Absolutely Refusing All Naps?!

[Leiiki]

DD is responding super-well to bedtime techniques, she put herself to sleep after just four nights and sleeps up to 9hours straight, BUT: she absolutely will not nap with the baby whisperer techniques. She starts screaming if I even approach a bed whole carrying her, and screams nonstop for the full 20minutes before I give up. She's yawning and rubbing her eyes, so she's tired, but I have tried over and over (next time she yawns, we try again) and she just gets more and more upset. I don't want her to be afraid of the bed! She keels over if we drive more than ten minutes away. Before we tried BW, she was a champion napper - two solid naps a day on schedule, no fuss. It's been three days and I'm ready to give up and nurse her down again. HELP!

Edit: here's her schedule
7am wake, nurse, play
7:30 breakfast
8 bath, nurse
8:30 play
9:30 nap (or used to be: now 20min+ screaming)
11 wake, lunch, nurse
12 errands/outings
1 nurse
2 nurse
2:30 nap (used to be: now 20 min+ screaming)
4 wake, play
5 nurse
6:30 dinner
7 nurse, play
7:45 book, pjs
8:10 walk, lights out
8:15 sleep (she just lies down and goes to sleep, no soothing anymore)
3 am stirs, shh pat and she's asleep again
5 am wakes, short nurse (she wakes if we try to dreamfeed at 10), pat and sleep

[Shiv52]

{{{hugs}}}  Great news on the nights!!  Not so good with the napping!

What age is your LO?

Before this when she was taking good naps did she go to sleep for them independently or how did she settle?

[Leiiki]

She is 11 months and a week, we start BW on Thursday last week. Previously, she and I laid on the bed and nursed to sleep. It took about 5 minutes of nursing and 10 of "fluttering" to go down, and I would ease away and she would nap for 1.5 hours or so. Unfortunately, she would only sleep 2 hours at most during the night, and had to eat forever when she woke each time. So we fixed bedtime but ruined naps...

[fireredjewel]

sleep training can take awhile! don't give up hope though, you're obviously making progress as you've sorted out bedtimes. :-)

from what you've posted, it sounds like your DD is ready to increase her A time, as she's point-blank refusing to sleep! It's pretty normal for LOs to give tired cues but not actually be ready to sleep. At 11 months, she's a bit under a typical A time for the age by almost an hour. Try increasing her first A time by 15-20 mins every 2-3 days & see if that helps.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=163278.0

Do you have a wind-down routine? For our DD @ that age, we read to her for 10 mins before her nap, then popped her in her sleeping bag, then cuddle, then cot. Just to ease the transition into sleep!

HTH

[Leiiki]

Is the sleep bag ok or will it become a prop? I stopped using hers when we started BW, because it thought it was a prop, but I could put her in it again. I will try adding more A time and reading before naptime as well. I've also been trying to tier the A time with lots of activity early and relaxing things before naptime, but since she never sleeps, I get confused as to when to be exciting

[Shiv52]

Some info for you:

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652

11 - 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap

I think the problem is the A time too.  Your first A time is 2.5 hours whereas by 11 months most babies would be doing at least 3.5 hours if not 4.  I think the reason she is also fighting them is because now she is getting much better night sleep she is just not tired at 9.30 any more.

Before i would start cutting the naps etc i would work on getting onto a routine that will suit her better.

SO you'd be looking at something like:

7am Wake up
10.30 Nap
12.00 Wake up
3.30 Nap
5pm Wake up
8-8.30 Bedtime

We has a 13 hour day/11 hour night at this age.  Once you are at 3.5 A time if things are still unsettled then you can start moving toward 4 hours A time and thats when you can start capping one of the naps.

HTH xx

[fireredjewel]

a sleeping bag is just like a blanket/sheets - not a prop!! Our 18 mo is still in a sleeping bag because she wriggles all over the cot. When she stops, she'll get sheets.

[Leiiki]

We did a little better today - stretched A time to 10, added a book and a walk around the house and she went down for a 1.5 hr nap with no fuss. Afternoon, tried to stretch A again (to 4:30), book, walk: she freaked when I tried to put her down, screamed and kicked and arched her back for 20 full minutes before falling asleep, then woke 30min later screaming and wouldn't go back down.

I feel like 20minutes gets longer every day, I was crying myself by the time she fell over this afternoon. I feel like she thinks I don't care, I worry that I'm alienating her by letting her cry so long; she literally never stops screaming until she falls over in my arms - no breaks for pu/pd. She never cried before this unless she was actually in pain; it's really hard to deal.

Bedtime was easy-peasy again, not sure why naps aren't working!

[Leiiki]

So, over a week now, and still she's a shrieking, kicking, tearful mess at naptime. She'll fall asleep instantly in the car at naptime, but increasing A time had no effect on her. She won't sleep at all most days, just screams bloody murder - even after I take her out of her room and try to distract her. She can be falling-over, yawning, laying her head on my shoulder on the way to her room, but as soon as I lay her down, it's like I've put her on a bed of nails! I'm ready to give up, please help!

[Shiv52]

So sorry hun you are having a rough time. 

Would she fall asleep if you held her and then transferred her to the crib?  DO you think she's finding the change from nursing to sleep with you for naps to going in the crib too much?

[Leiiki]

I'm not sure she'll still fall asleep nursing unless we actually lie down together - she no longer associates it directly with sleep, which is good but also makes it difficult to take a few steps back. Here's our naptime routine:
She shows sleep signs
We sit together and read her naptime book
She nurses as long as she wants
I put her in her "sack of sleep" (a Mega Baby Woombie) and talk to her about how the sack is full of sleep and she gets to be a sleepy baby.
I carry her around the downstairs and turn off the lights, ending in her room.
I lay her on the bed, say, "I'll see you when you wake up from your nap" and kiss her.
Screaming begins when the lights go off in her room, but she gets overstimulated with the lights on.

[Shiv52]

What A time is she at now?

Can you post your routine as it is now?