Won't take late afternoon nap---overtired and SCREAMS at bedtime...

[~Lori~]

My DD (from the post "7 week old won't take naps") is doing better with her naps, although it still is taking anywhere from 20-45 minutes to get her down.  The problem is, she does not take her late afternoon nap, she will not calm down for it, and then when it is time to put her to sleep at night she is so overtired and screams and it takes us about an hour or so of shh-pat to get her to calm down...it's making the night so stressful!!  Here is her routine.

7:30am---wake up and feed
7:30-8:15--Activity (can NOT be up longer than 45 minutes without heading for a nap or she won't go down...overtired)
8:30---Sleep

10:30--Eat
11:00--Activity
11:30--Sleep

1:30--Eat
2:00--Activity
2:30--Sleep

4:30--Eat
5:00--Activity
5:30--Sleep----THIS IS WHERE SHE IS NOT SLEEPING!!

7:00pm--bath
7:15--Eat
7:45--Put to bed....doesn't usually fall asleep until about 9pm!!!  It's a struggle!

Hope someone can help me!!  Her other naps are going okay, but that 5:30pm time she just won't go down...even if she "catnaps" she is still a BEAR at nighttime.

Lori

[Ami ~ 3 girls' mom]

Get the catnap any way you can: front carrier, car ride, stroller.  We're in the same boat: fights the cat nap but can't do without it. 

[~Lori~]

whenever I try to do more during A time, like extend it a little bit, she starts crying and fussing and then it takes even longer to calm her to even try to put her down.  Usually her "catnaps" are in our arms with "slits" in her eyes, so not totally asleep.  Last night we did try to do her night-time routine earlier, like 40 minutes early b/c she wasn't napping and just fussing and fussing (and yawning, and having heavy eyes), but it took the longest it ever did to get her to sleep at night!  almost 1 1/2 hours!!

Lori

[~Lori~]

I don't think I'm understanding the "catnap" thing....because she HAS been catnapping during this time and it doesn't help at all...like tonight, she's just screamed and screamed at bedtime, and she had had a 30 minute cat nap!  I know she was still tired and needed to sleep more but WOULD not go back to sleep with sh-pat...I am HATING the evenings, she just fusses and won't nap...

Lori

[lilylover]

Hi!  We were in the same position about a month ago.  I found taking her for a walk around 4.30pm for an hour in the baby bjorn carrier helped her to not only catnap but made her nice and relaxed for her bedtime routine and helped to eliminate the bedtime meltdown.  Hang in there though I'm sure she will catch on,

 Hugs,

Sam

[Mom2LukeandAudrey]

Hi Lori -

It's Jen (Luke and Audrey's mom from our other board!).  I am dealing with the exact same thing with Audrey.  Recently she had troubles going down for her nap but today and yesterday has been better.  Now my next thing to try to tackle is bedtime.  It takes about 2 hours to get her to fall asleep and I can't figure out why.  She naps and 40 - 60 min. cat nap in there while we eat dinner.  I put her in her bed at 7:30 (after bath, wind down, etc.) and she cycles from falling asleep to screaming over and over for 2 hours -- then she sleeps for a total of 1 hour.  I came on the board today to post her schedule and see if anyone could give me any advice.  I'm not really sure what the problem is, but I do like Sam's suggestion about walking around.  I was talking to a neighbor the other day from Denmark and she said how they all put their babies in their "prams" out in front of their houses to sleep because babies sleep so much better when they are outside.  Maybe there is something to getting them out for a nap?  I've always tried to have Luke and Audrey nap in their cribs because I want them to associate the crib with sleep, but I may try an evening walk tonight.

Hope things improve for you!  I was planning on e-mailing you to let you know that there is an acid reflux board here on this site (I didn't know you were already on the baby whisperer site though!).  I think some of Sophie's and Audrey's night time problems are due to their reflux.  How is Sophie doing at night now?  Audrey's nights are a nightmare -- hours and hours of fussing and in pain.  It will improve though, in time (good lord, it has to, right?).

Jen

[~Lori~]

Sam---Thank you!  We have tried the bjorn from time to time and it's hit or miss, maybe should keep trying it!

Jen---SO funny to see you here!  It's been really hard in the evenings with SOphie...she won't go down for a long nap, won't catnap, so she's just BEYOND tired at bedtime.  The reflux thing is going better, now that she is on Zantac.  Our nights have been going well, but it's just the whole daytime that has been pretty brutal....It's so hard seeing my little one have huge meltdowns when I have tried so hard all day to "catch her" in her window, get her down for good naps, and then in the evening she just loses it...I know that the reflux just adds to it all though...where is the Acid Reflux board?  Is that under "Eat?"  Thanks for your words!  Good to see you here!  Been wondering how you were doing.

Lori