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More on Naps
So we're having a little trouble getting the baby to nap. This afternoon she was so exhausted her little eyes were drooping, but she just fights dropping off.
We had been having good luck with the My Little Snugabuu y swing and had some lovely long naps in that, but she seems to be over it these last few days.
Also different over the past few days is that she is happy as a clam when being held and gets annoyed when put down. She is SO alert - interested in everything and doesn't seem to want to miss anything. She is smiling loads and coo'ing but gets cross quickly when she's put down or gets bored. Today I had to carry her around the super market where she smiled at everyone and was super happy... as long as I didn't put her down. She napped on her way home in the car and for maybe 20 mins after we got home at around 2pm. She hasn't napped since apart from 5 mins here and there and it's almost 9pm.
What do we do to encourage naps?? I feel like it's effecting her night time sleep too. We've been getting a minimum of 7 hours straight through for the past month. Night before last it was 6.5, last night it was 5.
I know we're super lucky with night time sleeping, but I'm worried that we're going backwards these past few days and the lack of naps is tiring.
Suggestions?
Re: More on Naps
8 hours straight through last night followed by nursing then back to sleep for another hour and a half. So I guess the lack of naps isn't effecting the night sleep after all.
How old is a good age to try and get naps more on a schedule?
She's 2 months old - still a bit early for schedules right, or should we be starting now?
around this time I did start "scheduling" his naps, but she might also be getting ready for a growth spurt.
When I say I scheduled his naps, I put him down at certain times and made sure that it was a suitable time for sleeping, but didn't leave his side or anything. This is also about the age that I started block feeding and feeding him on a more set schedule. He seemed happier than when I was following his lead.
Naps were a disaster in our house until about 4-5 months when we got DD into a habit of 2 naps a day for almost an hour each....thats the best we could do for quite awhile. Prior to that she never napped more than 15-20 minutes a couple times a day and usually that was being held or in a carseat en route somewhere She never liked being worn in any contraption and had to be carried around all.the.time--no swings, bouncers, playmats, chilling in the car seat in a cart or stroller etc. I think it was just her personality/predisposition.
I was super envious of people that could actually put their child down without a hypervenilating freak out, but thats just how she was.So I have no advice, but sympathy. Im not sure if your daughter is like mine and its just going to be awhile until she submits to regular naps, or if theres a trick to try.
FWIW I took the "Sleep" classes at BRC at Abington. The Sleep Coach said prior to 4 months, do what you need to do to get the baby to sleep.
At 4 months, you can start "training" though we never did.
Bottom line, IMO it's too early to start anything or see any real patters. Baby is still too little and things change quickly. Don't give up on carrying - try a different one or revisit it in a few days. Kids are fickle.
GL!
I felt like early on her habits changed so so frequently. There was no consistency to them. I read Healthy Sleep Habits HealthyvChild and it helped me a lot. They talk about optimal awake times for different age groups and it was really informative.
That book also says sleep habits can be formed around 4 months so it's a little early now. We've been fortunate to have a great nighttime sleeper. Naps have been slightly different but I think a lot of that was due to day care. I think sleep habits are part baby temperament, part parental consistency, and a big chunk of luck.
She hates being swaddled, but maybe I'll give it another go for a nap.
Less than an hour of nap total so far today and we're about to go to a neighbor's for dinner - she's exhausted and fussy. Awesome.
Car seat doesn't work either - I would happily leave her in it for a couple of hours if I thought it would work!
We went for dinner at a neighbor's house tonight and she did FINALLY nap for a couple of hours in the stroller. Sadly she didn't fall asleep until 7pm so I'm wondering how tonight's overnight sleep is going to go.
You're bf her, right? Are you watching your consumption of tea/coffee and other caffeinated drinks? The caffeine can go in your milk and make her more wakeful.
Just asking bc I'm doing some reading about this for a class right now. Hope she gives you a good night of sleep...
Yes she's exclusively breast fed. No caffeinated drinks at all - I had my first mug of decaf chai today, other than that I've only had water since she was born... except for the past week when I've had a few Gatorade G2s. Hmmmmmm - I wonder if they could have anything to do with it.
She's asleep again now. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the night.