A new post - sorry, but getting desparate, my LO WON'T NAP anymore!

[Gina M]

OK, please, please help. I am ready to try anything!!!!!!

My LO will no longer take a third nap - which should not be a problem, BUT, her naps are short, so her second nap ends around 1 pm. I certainly can't give her a bedtime of 3 pm! WHAT can I do? All I do is cry!!!!! I don't really even have a routine to post because my LO decides to nap anywhere from 30 min to two hours, and sometimes feels like eating every 2 hours, and sometimes every 5. I am so exasperated and frustrated. She is a little more than 6 and a half months old.

Here is what happened today:

5:20a - wake up (she went to bed at 5:30pm last night because of a missed nap. She won't sleep longer than 11-12 hours at night).
5:45a - starting crying, fed, and put back to bed
6:15a - fell asleep
6:25a - awake again after only 10 minutes!!!
7:15a - solids
8:10a - Sleep (I put her down at 7:50 and she babbled for 20 min)
9:05a - awake, - got cranky FAST
10:00a - Eat
11:05a - Nap
11:50a - awake
12:10p - asleep again - mantra cry for 20 minutes and fell back asleep - ALWAYS does this too, never sleeps all the way through a nap
12:55p - awake
3:10p - nap - babbling away
4:10p - STILL babbling
4:30p - car ride!

She'll get a bedtime of 6 pm to make up for lost day sleep. She wakes up from her naps happy and babbling, so I can't even do PU/PD to put her back to sleep. I can go into her room, and say go back to sleep and leave, and this will start the crying, but that hardly seems fair?

I am ready to let her stay awake for 3 hours between each nap regardless of how cranky she gets, and do PU/PD if I have to, because I don't know what else to do. But then I am afraid this will only get 30 minute naps and an even crankier baby?

I have tried more A time, less A time, car rides, putting her to bed early, putting her to bed late, longer wind down routines, walks outside, room darkening shades, white noise, lullabys, you name it, I've tried it.

She has no props, and can put herself to sleep independently (that is when she'll sleep)!

PLEASE - any ideas on what I can do? I had a colicky baby for 4 months, then a catnapper, and now this. I am not sure how much more I can take. I am ready to explode! HELP!

[Krissy18]

I am there with you- BEAR HUGS! SAVE OUR SOULS!

[brenda2]

hugs gina i know it's frustrating.

she sounds OT to me.  when you tried shorter A times how long were they and how long were you consistent with it?

she's also probably close to dropping that 3rd catnap but you can't drop it unless her first 2 naps are longer than 45 min.  when we were dropping the catnap somedays we had 2 naps, somedays 3 .  if she took 2x1.5 hour or longer naps i knew i'd be fine but if one of the naps was short i'd do a 3rd catnap (sometimes it was in the sling as she fought it - car ride is fine for this nap if that's what it takes to avoid OT and get her to bedtime).

i would shorten the A times until she gets over the OT and starts taking longer naps again, then you can stretch the A times and work on trying to drop the catnap and  go to 2 naps.

how's her night sleep?

[Gina M]

Thank you! She took a good long nap this morning - 1 hr 45 min, then only a 45 min nap later in the day. she seems to have th longest A time for her at the beginning and end of the day, but hits a lull in the middle of the day.
She will get a car ride today for her third nap.I don't have the energy today to try for a nap in her crib!
Her night sleep is usually good. Last night - not so good, but she woke hungry. She ate and ate and ate at 2:45am! She does this once in a while, but most often sleeps 10.5-12 hrs a night.
It is getting nice outside too, so I can start taking her for rides in her stroller to put her to sleep (hopefully). On days where I get 2 good naps, we'll both be better off!

[brenda2]

sounds like a good morning!  try for a short 3rd nap (in the car is fine) and early bedtime to avoid OT.  when they finally switch to 2 naps and start taking them at a consistent time it is so nice! 

[Gina M]

Ok, my little one still won't nap......or I should say won't take more than 2 naps a day.
Which would be fine, but she takes one short nap, one long one, and then is up from 1 pm until she goes to bed.
I try and try and TRY to put her down for a third nap, and she just won't go to sleep. She is just not tired. She does not cry, she just babbles in her crib, so what can I do?
I put her to bed early, but then she is up at the crack of dawn. She was up before 5 am today - YUK!
Anyway I can get out of this vicious early cycle?
It seems to me she needs 11 hours of sleep at night, and 2.5 during the day. Anymore and she is not having it - regardless of the time or how long she has been up. Does this make sense?

[Krissy18]

Gina- I too have noticed my LO has a max sleep requirement..something like 13-14 hours and nothing more. We are in the same boat with that nap issue. I dont know what to do either!

[Gina M]

It is so frustrating! I have been up since 4:30am!

I am assuming that I'll have to try and space out her two naps more and more over time, but right now I am afraid of OT and getting TWO short naps instead of one. But the more I can space out her naps, and the longer she can go before bedtime the better. She seems to have a 2.5 hr A time in the morning, and early afternoon, and a 4.5 in the late day! I don't know if that is normal for a 7 month old.
Regardless, I don't know what to do in the meantime. If they have a max sleep requirement, but can't stay up late, and won't nap, are we doomed for sleeplessness until they can get up and entertain themselves?!

[Krissy18]

LOL! I think so!

Adam is taking 3 naps most days but he is still OT I can tell. His naps are fragmented bigtime. He wakes up from the last nap tired already and its only 530! my ideal day would be 8-8 i dont think we will ever get there though!

[brenda2]

hi gina
hugs!  sounds like she's ready to switch to 2 naps then.  especially at 7 months...my LO was 7 months when she dropped the catnap.  it's ideal if they can do closer to 3 hours for each A time to make it to bedtime. 

if your first nap is 45 min then i'd say she's undertired and i would extend that first A time by 10 or 15 min to see if you can get a long nap out of her.  if she does a long nap first then again extend the 2nd A time and hopefully you'll get another long one and she'll make it to bedtime, which may have to be earlier.

it is nice when they can go on 2 naps.  i'd give it a go as it sounds as if she's dropped it anyway!!  just push both naps back later so they're spaced out a bit better.

it's not unusual to have one of the A times be longer than the rest, although 4.5 hours is a bit long for just a 7 mo...

you could try for something like:
wake
2.5 hours  A time
nap #1
3 hours A time
nap#2
3.5 hours A time
bed

what do you think?

[Gina M]

I am going to try it for the next few days and see if we can get into that routine. She was up for FIVE hours before she went to bed last night, and she still slept 11 hours straight. But since her bedtime was so early she was up before the sunrise! I'll keep at it. Thanks soooo much for the suggestion.

[brenda2]

5 hours.  wow.

good luck with it and keep us posted