Seriously, this boy WILL NOT nap unless I hold him until he is totally and completely asleep. If I try to put him down any time before that all heck breaks loose. I just don't have time during the day to hold him and bounce him until he falls asleep. I don't mind doing it at night to put him to bed, but I just cant do it during the day. I work from home and need him to be able to nap so I can get things done. Once he is actually asleep and I can put him down he takes good naps ... at least an hour, but usually an hour and a half.
I really don't know what to do to fix the problem and I am really really frustrated.
I dont think I am keeping him up too long and he is sleeping through the night just fine. He rarely wakes up at night ... once he is down he is down.
I know its my fault as I have gotten him used to me holding him and either rocking or bouncing him to sleep. I've tried letting him get very sleepy and then putting him down and patt and shhh, but that just makes him REALLY mad! He turns purple and does this gutteral scream thing that is just terrifying and heartbreaking! I've tried just patting or just shhing ... same response. I tried putting a stuffed animal in his crib that plays music, and he stopped screaming and watched the lights and listened to the music so I thought it was going to help him sleep, but when the music stopped he just started screaming again.
He uses a pacifer to fall asleep at night and for naps, but he usually spits it out on his own when he is ready to really sleep.
I think he is a combination of a touchy baby and a textbook baby. From day one we have had to cover his eyes to get him to fall asleep. We usually hold him and put a blanket over his head and body until he falls asleep and then remove the blanket when we put him down. Blocking out all stimulus is the only way we have found to get him to calm down.
Here is his schedule:
Eat 5:00am 3oz
Sleep 515 to 7:00am
Eat 7:30am 6oz
Sleep 9:00 to 10:30am
Eat 11:00am 6oz and cereal/fruit
Sleep 1:00 to 3:00pm
Eat 3:30pm 6oz
Sleep 5:00pm - short nap
Eat 6:00pm 4oz and cereal/veggie/fruit
Bath 7:00pm
Eat 7:15pm 4oz
Sleep 7:30pm
Please please help. I'll try anything at this point.
Thank you,
Corey
DS 04.12.06