Naptime help!

[ShayChristie]

I want to add that Jonathan still does not sleep through the night. Not sure if your baby is. But he does have one long stretch of sleep(usually 4-5 hrs) and then is up every 2-3 hrs, nurses and goes right back to sleep. Before the book, we were only getting that long stretch on rare occasions. But he was never a night player, where he'd get up and want to play. He was always too tired. LOL

The author does go into night sleeping expectations and how they are often too high, especially for babies who are young and/or breastfed. I don't mind the nursing through the night bit, but I am very thankful for the 4-5 hr stretch of him sleeping. In a perfect world, those hours would be midnight to 5am, but I'll take the 8pm to 1am if that's what I can get and he's a happier, more rested baby.

[mom2g2b]

Only one of my four was a good napper. I so understand you being frustrated.

mom2g2b

[Qwerty]

Back story is Benjamin usually sleeps from about 8 pm (with getting ready for bed routine starting at 7) until about 8 am, with one 3-4 hour sleep period followed by 2 hour sleep periods through out the night, waking to nurse. I've tried wearing him to sleep and that takes upwards of an hour to get him to sleep and doesn't last very long. I've tried laying down with him but that makes him think it's playtime and he gets very charming and persuasive that it is NOT sleepytime! He doesn't play himself to sleep either. He does act tire through out the day and on the days I can get him to nap at least 1 1/2 hours total I can see a marked difference in his disposition; much less fussy and more active and playfully.

I've noticed he's actually has started to not falling asleep when nursing over the last few days. Not sure if that's good or not as "They" say you shouldn't nurse babies to sleep chronically, but at least he slept that way! The only way my dh can get him to sleep is to lightly swaddle him in his bouncy seat and bounce him for about 10 minutes but he's starting to out grow his bouncy seat!

Shay, what lullaby cd do you use? I've been thinking about getting one and playing it when we bounce him to sleep and then hopefully we can drop the bouncing eventually. There are just so many cd's out there though, I don't even know where to start! I'll definitely get The No Cry Sleep Solution and see what it recommends too!

[Qwerty]

Also, I'm completely with you Shane on the nursing through the night issue! I've thought and prayed about it and have chosen to ignore all the clamoring voices telling me that my baby is wrong to also want me at night and that I'm being a bad mother by giving my baby what I feel he needs; that I'm teaching him bad habits that will (apparently) destroy his ability to sleep well later in life! Where's the soapbox icon when you need one?

[ShayChristie]

This is the cd I use. I bought it for my oldest dd her first Christmas and just love it! And that's really the only "girly" song on it, so no worries about using it with your boy!

http://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Kisses- ... 661&sr=8-2

I don't know how to hyperlink here yet.

My favorite track is Before I Knew Your Name and sing it often to my babies.

And your Benjamin sounds a lot like my Jonathan. We start bedtime between 7 and 7:30 and he's usually asleep by 8pm. He wakes up between 7:30 and 8am for the day, with his mini nursing sessions during the night. We're still tweaking naptime. Right now, 10 am and 2pm are working well. Occasionally I find him starting to get cranky around 6, so I'm thinking of pushing that 2pm nap to 2:30 and see if that's just enough to have more consistent happiness.

[Jean]

This is the one that puts Chloe to sleep: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TS ... PDKIKX0DER

[teachermom]

bad habits that will (apparently) destroy his ability to sleep well later in life

hmmm..... I guess Tori DOES have bad sleep habits - she sleeps for HOURS...LOL

I slept with T and nursed her whenever she wanted. I remember by about 7 or 8 months, she's just nurse while I slept! I'd wake up to her fussing and pushing at me later in the night, I'd grab her, roll to the other side and she'd nurse that side while I slept. repeat as necessary.

[polluxx]

Jeri, that is exactly what Vivienne does.

[shansu]

Some good responses, and I've never heard of the book.
Had two of the grandsons over for a few hours today and they didn't want to nap ( a one yo and a 7 month old). Put Pandora.com on with a baby lullabye selection and they responsded well to it and slept after that.
One of them enjoys a couple of pillows about him with a cover over him, even at 1 year. I suppose he enjoys a snuggly/cozy feeling it offers.

[TamieJP]

I think you got your answer but my answer is ROUTINE. It works so well. After a snack or lunch, turn on music, rock baby to sleep w/book, lay baby down keeping the music on the entire time if possible. If he wakes up, do your best to not pick him up for an increasing amount of time.

I've also used weight on the back of a toddler. It was a paper bag filled with a few books.

I've used a loud vacuum cleaner near a baby. I've used a toy under the mattress that vibrated and made noise. http://www.edb.utexas.edu/ATLab/Clipart/devicepics/crazyball.jpg Demo http://www.edb.utexas.edu/ATLab/mpgs/crazyball-N.mpg