lots of crying before nap

[chrissy220]

My son is 7 months. From birth to first week of 4 months, he would go down quiet and happy for naps and bed. Since 4 months, when we changed is schedule, added solids, and he learned to roll around, we have battled naps. He will yawn and be tired, and even reach for the crib when I say Night Night time, but as I lay him down he cries. He cries every time until he falls asleep. Its hard crying too. even if I held him to rock him or calm him he cries, so we don't rock him, since it is no use. He cries either way. usually about 30-45 mins, or on a bad day an hour.

He also rarely sleeps longer than 45 mins. He usually wakes and then cries more. I try patting him to transition him but he just gets more an more upset.

The minute he is outside his room and "up" he is all smiles.

What do I do? Help please. The crying is exhausting to hear, and I want him to enjoy naps.

[FPT23]

Hi! Welcome to the forums!

I'm very happy to help you with my own humble opinions or offer some advice/suggestions in hopes of resolving some of your nao troubles!

Many hugs first off I know how exhausting and frustrating short naps/hard naps can be. Hang in there!

Can you please post his EASY routine in easy format?

E
A
S 10-11:30

E
A
S 2:30-4

BT

Etc etc



Hugs xo

[chrissy220]

Thanks for replying!

E 7am, after bottle plays in exersaucer about 15 mins while I prepare breakfast, 7:30am solids
A 8am
S 8:30 or 9am Depends on if he woke up early from sleeping. If he wakes up at 6am or 6:30am we have him wait in his crib until 7am. But this will sometimes affect when he goes down for his nap. but maybe that is wrong. I just didn't want him to get overtired by pushing him to 9am.

usually wakes after 45 mins or sometimes after an hour or hour and half. Never regular. I try to get him to sleep more by having him cry, or patting, or rocking, but doesn't go back to sleep.

E 11am Bottle
A 11:15am
S 12:30am Again, depends on if he woke up really early from first nap.


E 3pm Bottle, 3:30pm solids
A 4pm walk

E 5pm Bottle

E 6:50pm Bottle
BT 7pm (goes down perfectly. doesn't cry. sleeps until 6:30ish or up by 7am.

[Shiv52]

Looks to me like he I said way UT for that first nap. If he's up at 7am you'd be looking for a nap about 10am.

Average A times- BOOKMARK ME!

[FPT23]

Hii

Agreed with above post and was going to be my initial suggestion!

Definitely needs and increase in AT! You can start with just that morning nap for 2-3 days and see if that helps lengthen the morning nap

The reason he's only napping 45 mins is bc he's not quite tired enough to get a full restorative morning nap! He wants to be up and have fuuuuun

I wouldn't be too concerned about OT. I bet he can handle it. If you find he can't push in 15 min increments but he needs to be up waaay higher ...if you push his morning A, keep the rest of the day the same, if your concerned about OT and feel he's more sensitive to it. Later on you can push slowly again once that morning nap estuablishes

Hugs. Xo

[LaraAndrea]

My son is 7 months. From birth to first week of 4 months, he would go down quiet and happy for naps and bed. Since 4 months, when we changed is schedule, added solids, and he learned to roll around, we have battled naps. He will yawn and be tired, and even reach for the crib when I say Night Night time, but as I lay him down he cries. He cries every time until he falls asleep. Its hard crying too. even if I held him to rock him or calm him he cries, so we don't rock him, since it is no use. He cries either way. usually about 30-45 mins, or on a bad day an hour.

He also rarely sleeps longer than 45 mins. He usually wakes and then cries more. I try patting him to transition him but he just gets more an more upset.

The minute he is outside his room and "up" he is all smiles.

We are having the exact same problem with our daughter. I wish I could provide some help but we are still living it.

Have you had any success with extending his AT?

Definitely needs and increase in AT! You can start with just that morning nap for 2-3 days and see if that helps lengthen the morning nap

The reason he's only napping 45 mins is bc he's not quite tired enough to get a full restorative morning nap! He wants to be up and have fuuuuun

I wouldn't be too concerned about OT. I bet he can handle it. If you find he can't push in 15 min increments but he needs to be up waaay higher ...if you push his morning A, keep the rest of the day the same, if your concerned about OT and feel he's more sensitive to it. Later on you can push slowly again once that morning nap estuablishes

Hugs. Xo

A silly question: when does AT start?

Once LO has been removed from crib?
Or
Once LO has awoken from nap (Even if you spend 30-40 min trying, unsuccessfully to extend the nap?)

Thanks!!

Good Luck!!

[FPT23]

Hi

AT is EYES CLOSED, TO EYES OPEN.

It doesn't mean all the time u spent helping--

Xo

[creations]

A silly question: when does AT start?

A time is the entire time LO is awake. It is from the moment he wakes up until the moment he is asleep (regardless of whether he is in his cot or not). It includes all activity including feeding,  nappy change, winding down for a nap, trying to re-settle a nap, playing...anything that is not sleep.

When tweaking or establishing routine and are working towards appropriate A times and restorative naps there are two options:
1. You can count the A time from the moment LO wakes from a short nap and calculate when the next nap should begin based on the guidance A times for age.  This means all your resettling attempts take up some of the A time. eg A LO with a guidance A time of 2hrs who has only slept for 45 mins and kept in the room for an additional 45 mins with a parent trying to resettle has already used up 45 mins of their A time. Their next nap time will now be earlier than planned so that the total time awake is 2hrs.

2. You can count the A time from when LO "should" have woken up from nap.  This is the way Tracy implemented routines for LOs who did not have a routine, needed sleep training or needed to transition to a new routine.  The reality of this way is that the real A time is likely far far longer than the guidance times because much of the nap time is spent using sleep training methods to try to get LO to sleep or to go back to sleep after waking too soon. It sets up habits and establishes routine.  Therefore a LO with a guidance A time of 2hrs who has only napped 45 mins and been kept in the room for an additional 45 mins (until the end of nap time) with a parent trying to resettle the nap, then gets up and is up and active for the entire guidance A time *in addition* to the time he was awake during nap time. The actual time awake has now increased 45 min + 2hrs = 2hrs 45.

[LaraAndrea]

Thank you for the clarification.
She was on a routine from almost beginning, but I admit it fell apart about 2weeks ago... I think I will try the 2nd option

[FPT23]

There is no such thing as silly questions!

Hopefully what you decide to try helps you both out. I know how frustrating it can be when they were doing great on a routine, only for it to change so suddenly and he left confused

Totally understand!

Best luck an many hugs! Xo