day care 9 month old trouble napping

[lpperry]

I came here for help with my LO when he was 4 weeks. I am a huge fan of the baby whisperer method and it worked wonders for us. It took 3 weeks of HARD work, but now I have a baby who takes wonderful naps!  I never have to worry about him anymore!

I have an inhome daycare and just started watching a 9 month old a few weeks ago. I have him 2-3 afternoons a week.  He is a wonderful baby, but his family has been having nap issues for a few months now.  Mom  says he just doesn't nap and it sounds like they try to wear him out and then feed him to sleep, and if he doesn't nap, they just get him up.  

The first few days I just needed him to sleep so I rocked him, gave him a bottle, and let him fall asleep in his crib with the last ounce. He slept for 45 minutes to 1 hour this way.

I KNOW that he can't fall asleep on his own which is why he wakes up crying at 45 minutes. I have not been successful getting him back to sleep. He's fussy when he wakes up because he did not get enough sleep.  

After I got to know him, I started to try to get him on a nap routine for my house.  I did a wind down routine as soon as I saw signs of sleepiness.  He cries as soon as I put him in the crib.  I sit with him and pat his back, or put pressure on him, but he still cries.  If I pick him up he still cries--he's just so tired.  Any ideas?  I know exactly what I would do if I had him full time, but what do I do if I only have him a few days a week?  Will I be able to get him on a sleep routine for my house?

[lpperry]

Well, I may have answered my own question!

Today LO arrived in the afternoon and had not napped or had lunch yet. I fed him and he started getting fussy, rubbing eyes in high chair.  I got him out and finished up his meal with bottle. 

Then I put him in pack n play and patted his back while he cried cried cried.  I decided that patting his back was making him more agitated, so I just sat down next to him, shhing and talking quietly (just going to sleep now). I have lullaby music on too. 

He has cried, sat up, laid down, cried, sat up laid down for about 20 minutes with me next to him the entire time.  Now he is laying down, not crying anymore.  He's still moving and not yet asleep, but I think he is about to fall asleep.  We'll see... I hope this works!

[Colin Macs Mom]

That poor baby

Are his parents open to you starting a new routine? Perhaps if you can get him established on some better habits at your house, they can continue at theirs? Sort of a separate issue but still....

My DS never liked patting either, so I used to shhh and place one arm across his knees and the other across his chest. So don't be afraid to try something different!

[lpperry]

The family is wonderful and I think they would be VERY receptive on trying a sleep technique. I just want to figure out my game plan before talking to them about it.  I think the family is to the point where they will try anything to help this little guy sleep. The are very frustrated at the lack of naps, but just don't know what to do.

I think just staying with him until he falls asleep will work. I did that today and he did fall asleep after 30 minutes.

What do I do about him waking after 45 minutes? I tried sitting with him again, but he was unable to fall back asleep. Should we try to deal with the 45 minute nap at the same time, or should we just work on getting him to fall asleep on his own and hope that will generalize to his waking after 45 minutes?

I need to get some more information from them--about routine and night time sleeps. I think he used to sleep through the night, but recently has been waking. 

I really hope I can help them!

[Colin Macs Mom]

Waking at 45 min usually indicates undertired (I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong!) so it may be time to adjust A times. Ideally you would need to concentrate on him learning to sleep more independently at the same time - I mean, you can't get a kid to sleep who isn't tired, so if the A times aren't right you can't very well teach independent sleep!

[lpperry]

He is tired. He is absolutely exhausted and is really really fussy when he wakes up. I don't think he is undertired because he rarely gets a good nap.  The problem is that he doesn't know how to settle himself, so when he wakes up at 30 or 45 minutes he can't go back to sleep and just cries.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Poor little guy! Then I would just stick with your variation of shhh/pat for now and let him catch up on as much sleep as possible.