She wont nap

[~Emma~]

 She just WILL NOT nap. How the hell do I get this baby to nap? I am so stressed about it that I am getting jawlock from clenching my teeth all day long. Days have turned into screamfests yet she will sttn. You might say I'm lucky that by baby pretty much sttn but I'd go back to 1 NF and having my days ok any time.

 She goes down in the morning just fine, naps anywhere from 45 mins to 2 hours. Then no more sleep for the rest of the day. I have taken to giving B his nap in the car so we can drive and maybe she can get a bit of sleep. She wont sleep in the car. I've tried the buggy, she wont sleep in it either. I have tried rocking and feeding her to sleep, she wont do it. What do I have left? And no, I cant just accept that she might not nap because she sttn. She is fussy and whining and when she's not doing that she's just all out screaming the house down.

 Someone must have one snippet of something to make me feel better about this. Something, anything. She is desperatley OT and I cant get out of it.

[Shiv52]

{{{hugs}}}

Poor D and poor you. 

Any teething going on?  have you tried meds before naps in the pm to see if that helps?  How about doing that and lying with her in bed and maybe feeding her to see if that settles her.  Totally APing but just to get her out of the OT cycle. 

I have no real answers because today is the first time R has slept more than 10 minutes at a time.    And I have no idea what made the difference.  Maeve is away in to check on her to see if she's ready to get up (she heard her on the monitor!) so guess I should go rescue poor R!!

[shivi]

could send you some of that camomile....

did you ever try a wrap/sling.....I used to get so frustrated with Emma at CN time (we just dropped it very early....just very low sleep needs here, well finished napping as well at this stage and 2-1 started at 9 mths...so again, Dylan is following in her footsteps) that I just popped her in it and pounded the pavements....

S x

[scucci1979]

Hugs Emma.  I suspect teeth. 
I think this little girl (like Alyssa) is going to through the 2-1 early. 

[~Karen~]

I'd suggest a sling as well as surely if you put her in it and go about your daily business she'd eventually go to sleep, right??? 

Hugs Emma.  Can imagine how frustrated you are 

[Shiv52]

Emma i just bought a sling.  It was reduced on amazon and it is FAB!  It is so so comfy and R actually fell asleep in it yesterday.  I had a different sling and it hurt my back but this one just feels so much more comfy!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003TSDIAO/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A36VY7MS1G6YOD

[~Emma~]

 Thanks ladies. I've been away for the weekend so sorry for not replying.

 I've tried a sling. I've tried everything. I really dont want to be one of those posters that says that but truly I have tried everything. She is a fully independant sleeper, she wont accept any help even when she's at her most OT. I went to my folks today which is a 2 hour drive away and she didn't even sleep in the car on the way there or the way back. She's had 30 mins all day.

 She will nap her best on the cot but even then I have to get the A spot on which can be hard when she is perpetually OT and gives very few cues.

 Before the weekend she was sttn. When we were away I fed her on the night. She wasnt asking for it but we drove overnight on Fri and got in at 2am. I just fed her to get her down easier. The Sat night she woke as she hadnt napped ALL DAY and I couldn't be doing with the battle at the IL's and Sun we drove overnight again getting in at 2am again. She is now EW, not upset, not hungry just AWAKE. Its hard being up with a bub from 5am that wont sleep consistantly.

[annette.xx]

gosh how tough for you

as she sleeps well for first nap - can you keep A time short 2 hours before first nap then cap the nap at just 45 mins then go for  2 - 2 1/2 hour A time after that...worked so well for me everytime DD went through a no afternoon napping phase...if that doesnt work then try capping at 30 mins -

but you have to keep first A time short for it to work well and the following A also needs to be shortish...

that first nap would work as a bridging nap just to get you through to afternoon nap...

clazzat first suggested it to me when DD was about 6 months and it saved my sanity!!!

once I got it all sorted I was able to stretch out A times again and went back to 1 hour am nap then normal A then still got long pm nap - think I had to go right down to 30 mins for am nap to get back my pm nap without a fight!!!

worth a shot maybe?

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 COuld be worth a shot Annette. Her morning A is currently standing at just shy of 2 hours and more than half the time she will give me a good nap. I had taken to waking her at 1.5 hours rather than let her sleep 2 as she was losing her drive for the next nap (this is back when she was actually taking ok naps!). It worked well for a bit. Waking her would scare me though. 

 I have no clues about her A's. She's so tired ALL the time. Poor wee bug.

[annette.xx]

the way I saw it was she was going to be a nightmare in the afternoon anyway and by cutting first nap If it all went horribly long I had alot longer left in the day to play with and make up the sleep somewhere!!

I was very lucky tho as it worked first time for me!!

then I just played around with that first nap length to see what worked best to get 2 decent naps both morning and afternoon and for me eventually i think I settled for short first A - 1 hour nap then 2 1/2 - 3 hours A time then long pm nap ...when pm nap started getting shorter I knew it was time to drop down again the morning nap...

I kind of cant see the point in pushing the morning nap out later and later to get a longer nap like alot of people to cos all it does is puch the pm nap out which in turn cuts that one short and makes them cranky all afternoon - im more in favour of A times getting longer as day progresses so no bulid up of OT!!

I really hope you have some luck!

Annette.xx

[shivi]

sounds like a great plan....

a whole day W2S....

I was never brave enough either though!

S x

[story3girl]

Emma

Every time you post, I feel like I'm having the exact problem!  My LO is about 3 weeks older than yours, but I can't get her to sleep in the afternoon - and I've tried all kinds of AP at this point.  DH thinks it's funny and says she's a champ, but I will be asking her "HOW can you not be sleeping?!?  It's been  6 hours!!"  There are days when she's up from 6 until 8 with only one 30 minute nap.  T

I think on the worst days overstimulation is a factor.  Our situation got much worse after a long weekend roadtrip also.  The past few days she's gotten screamingly OT around 2 or 3 and after an hour of cuddling her in a quiet, dim place I can get her to go to sleep for at least 20 minutes. 

I just try to take long walks  with the stroller during the late afternoon fussy time.  She doesn't usually sleep but at least gets calm, and I can keep my own sanity.

[~Emma~]

Well she done fab today. She does this when I have reached rock bottom, she throws me a bone. 2 x long naps and even took a short 20 min nap in the buggy. Difference with the buggy was I didn't use the carseat I just laid it flat. I tihnk she really finds the carseat uncomfortable.

 Her A's today were as short as 1 hour 15 she's so tired. She woke from her 2nd nap at 2.15 and then the 20 min nap in the buggy was all that got her thru until bedtime. She settled fine though unlike last nights debaucle. 

 

 So glad to know I'm not alone hon. I ask this of her most days! 

[annette.xx]

wow what an amazing day of naps!  did you just go purely by tired signs today then?

Annette.xx

[~Emma~]

 Yep. I always do try to go by cues but they are so sporadic I dont always trust them and she doesn't really give hard and fast ones iykwim. I've never really known her A times.


 She CAN nap. Its like she chooses not to. Its the inflexibility that drives me mad most of all, the fact that she wont nap out and about.