Baby constantly rubbing eyes

[crazydiamond]

My LO spends most of the day rubbing his eyes, he does it most of all when eating, either when breastfeeding or eating solids. I am wondering if he is constantly tired or whether it could be something else e.g. sign of allergies. What do people think? He does not tend to yawn very often.

He currently wakes up at 6.30am, has a 45 minute nap at 9am, 45 minute nap at 12 and a 45 minute nap at 3-4pm before going to bed at 6.30pm. During the night he wakes 1-2 times for a quick feed. I have tried getting him to nap longer than 45 minutes but have not had any success.

Any ideas? It is particularly bad when he is eating as he tends to rub the food in his eyes so any advice on how to prevent this would be good.

 

[madcatwoman]

mine did this so much his eyes went red and peely!. i used to put E45 round the area and he stopped doing it so much. BUT he does still do it when nap time is approaching,its a sure sign.

He naps for 30mins(every 2 hours), and im discovering this isnt enough as hes waking crying(not hunger) and cranky thereon! but for the last two days ive been rocking him trying to sooth the tears, and hes gone bacl to sleep(this has happened this morning, and hes gone on to have another 45mins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Babies have 30mins sleep cycles, some wake and thats enough, others get upset because theyre still tired(which happens to mine), but they need to learn to self settle, only mine cant at the moment!

 

[crazydiamond]

Thanks, the strange thing is that he is good at self soothing at night but not during the day. I have tried rocking him after he wakes and reassuring him but he will never resettle.

 

[stardust599]

He needs at least 3hours daytime sleep and 11-12hours at night, sounds like he is tired and not getting enough sleep x

 

[supertabby]

Sounds like he's tired when he's doing it. Even as an adult a full tummy makes you feel sleepy so if he does it when eating I'd guess he's tired.

 

[Betheney]

My bubba only rubs her eyes when she's tired.

At that age she was having 3 X 1.5hr naps per day and 12 hours during the night. So if he's doing it alot maybe he is tired *shrug*

Dunno how to get him to sleep longer though.

 

[madcatwoman]

hun its really hard to get them to sleep longer i know. im still battling it right now.
this morning LO had 30 mins, woke upset. and had to frantically rock him in my arms, but no kidding you- he went back to sleep(in the end!) for a further 1hour!!(thats never happened before). I feel my instincts are right, that 30mins isnt enough for him.

 

[crazydiamond]

Thanks all. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to get him to nap for longer? I was wondering about buying the 'no cry nap solution' https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/007159695X/?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=3436558746&ref=pd_sl_w5kr8c3zi_e has anyone read it?

 

[stardust599]

I have that book and the No Cry Sleep Solution too. Didn't tell us anything we didn't already know! Controlled Crying worked really quickly for us but I found it awful and wouldn't really do it again, plus the short naps came back after teething and illness.

Baby Whisperer worked for us by getting onto an EASY routine it generally all fixed itself. If she woke early I would leave her for 20mins if she wasn't upset. If she was upset I'd go do shush/pat for 20mins. Took a couple of weeks but now she always takes long(er) naps. I can guarantee that even if she's really overtired if I put her down in her cot she'll sleep longer than an hour. Not sure if it was actually Baby Whisperer techniques or if it just age :-S xx