Catnapping baby.

[timeforababy]

I can't be the only mother whose baby doesn't sleep in the day time?

He is a terrible daytime napper, 11 weeks old and thinks he's already 3 or 4.

Any other catnapping babies here? How do you manage?

 

[RaquelDee]

You definitely aren't the only one! Mine is almost 6 weeks and for the last 2 weeks I've really struggled to get her to sleep more than 15-20 minutes at a time in the day. She gets tired and nods off, but just won't stay that way, and then cries because she is overtired.

I have no advice but would love to hear from anyone else who does! I'd love to be able to have a shower, drink a cup of tea, or make a phone call without having to cut it short to respond to the crying.

 

[bbbbbbb811]

My youngest has always been a cat napper and the only trick I've discovered that works is a drive in the car til sleeping, then a blanket over the car seat(over the hood and handle) to create dark boring space, carry into house veeeerry gently and place in quiet and dark room that isn't too warm. And I'll get an hours free time that way! But some days she'll go all day with 1 half hour nap... even I, a full grown adult would gladly nap more than that

 

[hlynne]

I am totally in the same boat. By 4pm baby is totally mad because he is so over tired. I usually can get him down for a 30 minute nap in the morning. Then in the afternoon I have to usually drive around for about 90 minutes so he can sleep. Although that does't last more than 40 minutes now. I used to be able to bring the covered carseat in the house and he would sleep for about another hour, but not anymore. If we stop moving, he wakes up. Yesterday and today though I just brought him in to my bed and laid down with him. We slept for 2 1/2 hours yesterday and 1 1/2 hours today. I can understand that not every mom can do that. Especially if you have other kids.

Maybe you can get them to sleep in your bed and then sneak away? I usually can sneak away after about 30 minutes of him sleeping. I just move our video monitor to our bedroom so I can keep an eye on him.

Good Luck! I would love to hear how other people get their babies to sleep!

 

[misspriss]

*Raises hand and waves it all around* Major catnapper here. She sleeps like a dream at night. She used to nap wonderfully, 2-3 hours at a time...then one day a couple weeks ago she just started waking at 20-45 minutes. She will only sleep one sleep cycle! Occasionally she will self settle once and hit 1.5 hours, but I can't replicate it for anything!

We swaddle, we nap in the swing, we use the vibration, we use white noise. We have tried a million combinations and variations of the above. We have tried the stroller, the baby carrier, we have tried unswaddled, one arm out....

I am currently timing and waking UP my 2.5 year old and trying to keep my 3 month old asleep.

Also, she will sleep in the car (sometimes, unless she is screaming her heart out) but wakes as soon as you stop moving. You can even keep the engine running and she will wake up (so drive thrus can cause her to go from happily sleeping to screaming the rest of the way home).

 

[JumpingIn]

My little guy has very specific sleep needs and issues. During the day he can only manage cat naps between 2 and 30 minutes. These require at least 10 minutes rocking by me to happen and then he must sleep on me. How do I cope? I just do. Wish I had advice but I'm 14 weeks in with no solutions

 

[Cattia]

My daughter has gone from one or two hours of napping to no more than 30 minutes. She falls asleep ok but won't stay sleeping. Even if I'm out walking the buggy around she will still suddenly wake up after 30-40 minutes and won't go back to sleep. I think she is somehow getting into different sleep cycles because her night time sleep has gone to pot recently as well.

 

[xluciex]

My first born would take long naps in the day he would take 1.5-2hrs each nap sometimes more but it took a lot of effort to get him to sleep & he wouldn't go down until very late in the eve for bed.
My DD I put her down regardless if she is showing signs or not after her being awake 1-1.5hrs after she's been awake. She goes down in her Moses with white noise but will only sleep 20-40mins, however when she wakes she's happy so this just must be enough for her.
Our DS at her age was still not going to bed until 11+pm, since DD was around 4wks old she has been ready to go down for the night at 7/7:30pm and will now sleep 10/11hrs without waking. so tbh ild rather have my evenings with DH than have an hour to my self in the day lol.
With Both babies I have found the first nap to be the longest of the day so this is when I have a shower, get ready, sort DS breakfast, put a load of washing in & Hoover.
Car drives for naps can create a bad habit, my niece is 22months and still has to be taken out in the car for her lunch time nap or else she is a complete monster by 4pm

Maybe try a carrier, my DD drops to sleep as soon as she is put in the ergo and will happily sleep 1-2hrs at a time