7 Month Old Daugther Won't Nap Anymore

I have two thoughts. 1) She may be going through a milestone development where usually kids sleep more (crawling, verbal development, etc) but she may be responding by fighting it. I agree with the others that teething could cause it. 2) If this goes on and her irritability continues, she may be struggling with yeast (can be caused by an antiobotic or vaccines) Generally, pediatricians disagree, but I proved it with labs and treatment with my kids. It totally affected their sleep.

Hope the motrin helps and it is just short term teething or development. Another thought, if you put her in a carrier against you and take a walk, will she sleep? Sometimes the imflamation from teething is better if she is upright and the comfort on you lulls her.

Good luck, J

looks like you got a lot of great responses. i just want to reiterate that it's really a good idea to let her cry it out. you'll only have to do it a couple of times before she realizes that it's not working anymore. i did that with my daughter early on and i've NEVER had trouble getting her to sleep.

As a great-grandmother caring for my 9 month old great-grandson...........precious, I would say that at this point your baby is teething and her gums are bothering her. Try giving her a bottle with cereal in it before you put her down for her nap. Either leave the blinds open or leave a fairly bright night light on in the room so it is pretty well lit. This might be a time you have to let her cry a little to wear herself out. It's hard but it might be necessary.

I have an 8 month old and we just went through this same thing. I was very frustrated as you probably are from worry. I finally got to the point that I would let her cry and that really does help. I would have never have done that but it got to the point were nothing was helping even motrin for her teeth. The first night was hard because she is VERY strong willed and cried for two hours. Obviously, you have to go in and check on her every 15-20 min. The second night was only about 45 min and the third was 20 min. I now at nap time will nurse her and then lay her down and she falls asleep within 15-20 min and the same at night. I no longer check on her though so that I don't disturb her. We also bought her a little noise machine that helps too with a constant drone. Also she started crawling around 6 1/2 mo so you need to make sure she is getting enough exercise during the day as well or she may not be tired. My little one isn't much of a sleeper and takes 2 naps: the first 1 hour, the second maybe 45 min and that is all she needs with sleeping about 12 hours at night. If you do try to let her cry you are not being a bad mother, you are just trying something that could have wonderfully positive benefits for your baby. One last thing, she could have a little bit of separation anxiety starting so just try to be sure you spend so special time cuddling before bed and letting her know that you and your husband love her very much.

That sounds so familiar. My daughter stopped taking naps as a baby, and she also only slept a few hours a night. As she got a bit older, she would still rarely take a nap. Now she's almost 9 years old and still doesn't sleep as much as I'd like her to. It's like she just doesn't need as much sleep as most kids, but I do worry about her not getting enough. Your baby might be similar, or she might be teething or have some other source of discomfort. Plus she's at the age where baby's start to figure out that by crying they can get extra attention. I know it's hard, but when you lie her down in her crib and she immediately wakes up and cries, don't pick her right up. Let her learn to soothe herself back to sleep or occupy herself in the crib. Even if she doesn't fall back to sleep, it's still a bit of down-time for her and you, even if it's just long enough for you to have a cup of tea and read the newspaper and for her to learn that Mommy or Daddy will come back in a bit. Any time my daughter has a new Dr. I've asked about her not getting enough sleep and they have all told me that kids body's know how much sleep they need, so you probably don't need to worry unless she's starting to get more irritable than usual. Good luck, I hope she resumes her naps soon!

Usually when my kids were teething, they seemed to want me to hold them more and they had a hard time taking naps. It was if they were fighting it. Not everyday but once in a while I'd give them some motrin and an ice pop the ice you put in those little nets that looks like a pacifier...and if would help. Sometimes just the pacifier. My youngest ended naps at about 2 1/2 so 7 months is to young for that I think, to end naps all together. I'd bet on teething and it's rough for both child and parent. If there hasn't been a big change of some type at home and she's only 7 months and she's eating some solids her tummy is full. Usually little ones will cut naps short before going off of them so I really don't think that's it. I hope this was some help, sorry if not but at least you have an idea to consider, teething.

I also recommend Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child--it turned my all-night partying, no napping baby girl into a normal sleeper (11 hrs at night, 2.5 hr nap). I highly recommend this to everyone, but before anything, make sure it's not as simple as teething or a milestone like crawling. Good luck--these things always seem like forever, but you will sleep again soon---have faith!

She may be trying to drop one of her naps. Or, her sleep schedule is shifting and you just haven't caught up yet. Go buy "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. It's a fantastic book about all the whys and hows of sleep. I used it and my girls (6 & 4) who both had their challenges with sleep, are great sleepers and we don't have the problems many of my friends have. Good luck!