didn't particularly appreciate a non-napping child. However, she was pretty content playing in the crib, in the swing, on the floor, etc. She did fuss a good bit the first 4 months, we assume because she could only move a little bit because once she could really scoot and roll well, she was a happy, easy baby....well, except that she just didn't believe in sleep til she was 10 years old :)

[bluecalmsea]

I second the sling suggestion. bluecalmsea

[Holly IN]

My youngest was like that. I gave up after she was 1 year old. My boys napped twice a day until age 2 then napped one time a day till age of 4. My dd wouldn't do any of that. She still wouldn't go to bed at night. ggrr...

Not a good advice coming from me....I gave up! I know that is probably not what you want to do.

Have you thought about just laying him down and letting him just rest in his crib while you do other things? Sometimes they will fall asleep once they get into the routine??

Sorry you are going through this. Been there!

Holly

[PiCO]

I guess this little guy just doesn't want to miss a thing!

I think that's what it really is- sleeping would mean missing out on some fun stuff.

I had one like that- she would fight sleep so hard. If I had to drive somewhere when she was tired, she would start screaming so she wouldn't fall asleep. When she slept, it was the sleep of the dead- totally passed out. She only slept 10-11 hours at night also.

She's a teenager now, and still gets her 10 hours a night.

[homeschoolmom]

DD was nicknamed baby-never-sleeps. Baby slings, cosleeping, and baby swings were our salvation.

[LibraryLover]

Oooo,that is hard. My youngest is/was like that. She is still not much of a sleeper...she can party all day and then some more at night. She is so much like my dh. I don't know how they do it. When mine was less than a year old she stayed awake, happy as a clam, untill after midnight for New Year's Eve. We were at my MIL's for a party, and she was pretty mch the star. Smiling and content. It blew me away and I realized that I had not been imagining that the only time she ever napped was when she was in my arms and I was nursing at the computer. I logged waaaay too much computer time in those days because of it. But in retrospect, it was the only time she ever slept!

You have my deepest sympathies! It's not easy! And you are not imgaining it. :tongue_smilie:

[tsuche]

Hi,
I also have a child that is now 3 and I did what Ellie had done. I changed his diaper, nursed him and kissed him and told him I was laying him down for a nap. the first 2 days was hard but after that he takes a 1hr. 1/2 nap. Hang in there it gets easier.
Blessings,
Terry

[Tommysmommy]

I don't have any great solutions for you, other than the sling, but can commiserate with you. Ds thought he was allergic to sleep until he was about 7. He would sleep for no longer than 45 minutes at a time, around the clock, until he was 2. His saving grace was that he was a sweet, happy baby when he was awake as long as he was in the sling or bouncy chair near me.

[Alenee]

I was freaked out with #1 about SIDS so I did the recommended thing and only let her sleep on her back or side. She proceeded to NOT sleep EVER. It was awful! I finally caved and laid her on her tummy. She cried it out for a while but eventually slept enough. She's 9yo now and still does not like naps or even laying down in the middle of the day. If she does, I know she's getting sick.

#2 kept startling herself awake when on her side or back so she too slept on her tummy. By number three I gave up all together and she immediately went on her tummy. She was/is my best sleeper. She weighed 11.4 pounds at birth though so I've been told that had something to do with it. Something about enough body fat to sustain longer sleep periods...

[Isa]

A book I highly recommend is Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby by Doctor Weisbluth. In the book he goes into the sleep cycles that children of all ages should be having. It really helps you understand sleep. Doctor Weisbluth also gives good suggestions on helping babies get the most effective sleep possible.

[Hikin' Mama]

she didn't sleep much at night either. Her problem, though, was colick (spelling ?).

My first one slept well at night, but just didn't require long naps. He also awoke very early in the morning. My advice to you: wait until he starts going through puberty. Then he will sleep! He even voluntarily takes a nap now and again. Until then, you have my sympathy. ;)

Kim

[mo2]

She asked me, "When does he take his second nap?" Honestly, until that moment, I had NO IDEA that babies took 2 naps a day!:eek:

Ditto. Both my kids have been like this. They have a tendency to not do what they're "supposed" to.