Baby on strike

[SueC]

Up until now, Mitchell has been a pretty easy baby, but for the past few weeks he is not napping well. He sleeps good at night (goes down at 9 and doesn't wake up until 6am to nurse, then sleeps for another 2 or 3 hours), but during the day I can't seem to put him down! We go through this routine of him falling asleep while I'm nursing him or just holding him, I lay him down, 2 minutes later he is screaming like a banshee. We do this all day and I'm lucky to ever get him to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time. While I'd much prefer the nighttime sleeping to be consistent, I really count on daytime naps in order to run my business. He's too little for any kind of childcare situation, and I can't afford to pay somebody to come to the house to watch him since my business just doesn't net enough to justify the expense. He is just about to turn 3 months, so while I do believe in the "cry it out" method, I can't see myself doing that until he is at least 6 months old. Any suggestions on getting this little rascal to stay asleep? Just now I laid down and nursed him in my bed and kind of snuck away, which seemed to work. I could keep trying that but it makes me want to nap so I'd like to avoid that if possible.

[mommax3]

Swing? Bouncy seat? I have definitely been where you are, although I wasn't trying to run a business from home at the same time. I hope you figure something out soon!

Sally

[Flynn]

If you try the cry it out method at 6 months it will be MUCH MUCH harder. If you know he is fed, tired, and warm enough, let him cry when it's nap time. Give yourself a time limit and let him cry for X amount of time and then stretch it out.

You'll thank yourself in the long run.




I did this at 10 weeks (my daughter was really big when she was born so that helped!) and it worked like a champ!

[PrincessFiona]

Sue...The absolute best gift that we got was from some of you guys here....the baby ocean swing. I highly recommend it for naptimes! Aidan gets tired and cranky at naptime and I got tired of the nurse him until he's asleep and then try and sneak him into his bed without waking him trick 8) . So...I started using the swing for naptimes only. In the past I had used it to keep him busy while I was doing laundry or was busy with something else and he did often fall asleep...but other times he used it as a play place. To keep him from thinking he could play there I don't put him in unless it's naptime now.

He is used to the fact that when he goes in there he goes to sleep. There are soft lights, a rotating 'aquarium' of fish to look at and also 'night night' music that plays. I wait until close to naptime when he is already tired and then nurse him a little if he wants...but I always put him in the swing awake. He falls asleep almost instantly now. Seriously...it has been a Godsend. I can now plan my days a little better again!

kris

I totally second what Flynn said. Couldn't have said it better as a matter of fact.

Sue,
Anna went through a stage like that a few months ago and I thought I was sunk. I must have forgotten when/if Bryn did that as well. Seems to be getting better. I find it's hard to keep a nap schedule for Anna when Bryn doesn't nap and we've had lots of running around to do pre- and post-move.
Good luck!

[SueC]

Thanks for all of the new ideas guys! I think one of my problems is that once he would cry, I would just let him be up, even though I knew he was tired. Then he would get even more tired and cranky and even harder to get to sleep. Once he cries when I put him down, I think I need to keep at it until I get him to sleep. I'll start trying all of your methods until I stumble on the one that works. My dh is ready for me to let him cry it out as well, so I'll have to chew on that one for a little while. I've used that with both of my girls (though they were a few months older) and I do think it works.