Trouble with Baby's Naps (0-12 mos)
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Can't nap in crib
Not taking naps
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Naps are too short
Naps and daycare
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Dec 2004
I am trying to get my 3 month old to fall asleep on her own
during nap time. When she appears tired, I try to nudge her to
sleep by cudling with her, rocking her and giving her the
pacifier. When she's almost asleep in my arms, I put her in her
crib. Often she wakes up when I put her down and looks up at me
smiling as if she wasn't sleepy anymore. I know that she still
needs to get her rest, so I kiss and stroke her head (and smile
back) and then walk out of the room. I find that she doesn't
fall asleep but rather plays by herself, looking at and sucking
her hand and often smiling and cooing to herself. If she
doesn't fall asleep right away, I go back in and kiss and stroke
her again, and then leave. If she still doesn't sleep or if I
hear her calling for me, I pick her up. My question is-- I
don't know when to call it quits and take her away from the
crib. I don't want to leave her in there if she's not sleeping
(because I don't want her to miss out on the daytime
activities), but at the same time, I don't want to prevent her
from learning how to take naps. What do other people do? ALSO--
do people recommend having a mobile or toys in the crib so that
she has something to look at when she's lying in the crib, or
would that distract her from sleep.
Mother of 3 month old
You sound like a very sweet new mum! I too with my baby was
worried about her being by herself playing in the crib and would
pick her up if she wasn't sleeping. My good friend with a same
age baby once suggested to leave my baby alone so we left her to
coo and play and even do some almost crying sounds and then she
fell asleep by herself. I realized that she would fall asleep if
I just left her alone! I started putting black and white shapes
in the crib and she would contently fall asleep looking at them.
A 3-month old still needs to be parented to sleep and probably
is too young to learn how to go to sleep on her own. (I only
have a 4-month old so I'm not sure when they can learn to sleep
on their own.) I still have to wind my son down to sleep and I
can only put him down once he has transitioned from light sleep
(rapid eye movements, twitches, irregular breathing) to deep
sleep (limp limbs, no eye movement or twitches, regular
breathing). I'm looking forward to hearing other people's
responses to hear when their babies could go to sleep on their
own. I have a feeling that it won't be for a long time. (I just
spent a long time this morning getting him down for his nap. He
wants to look and touch everything rather than sleep, even
though he's very sleepy!)
Anon
Hi- I am so proud to be able to say that my daughter at 3 1/2
months puts herself to sleep for naps and bedtime. They say
you should start with naps but I started with bedtime and later
naps. Here are some key things to do to help your baby fall
asleep better. To sleep better during the day she needs to be
well rested which means an early bedtime between 6-8p.m. (if
your baby goes to bed later than that get an earlier bedtime by
waking her aroun 7a.m.) Timing of naps is also important, if
she gets too cranky or overtired, its harder to fall asleep and
stay asleep. Have a brief nap routine, my baby responded so
well to routines, it helps cuz then they know whats coming
next. I usually read her a book in a rocking chair, sing her a
lullaby while walking her around her room and sway her in my
arms till she starts closing her eyes. And most important, be
firm and consistent. Have a predetermined time as to when you
will respond to her. I think the longer you wait the faster
the results will be. Some people ferberize; wait 5min, go in
and check briefly and leave, then wait 10min, and so on
increasing response time everyday. Or, you could just not
respond untill a preset time up to an hour. If she doesn't
fall asleep after an hour, get her up and try again later at
her next nap time. I never responded at all if she wasn't
crying and she would eventually fall asleep, if you keep giving
her attention she probably stay up to wait for the next time
you come in. If she keeps not sleepin, don't let her not sleep
all day, put her to sleep so that she ets rest. Naps are
important. It will take time but it is so worth it!!! Be
patient and decisive. By the way, letting her cry it out may
work better when she is at least four months old. Feel free to
email me with any questions.
Betsy
As long as your baby isn't crying, I would leave her for up to
an hour to see if she falls asleep.
Mom of 7 month old
March 2002
We have a 3-month old son who is not real big on taking naps
during the day. We are fortunate, though, that he does sleep
through the night consistently. He'll fall asleep in our arms after
he's been fed by breast or by bottle, but shortly after we put him
down in his crib, sometimes as soon as 30 minutes, he'll wake up
wailing. We're able to then comfort him to stop his crying, but he
still won't settle down. It's really hit or miss whether he sleeps for
any length of time during the day. Clearly, he's very tired because
he rubs his eyes consistently during these times, yawns, etc. Any
hints or advice that would help our little guy to take regular naps
would be most appreciated.
Thanks.
Eric and Debra
I have a five month old and I've noticed that when he gets over
tired, he sleeps less soundly and doesn't sleep for as long. When
he was three months old, he would generally be awake for two
hours and then nap for two hours during the day. However, he's
never slept through the night! You might try putting your baby
down for a nap when he begins showing signs of
sleepiness--rubbing his eyes and getting cranky. It seems that
most babies of this age need their first nap a couple hours after
waking up in the morning. Good luck!
Your baby sounds normal. He *is* napping, he just won't stay asleep by
himself in his crib. I often put my young babies to sleep in the stroller,
so if they did start to stir I could easily provide the motion that would
put them back to sleep. I also often ''napped'' my daughter in her baby
swing where she just couldn't wake up until she was really had no need for
sleep at all. Consider also a vibrating bouncy seat. I'm sure you've heard
of parents using the car. I also find that lying down next to your infant,
warm and cozy, is a good way to keep them asleep for a good long nap. And
you too. Other parents I know have sound machines, so there's a constant
level of background noise...My babies never settled down to regular, long
naps until *at least* the second half of the first year, when I began the
nap time routines that all the experts talk about. Good luck.
My 3.5 yr. old daughter was the same. I was willing to put up with it
during the day because she was such a good night sleeper, and that was more
important to me. At about 6 months of age, she started taking two naps/day
on a ''schedule'' (of her own doing). They'd last anywhere from 1-2 hours
each. Not great, but it was adequate. So in my case, we sort of outgrew it.
I've heard that is fairly common. Now I'm just waiting for my 2.5 month
old, who does the same thing your child does, to outgrow it too! Bummer is,
she isn't as good at night as my older daughter was. Oh well! My advice is
to be patient and see where you are at in another couple of months...
Boy, do I feel for you. My now 19 month old didn't nap more than 25 minutes
at a time (sometimes two naps a day, but often only one 25 minute nap a
day) until he was almost a year old. Then, once he got really mobile he
started to nap for 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day (only one nap) and he has
continued on that schedule ever since. You are fortunate your child sleeps
though the night well. Mine didn't . Even though it drives you crazy, try
not to let it. Unfortunately, babies won't sleep if they aren't tired, so
you just have to learn to live with it and to work around it. Every kid
needs a different amount of sleep and has different sleep patterns. My
older son slept 12 hours a night from the time he was four weeks old and
took two 2 hour naps a day for several years. He is still a great sleeper
(now 6 years old), while the younger one just doesn't want or need as much
sleep (getting him to fall asleep at nap or bed time is a horrible chore,
even when he is clearly almost asleep on his feet - I won't bore you with
the details). So, I guess this is sympathy more than advice, but sleep is
a tough one. Having a wakeful baby is a challenge, but it gets more fun as
the baby gets older and more engaged in your life.
First let me say, lucky you--a three month old who sleeps through the night!
Hopefully, you two are managing to get some sleep as well.
Regarding naps, I'll share with you what with did with our now 10 month old
baby girl--even at the risk of sounding like a Ferber-sleep-nazi in this
so-called open-minded crowd ;-)
When she was around four months old, we decided to sleep train her. I
hadn't read any books but had regularly discussed sleep (and still do!) with
my mom's group. And, frankly, what we did felt right for us and our baby.
Every day around the same time, usually after she nursed and when she was
yawning/rubbing her eyes, we put her into her crib, rubbed her back a bit,
whispered sweet nothings, and left the room. What did she do? She cried.
We went back in to comfort her after a minute or two, gradually increasing
the wait time to five minutes. Use a watch. When you're doing this a
minute feels like an hour! It was very hard to listen to her cry. I don't
recommend doing it on your own. If possible, ask your husband/friend/nanny
to help. By the end of a week, we were only going in once or twice to
comfort her and by three weeks, she would wimper a bit and put herself to
sleep. Fortunately, she is the type of child who responded to this.
Also, a few tips, when I say we went back in to comfort her, I mean that we
went in, rubbed her, rolled her over, told her we loved her, whatever it was
for about thirty seconds, and then quickly left the room again. That way
she knew that we were there, that she had not been abandoned, but that it
was time for sleep. We almost never picked her up once she was down for her
nap (unless she was sick or teething). Also, doing this at the same time
every day (once in the AM and once in the afternoon) seemed to really make a
difference as our daughter responded well to the routine. Finally, and I
think this is most important, we created a sleep environment/association
that she could recreate on her own. For example, if she woke up thirty
minutes later, she didn't need to be rocked or nursed to settle back down.
Now, that's not to say that this always worked. There have been periods in
her development when she has taken micro naps (20 minutes or less) and when
she has gone on total nap strikes (love that). Also, when she is teething,
her sleep patterns are disrupted. But, for the most part, this technique
has worked well for us. I am happy to say that for the moment, she takes
two long naps a day (and sleeps all night) and we have a happy, rested baby
and a less cranky mom (me) because I get some time to myself.
Bottom line, all babies are different and have different desires/needs.
Maybe some or all of what I've shared will be useful to you. I hope so.
Oct 2003
My 6 month old will not take a nap at home. He takes good,
long naps at the home of his child care provider, whom he is
very fond of - he gets tons of individual attention there and
seems quite happy to go there. He also goes to sleep well at
night in our home, and takes decent naps with us when we are
visiting relatives, etc. It is just at home that he won't
nap. I used to get him to nap by walking him down in the
sling; this doesn't work anymore (he tries to crawl out of the
sling!) More recently I've sometimes been able to get him to
sleep in the stroller, but even that is getting harder. At
times I've even dropped him off at his day care provider early
(I have him at home some mornings) because he was clearly
exhausted and I knew he would nap at her place.
We can't really use some of the techniques that are suggested
to get him to sleep - e.g., giving him a bath, reading a book,
other bedtime rituals - these all have the effect of getting
him more wound up and excited. We ultimately had to let him
cry it out to get to sleep at night, because it seemed that was
the only way for him to let go of his stress, and in fact that
worked very quickly for him (10 minutes or so, 2 nights, and
all have been much better rested from then on). But I would
prefer not to do this for naps - at night, it felt intuitively
like it was actually helping him, whereas during the day he
protests naps strongly so that it feels like the crying will go
on forever, and just be a power struggle. I've never had the
stomach to let him cry and cry.
Has anyone had a similar problem? Did it resolve itself? Do I
need to grit my teeth and let him cry?
anon
It sounds like there must be some kind of behavioral component
to the refusal to nap at home. By that, I mean that the baby
must be used to some kind of routine or situation that has
changed and has refused to change his tune in response. If he
naps anywhere else, you know he needs the nap and at 6 months
this would definitely be true. Before you go the driving around
in the car for a nap scheme, I would recommend a modified Ferber
to get your child to nap at home. It is so much easier to do
this earlier than later - and 6 months is not too early. I did
it precisely for naps at this age because we were walking on
eggshells around wherever my daughter fell asleep for a nap -
afraid to move her. Her naps were too short and we knew she
needed more nap time. It was very quick - I think we waited
until she was good and tired and later moved the nap
incrementally to a time that was good for setting a routine.
Anon
Our son is now 15 months old and has gone down in various ways
over the months. I can't remember what the method was at 6
months other than nursing or a bottle with daddy when I was at
work. But now that he has been weaned for over 3 months it seems
as if we are in a period of driving and walks in the stroller as
the only reliable method of napping. We never 'taught' him how
to go to sleep independently in his crib since we didn't see the
necessity at his age for our family. I'm sure some expert would
like to tell us a thing or two and there have been a few times
that we wished he would go down in his crib but this is our
method for now, and it works for us. We think the main reason he
has a hard time napping in his crib in the daytime is that we
don^Rt have dark shades for the windows. We are in the process of
getting them since now that the weather is going to turn the
stroller method may not be an option as often. If you don^Rt have
them this may help. I^Rm sure you^Rve talked to your caregiver
about every detail of her routine with him at naptime and the
conditions of his nap location and tried it yourself. I can say
that when my mother is watching our son she can get him to sleep
at night by rocking him in the living room and we can^Rt. I only
mention this because you may have to use a different method than
your caregiver and I can't speak as to why naps are easier as
her house than yours. I'd be interested in what other's say.
S.W.
You don't say what your babysitter does to get him to nap...if
they have a set routine around naptime I would try to replicate it
as much as possible (at similar times) to see if it works. Our
son (now 11 months) would hardly ever nap in the stroller and
stay asleep, but our babysitter has him nap after taking a bottle
in his stroller at around the same time every day. I tried it at
home on the days I have him and now he'll do it with me, too!
May 2004
Hello-
I have a 6 month old son who is not a fan of naps. No matter
how I try, I cannot get him to take a nap and I need some
ideas. I have checked the archives, but the suggestions were
either for older children (or newborns) or for books that
addressed the situation.
I have tried rocking him as I feed him and he does drift off.
But the second I stand up and walk to the crib, he wakes up
very angry, screaming until the tears pour. And he won't go
back down, just cries inconsolably for up to 30 minutes in my
arms. I cannot sit in the rocking chair all day as I do work
from home and it just is not practical to rock him for each nap.
I have also tried putting him down as he is getting tired,
thinking he may just play and nod off on his own. That hasn't
worked and he just screams and yells until I return. I
personally don't feel comfortable letting him wail until he
drops into slumber land. My limit is 10 minutes.
When he first started daycare (at four months) they put him in
a swing for each nap. I have asked them to stop that, as I
believe it has led to this problem I now have. But I am fairly
certain they continue the practice despite my objections.
My son is a smart cookie and will just refuse to nap. The odd
part is that he is a great night sleeper. He goes down every
night at 7pm, either awake or in a sleepy-post-bottle state.
And I won't hear a peep from him. But this nap ordeal is out of
control.
Any ideas?
momma of a tired guy
Hi there, with tired guy.
I'm a mother of two (30 mos and 5-1/2 yrs). In each case,
around six months, they tried to rid themselves of naps. So,
I've been where you are.
Your memo didn't say: Has your son transitioned from tw0 naps
to one yet? They do that between six months and 12 months. If
you are still trying to get him down twice a day, try moving to
a single mid day nap.
Keep in mind: Your baby needs to nap. Don't question if he
does or not; or if he's transitioning out of them; or if he's
just not ''much of a napper.'' At six months, he definitely needs
to nap.
Babies are so easily trainable. As your son has learned that if
he puts up a fight, he can stay awake and not miss anything.
You need to get over your ''10 minute max'' of letting him cry.
Do what you need to do to minimize the hardship on you: go into
the back yard; use ear plugs; do what you need to do so that the
crying is not just killing you. Play with your baby through the
morning; maybe a good park and swing outting. Ensure that he's
well fed and dry. Rock him and then put him in his crib and
leave. If you do this,and he cries, he WILL cry himself to
sleep. And the next day, that crying will be shorter and the
next, shorter still. Eventually, he will be accustomed
and ''programed'' to know that when he goes into the crib, he goes
to sleep. Period. Right now, he's programed to cry for 10
minutes and then you will come get him.
Goodluck!
dht
HI,
My experience with naps and my 6 1/2 month old is as follows:
I read up in Weissbluth's book and Dr. Sears' and then made a
plan of attack that worked for us (can't do the hours of crying
thing). I tried very hard to learn her tired signals so that I
could get her down before she was too tired. At first this was
definitely close to 2 hours after she had gotten up from her
last sleep but it is slowly lengthening, especially in the
afternoon. Then I bring her upstairs for our ''going to sleep
routine'' -- sitting in the rocker and singing or playing the
lullaby for a few minutes with her in my arms and then lying her
down, with pacifier and a safe toy close by. At this age (for
my daughter) she knows she is tired but also that there are so
many other interesting things to do... so she protests more now
than a month or two ago, thus the pacifier and toy. She usually
cries for a max of about 7 minutes (I can't let her scream her
head off) and goes to sleep. If she is overtired, it is MUCH
harder and she cries and can't settle herself very easily, if at
all.
Like Weissbluth says, the morning nap is the easiest so I
started with this one and she is generally ready to go back to
bed every morning about 1 1/2 hours after she gets up. When I
first started to focus on a nap routine she only napped 30 to 60
minutes at a stretch and now she goes longer -- I don't know if
this is a factor of her sleep maturing or just finally getting
into a good routine.
I spent several weeks of being pretty consistent with the
routine and staying home many days in order to get her to be a
good napper. I think it really takes consistency and hard work
on the parents' part but then things fall into place (at least
in my experience).
I hope this helps. Good luck!!
kristin
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. My daughter HATED taking naps in her crib
when she was six months old. I found myself nursing her to
sleep on my bed and then putting pillows around her so that she
couldn't roll very far and even then I never left the room.
Like your child, she was a great sleeper at night (though, she
hated being put down and would cry for about 10 minutes unless
I nursed her to sleep). At around 9 months, all of that
changed. It took a few cio sessions to get her to sleep in her
crib (I use the 15 minute theory...if she wasn't going down
then, then I would wait an hour and try again) during nap time,
but now she is great. I don't have any magical advice, but
rather a ray of hope. :-)
been there
I am the mother of 6-month-old twins. They both sleep well at
night and go down awake in their cribs for nighttime sleep
without objection. Morning naps are usually easy too. But about
6 weeks ago they started transitioning to 2 naps a day, and one
baby became a terror in the afternoon. I couldn't get him to
fall asleep, but he was obviously exhausted and miserable. I
tried letting him cry but that didn't seem to work -- plus I
have 2 babies so I have to worry about one waking the other.
So what I did was put him down in his crib every afternoon when
he started to get tired. I also cut out all plans for the
afternoons so I could concentrate on this problem.
If he cried I would first try to comfort him in his crib. If he
was inconsolable I would rock him. Whatever afternoon naps I got
from him tended to be too short (30 mins) -- I knew they were
too short because he wasn't refreshed afterwards. So I
would ''finish'' the afternoon nap in the stroller -- walk around
with both of them for a couple of hours while they slept as best
they could. But after about 6 weeks of this he is now settling
into long afternoon naps. I don't know if just matured into it
or whether he is now used to being put in his crib and has
accepted it. He still has trouble falling asleep sometimes in
the afternoon, so I will rock him to get him all-but-asleep
(something I'm otherwise not willing to do -- but so far it
hasn't compromised his ability to fall asleep on his own at
other times of the day). Yesterday's afternoon naps was 2.5
hours long. Hurrah!
Beth
October 2002
We have been following the baby whisperer EASY plan and so far
it is working relatively well with our 6 mo son. For bedtime we
have a routine and a bedTIME that is relatively fixed and he
goes right down, no problem. But for naps it seems to be hit or
miss. Sometimes he is obviously tired but wails when we put him
down until we pick him up again. Sometimes I comfort him
through it and it takes about 20 minutes but other times I just
pick him up and then 15-20 minutes later he goes down with
little to no fussing so I don't push it often. My question is
have other people found a scheduled naptime works better. Since
bedtime is so easy and that is on time, I am wondering if
naptimes would be better. Also how long is your naptime routine
since ours is about 5 minutes but bedtime routine is about
30minutes so then he seems really ready.
Thanks for any experience you can offer.
Hi - I'm a fellow Baby Whisperer fan and used EASY to get on a
routine. My son is now almost a year old. He is really easy
(ha!) to put down for naps/bedtime. We don't have a nap
routine, but do have set naptimes. Most of the time they work.
He goes down about 9-10am for his first nap and anywhere from 3-
5pm for his second nap - depending on how much activity he's
had. We watch for his sleepy signs (usually rubbing eyes and
generally fussy) as well as keeping an eye on the clock for
approaching naptimes. We give him a blanky and his pacifier and
down he goes. Every once in awhile he just won't go. I follow
the Baby Whisperer and let him try to nap for about 30-45
minutes. If he is still playing around, we just get him up and
skip that nap. As he's gotten older, the afternoon nap is hit
or miss - the morning one is standard. He is so much happier on
a routine where he knows exactly what and when to expect sleepy
time.
By the way, our bedtime routine is pretty easy too. After
feeding and changing him, we read two stories and down for bed -
always at 8:30pm.
Good Luck!
Julie
My daughter, now 13 months old, at 6 months was also great with
bed time but had difficulty with naps. It wasn't so much that
she wouldn't nap, but rather her napping schedule was all over
the place and her naps were very short. I was very reluctant
to schedule naps because I wanted to be responsive to when she
seemed tired, but was SO glad we went with the schedule! At
around 7 months we chose 2 nap times (about 9:45 and then
2:15), hoping she'd learn to sleep at least an hour at a time,
which she did. Of course we were somewhat flexible with the
times, but tried to be within 15 minutes of our stated nap time
goals. Except for rare exceptions when we plan a long car nap
(e.g., if we are going to visit cousins in San Jose), she
always sleeps in her crib and we do a 10-minute wind-down
routine before naps which includes milk and books. It took her
2-3 weeks for her to adjust, but for the last 5-6 months she
has been napping very well: on schedule and for at least an
hour at a time. And it is so nice to have a predictable
schedule! I wish we had scheduled naps earlier!
Liz O.
While the ''Baby Whisperer'' has sound advice on many
fronts, ''Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child'' endorses a more
regimented and, it appears, more effective routine for naps. In
short, nap times are rigidly scheduled. At this age, the first
is at approximately 9am (after the baby has been awake for 2
hours) and the next at 1pm. Some babies need a third nap, but I
haven't found that to be the case with my 6-month old
daughter. According to the book, a nap of less than an hour
(45 minutes at bare minimum) fails to be restorative enough to
even count as a nap. But, don't be discouraged if your baby
initially wakes after a short time. After a week or so of the
schedule, the baby adapts, the crying upon being put in the
crib minimizes, and the naps begin to lengthen. I adopted the
scheduled nap strategy at about 4 months. Prior to that, like
you, napping had been a bit ad hoc. This is better, and,
critically, ensures that the baby is well rested. Plus, as a
bonus, it allows you to better plan your day.
As far as quiet-down routines, the ''Healthy Sleep Habits''
approach suggests a much longer period of time (up to an hour),
but 10 minutes has worked fine for me. Even shorter at times.
The key is consistency (e.g., pulling the shades, playing
specific nap time music, reading a book together, etc.).
Good luck!
I read ''Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child'' when I was trying to
figure out my baby's naps, and while I didn't use much of
Weissbluth's advice I did notice that he was right about when
babies needed naps.
My son didn't have scheduled naps or bedtime exacly, but I found
that about 3 hours after waking up - in the morning or after his
last nap - he started getting tired again, and that's when I
would put him down for his nap. Now that he's one its getting a
little later, like 3.5 hours, but still he clearly starts
getting tired around 3 hours after he wakes up.
Our nap and bedtime routines are pretty short - go to the
bedroom, read a few books, wrap him in his blankie say some
soothing bedtime words and put him in bed.
Hope this is helpful
Alma
March 2004
My 6 month old has never napped in a crib. Either I would nurse him to sleep
and sit holding him until he woke up, or I would walk with him in the sling or
baby bjorn, and keep wearing him until he woke up. It never worked to put him
anywhere else once he was asleep, and with a couple of rare exceptions he
wouldn't sleep in a stroller either. Unfortunately, though, he is a very big baby,
and it is getting harder and harder to wear a 21+ lb. baby for hours at a time.
At the same time, his nighttime sleep, very good at about 3 months, has
deteriorated so much that we eventually, after trying many many things, in
desperation decided to try Ferber. Last night was the second night, and
although it still took him about 40 minutes to fall asleep he slept through from
7:00 until 6:15 am (2 nights ago while co-sleeping he woke up almost every
hour!). Naps, however, have yet to work at all, and as much success as we've
had with Ferber for nighttime sleeping, I'm worried that his naptime advice (do
the same thing for an hour then just get him up if he's still not asleep) isn't
going to work for a young baby who has never slept in his crib during the day.
He just doesn't seem to know what to do, and he's so miserable it breaks my
heart! Has anyone had any luck teaching their baby to take a nap in a crib? I've
read the postings on the website, but nothing seems quite the same.
Your e-mail reminded me so much of how it was with our baby
(now almost two). He also never napped in a crib or any place
other than in my lap or in the sling until he was 6 mos. Then,
like you, I started to notice how heavy he was getting.
Anyway, we worked on nighttime sleep first and once he settled
somewhat into a routine, we tackled naps. I remember worrying
that he wasn't getting enough sleep but it did all work out
eventually. We let him cry a little but if he cried too long I
just gave up on that particular nap or rocked him to sleep. It
got better gradually and now he's a great napper and nighttime
sleeper too. I think the key is to do it gradually and accept
that it might be a little rough during the transition but you
will all get through it. Good luck!
Jamie
My baby doesn't nap in her crib either. I tried putting her down a few
times, but she always woke up when I set her down and I wasn't
comfortable with letting her cry. Our routine now is for me to nurse her to
sleep in my bed and then quietly slip away when I she's fully asleep. It
actually works out well as I have an older daughter that shares her room
(and would not want to be quiet and away from her toys for naptime.)
She takes at least one good nap a day this way.
Elizabeth
I had the same problem with my now two-year-old daughter.
I don't know if my solution will be helpful because what
ended up working for me was a lot of work. Nevertheless,
she now naps in her crib and continues to co-sleep at night.
Since I found that my daughter would nap readily with me
right next to her, I actually climbed into the crib with her,
nursed her to sleep, and carefully climbed out. While that
did eventually work, it was clumsy, uncomfortable, and
despite being a small woman made me worry that the crib
would collapse under my weight. After that I simply nursed
her down in my bed and carefully transfered her to the crib.
All of this takes a lot of practice, because your baby will nap
most readily under conditions which are familiar. Once my
daughter got used to the idea that crib equals nap she
eventually became comfortable with being put into her crib. It
also helped to develop a nap-time routine, more familiarity
made her more relaxed. She came to understand that a
book and a song in the afternoon meant a nap was in the
works. Keep in mind that babies are creatures of habit. They
fear change, so anything new won't work at first. It's going to
take some time and energy, but eventually once whatever
you chose to do (including Ferberizing) becomes routine it
will work. Be patient.
MEG
boy do i hear you. my now almost 3 year old had a similar
difficulty. he only nursed to sleep and when at 6 months he
started waking every hour, we also did ferber at night which
worked beautifully at night. at 9 months old and 2 years old, 2
separate times for 2 weeks each i tried ferber methods for naps
and it didn't work either time. however, i think i might not
have been consistent enough (ie I would nurse him still before
hand and if he fell asleep within a second which every other day
he was tired enough to do, i let him). at 2 yrs 9months, i
weaned him and lay down with him at naps and he goes to sleep
almost every day still (took a few days of protest). but i've
never gotten him to nap on his own. good luck!
been there
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