Newborn not napping.....Please help me.....tell me this gets better

[CRHMOM]

Hi,

My 4.5 week old daughter will not nap during the day unless she is held or I'm running around doing errands in her car seat. She will be up for hours and hours and hours during the day as I try to get her to nap and as soon as I she doses off in my arms and I lay her down her eyes pop open and she starts crying. Nothing is working......rocking, shussing patting, staying with her until she falls asleep..... nothing!!! She won't even sleep in her swing. She is so exhausted as she will go the whole day without sleep and I'm exhausted trying to get her to nap. I have read every book.....know about the 1-1.5 awake window, we do the same wind down routine, she is swadled tigh and nothing is working. Night are okay she is up twice in a 11 hour night sleep and goes back down easily but during the day won't sleep. I'm desperate as I have completely ignored my 2 year old toddler as I fight this naps.

Has anyone gone through this? I need strength from someone to tell me they have been through this and it does get better. Please if any one has suggestions let me know!!!

Thank you

Trisha

[Mollie1]

will she sleep in the car seat when it isn't in the car? Has she got a paci? These are two things that I tried and things are slowly getting better. He will take a good, long nap in his carry cot now at least once a day and the other 2 on the move. (((((hugs)))))) I am finding it really hard aswell xx

[besjoux]

Oh yes, unfortunately I have gone through this. My first was a reflux baby who was also very sensitive. He had to be held 24/7! I had to co sleep, etc. The best thing I found was a sling and then a front carrier (bjorn) that worked SO well. I imagine that it would work great in your scenario with having a toddler to chase around. It does take about 10 minutes for my kids to settle and fall asleep (they cry a bit and fuss).

FWIW, both of my babies have the short nap problem. #2 a lot less. It DOES get better, even if you don't practice BW but I found it got better faster with BWing.....that being said, this age is alllllll about survival. I found that I was too stressed if I focused on routines at this age. I just used this age to LEARN and listen...then I found a routine naturally came into play while I used the BW techniques.

Lastly, my first was very sensitive and needed to be held a lot but he is the sweetest toddler. Very rarely is naughty and is very willing to please Maybe you have a sensitive LO who will be an amazing toddler. There is hope,......keep your chin up, I know it is so hard right now.

[LucysMommy]

Hi Trisha,
My DD was also very unsettled during the day at this age, but did fine at nights.  I would get sooo frustrated with trying to get her to nap.  I also did the same techniques you did, swaddle, wind down, etc... but it just didn't work.  I think she just needed time to adjust to being in the world!  My solution was to put her in a baby sling or baby carrier and she'd fall asleep quickly and take a long nap.  But I had to be prepared to keep her in the sling for the whole nap, she'd wake if I took her out.  When she was about 3 months old I started to try to get her to settle more independently and she did fine with that.  With her in the sling I was able to do chores, shopping, go for a nice walk, whatever.  Then when she was wake I could spend more time just enjoying her.
Good luck!

[CRHMOM]

Thanks everyone....glad to know I'm not alone and other babies have done this. I finally got her to sleep at 12pm today and she woke up at 7:30 am.........after fighting all morning from 8:30 am on to get her to nap she finally feel alseep in her crib from total exhaustation. I had to rock her to sleep I know AP but I'm in survival mode. She has done this alot ----I fight and fight and fight to get her to nap and then she will sleep for like 4 hours......I hate to ask this but do I wake her or just let her sleep. If I wake her this will probably be the sleep for the day but its not a very good schedule to have her on be awake for so long and then just crash for hours......

[CRHMOM]

Oh I meant to say that she hasn't feed since 10:30-11 am this morning and it going on 4pm which is another reason why I should wake her? I know I sound crazy but this staying up for hours and hours and hours and then passing out isn't a great schedule.....but then again I"m just trying to survive right now and not worry too much about a schedule!!! Any advice......

[CRHMOM]

Success!!! She woke up from a 4 hour nap (didn't have to wake her); feed her, changed her, gave her 15 minutes of activity in bouncy chair and back down for a another nap awake (but drowsy) all in a 1 hour time frame and she is sleeping!!!!!!! This rarely happens as she always crys the second I put her down......hopefully this success will continue. My goal is to get her to nap in her crib for at least 1 nap a day and work up to the 3 naps a day.....