Advice for Getting Baby to Nap During the Day

after doing those things, which are all great, you may need to just lay the baby in the crib and walk away, she may cry but she will get tired and go to sleep, maybe hang a toy in the crib, we put the leapfrog mirror with animals on it that make a sound, she will cry, play, and eventually fall asleep
K.,
hope this helps

I hear your cry! Make sure you are exercising her during waking hours so that she is good and tired. Take her to a Gymboree class for ideas and support. Then when it is nap time, put her in her crib, play soothing music or not and walk out of the room. If she cries, walk in once to tell her it is okay and walk out. Let her cry it out, she has to learn how to put herself to sleep. It will be one of the hardest things you will ever do and that crying will seem to go one for eternity. But stick with it and be consistent because you are giving her a gift, sleep. It may take a week or two to get it going. Good luck.

Is she crying? Or is she just not napping? How are your evenings?

aloha K.,
a routine is criticle for naps of very young children and infants. Same time everyday as much as possible could assist with this difficulty. I like the darkening of the room and would also suggest soft music, classical or Hawaiian (many people I talk to have mentioned that little one's especiaaly respond to instrument and voice, Isreal Kamakawiwaole and the Cazimaro brothers is a great start).
If you are frustrated your little one is responding to your frustration. So if you try to relax your little one may too!
Good luck.

Dear K.,

Try letting her cry. I know, you don't want to do that, but it wouldn't hurt. And, it might work. I think that my gr grand daughter has extra keen hearing - she has a similar problem sleeping. Keep on trying and let her cry. O.K.?

C. N. - who just spent 1 1/2 hours lying beside the baby this afternoon - she finally slept and I needed the rest. But, that won't work for normal living. C. N.

Hi K.-- I used to have the same problem with my daughter. WHat I did was I woke her up in the morning a little earlier than normal and kept her busy during the day...then..as hard as it was I just put her in her crib at nap time and let her cry herself to sleep. It took about 3 weeks before she got used to it, but it really has helped her with her sleeping habits. She is now 5 and she goes to sleep at 730 every nite by herself, with ease. I hope this helps and good luck!

I feel for you. You must be tired as well. Have you tried swaddling her again? She's a little old for it, but I have a friend who still semi-swaddles her 13 month old. I guess you're supposed to stop swaddling when your baby can roll around, but you may want to give it a try again. Try no arms free or one arm free.

How many hours is she sleeping at night? My 3 month old would sleep 16 hours if I let him. (I suppose I could let him.) I wake him after 10-11 hours because I'd like to have him nap at least a little during the day. He's generally happy when I wake him, so I guess it's ok. He only takes 1 hour catnaps during the day even with swaddling. Plus my mom said I never napped, so he must take after me on this one.

Good luck to you!

I found the Sleepeasy Solution book helpful, but the turning point was when my 5 month old son learned to turn from his back to his tummy! Now that he sleeps on his stomach he falls asleep on his own for naps and occasionally will sleep for 2 hours!

Momma K.,
Well, this is something dear to me because most of the time, my daughter is a good sleeper (even when lately she fights her nap). She is almost 18 months old, but when she was your child's age, that is when I used the cry it out method. It works great I have found and plan on using it for my next daughter coming soon! Now is the perfect age to start. It is hard (more for mom) because you do have to let your baby cry. I just left her in there and let her cry for a while, the first few days were over an hour and then she would sleep. And then after just maybe 3 days the time became dramitcally less and after about a week or so, she began taking naps when I put her down. But even now she know when she fights me that I am not giving up, even if she lays in her crib for an hour or two talking (but she always falls asleep eventually).

I know many moms think this is cruel, but trust me it is not. You child needs to sleep and if they keep fighting it you will regret it. I have friends who did not let their children cry it out and they regret it because their kids take very short and sometimes no naps. Unlike my daughter and other friends of mine who did this method and our kid(s) take good naps and sleep well at night.

good luck and I am curious to know what you decide!

Sincerely,
B.

HI K.:

As a mom of 3 kids under 4 years old, I have my kids napping great and on schedule. I do have a question: how does your baby sleep at night? It has everything to do with the day sleep. ANd, when you put the baby down for a nap, does it cry, just lay there, make noises????

It is possible, that for now (key phrase), your baby will take cat naps (20 minutes here and there) You must establish a routine (read a book, sit in quiet room, play lullaby music in a chair, then move the baby to the crib and tell the baby it is nap time and i will see you when you wake up. The key is to give the baby an opportunity to sleep (preferrably in a crib or bassinet) not rocking or a car seat. Trust me, you will then have to retrain to sleep without those "crutches".That is all YOU can control - the opportunity. If the baby chooses to cry, sleep or play, than that is their choice, but leave them alone if they are happy for one hour. If they are crying then that's another conversation about sleep training, which your baby is age ready for.

Hope this helps.

L.-

All I am going to say is that I have been there. Man, have I been there. Napping was a dream for Izzy (no pun intended) until she was about four months old and then it was all over. She would scream for an hour, scream while I was rocking her, I would try to nurse and she wasn't interested, etc, just scream and scream until she wore herself out. I've been there. We didn't get stuff figured out until she was about seven months old. But, the good news is that I figured it out, we have a routine (SOOOO critical) and now she is a champion sleeper. Seriously, if there was a compition, she would win. So there's hope! Unfortunately, I can't give you anything concrete because I'm not sure what I did. I know that reading The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer helped a lot- it's kind of like cry it out without the crying, if that makes any sense. But the key thing to remember is that there is no one way. You have to keep trying, and if after three or four days it doesn't work, try something else.

That said, I have to say it would be in your best interest, long term, NOT to rock or nurse her to sleep. I got her into the habit of nursing to sleep at one point, and she started needing it EVERY time she woke up at night (which became every hour or so). It was a REALLY hard habit for me to break, and I'm hardcore when it comes to breaking habits. And, it sounds silly, but falling asleep on one's own is something babies have to learn to do. And now that mine can, it's soooo great. I just lay her down, kiss her, and that's it.

Anyway, good luck, stay stong!

As tough as it is, you have to let them cry it out sometimes. Routine is key with babies. So make meal times the same time everyday. Make sure she has a new diaper and is well burped and just put her to bed. Put on some soft music, like Enya or classsical music, to set the tone. If she cries, just let her have at it. She'll be ok. Try 15 minute increments of her crying and then bump it up 15 minutes every week. She'll get the picture. Hope it helps.

Ahh, I was going through the same thing with my 4 monthr. I read the baby whisperer which stresses routine and learning how to read your baby's cues. If she's yawning and obviously tired then she may be overtired. The trick is to get them down when they first show those signs like rubbing their eyes. Mine would do that and I would immediately take him to his crib and he would be alert again. But I let him lay there for a while and eventually he put himself to sleep. I think the key is be consistent with where you put them down and be on top of the cues. Can you give her a pacifer too? If my boy is past tired he can usually settle himself with the pacifier. Good luck and keep me posted.

Make sure her tummy is full and then play with her for a while. After she starts to get a little fussy, usually within about 30 mins put her in her crib put the mobile on or some sort of music, not too stimulating and let her talk and even cry, within a few minutes she will fall asleep. If not pick her up give her love and rock in your arms for a minute then try again. You must be calm or she will feel it. Try the same routine over and over for a week. If no luck still maybe switch up the routine a little. Also, a very warm bottle always helped my kids. Good luck, stay calm!

Oh my gosh it sounds like my daughter when she was a baby! She would sleep with me or not at all. She hated her crib, her stroller and her car seat. Sometimes she would sleep in a mechanical swing if she fell asleep nursing first. She also liked to sleep in the front pack. Does your little one like to sleep with you? If so I would just take a nap with her and forget about it.

Hi K.,

I am new here and I really wanted to offer some advice/help for you.

My son is 11 months old and I found when he was younger, he would cry and not be able to nap, or sleep if he was gassy. He had issues with burping/gas in the early months.
I had to be extra careful to make sure he burped after nursing and/or give the gas drops.

Here are some other possible factors that you might want to consider:

Is your house near a noisy street/freeway? (some babies are sensitive to external noises)
Is she too bundled? (When babies are too warm, they get uncomfortable)

Also, as a first-time mom, I know things can be stressful....and your baby can sense your tension and stress. Sometimes, it is best to leave them safely in their crib (freshly changed/fed) and let them cry it out. (I know this is a hard thing to do, but she could be over-stimulated).

I wish you luck and keep us posted!
:)

My daughter, whom is now 7 1/2 months old, would only nap in her Fisher Price Papasan swing. She napped there from when she was close to a month old til about 7 months old. Just recently, she started napping in her crib, and that was all due to grandma getting her accustomed to it while napping with her in her bed.
She would take 2-3 hour naps, sometimes 2-3 times a day on her swing. It was a godsend to us because I tried letting her CIO, but for her naps I could not let her cry for too long. I was only able to take 15-20 minutes of the CIO with my daughter.

I felt like a terrible mommy because she was only able to nap in her swing, but as my husband says, "It is our survival tactics kicking in." So I purchased an additional one for Grandma's house, since she was the one babysitting her when we went to work. I returned to work when she was 6 months old. They are not cheap, approximately $139 from Babies R US but I bought the second one from Craigslist for only $50. I washed the cloth on it. The swing is neutral in color and my husband and I are dreading putting it away because we loved seeing her in it while napping. She also played on it too!
But I am grateful to grandma for getting her accustomed without motion now. She now takes the same amount of naps...but 2 only but for 2 hrs long.

Go to Babies R US and see the positive comments this swing has received. The weight capacity is 25 lbs....It is the NAture Sound Papasan swing from Fisher Price.

Good luck and I know how u feel. I attempted everything I could think of or recommended to me to get her to nap. But the swing saved us and gave my little one some resting!

My 4 month old is not a good napper either and never has been. What i have had to do is get him to sleep in either a sling with a pacifier or in my wrap (the moby wrap since it is better on your back) when he was a newborn he would ONLY sleep in the wrap, now I can put him on the bed once he is already dead asleep (about 15 minutes or so after he falls asleep in the wrap.) Now mind you he only sleeps for about 30-45 minutes and I have come to realize that my son is just a cat napper and that's ok. Some babies just don't like to miss out on the day!! If your baby isn't screaming to go to sleep I wouldn't try to force a nap... she will let you know when she is ready for a snooze. My son gets really cranky and will start to wail for a couple minutes and once I put him in the sling he tends to fall right asleep. My frustration ended when i stopped trying to force him to be the supposed "normal" baby, once I surrendered to his natural sleep patterns things got much better for both of us.

Do you have a swing? That's what we use on our 6 month old when he is so tired, but doesn't want to sleep. We pop him in there and he might fuss for a bit, but he'll pass out while the music is still playing. We've been using our swing since he was 2 months old. They're great for naps.

Good luck!

Hi K.. Sadly, if you've tried all of that and your little one still isn't going to bed, the next approach might need to be to let her exhaust herself... i.e. cry. My little boy, now 6 months, went through a stage like that. Finally, I just let him cry. The first time it happened, we were in the car. I had burped him, fed him, changed him, and checked every other possible problem. Nothing was wrong. He cried, and it was hard to listen to, but then he went to sleep and slept for an hour (a "long" nap for him at the time). I don't resort to that often, but when I've tried everything else, that's what I have to do. Another option - We got a mobile that keeps his attention. He stares at it and talks to it, and finally just falls asleep on his own. It's wonderful. Might be too early for your 4.5 month old, but it's worth trying. Hope that helps! M.