Poor Daytime Sleeper- Suggestions

[LoniVV]

My 6.5 month old son has gone from putting himself to sleep for at least an hour 3 times a day during daytime naps, to struggling to sleep (either rocked or feed) twice a day for 50 minutes to 1.5 hours. I usually find the morning easier to put him down than the afternoon. And his morning naps are 1 hour or more while the afternoon naps are 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Since he started to roll and now is nearly almost crawling I find that the settling techniques I was usually previously are not very affective and when I go into his room to turn him over (since he will not sleep on his tummy) he gets all excited and wakes up. He moves around his cot at a rate of knots.

He is also teething which affects his nap length.

Has anyone else found the same ? I am concerned that I am setting us and him up in a bad pattern for the future. I would love some suggestions on how to curb these daytime roves.

Leonie and Dominic (2-12-2004)

[mumofethan]

He Leonie,

I understand how u must be feeling.

it isnt uncommon for babies to drop from 3 to 2 naps at his age, however getting them to sleep is the problem. My son still has problems going down for his afternoon nap and he is almost 9mths.

Does your son roll over? if so there isnt really any reason u need to move him on to his back. If you do need to move him then try to avoid eye contact, dont talk and do it as quickly as possible.

Teething can have a big effect on sleep, especially naps. If you believe he mite be in pain have you tried some pain releiver before u put him down?

I use controlled crying with my son, with a 10min cry time. I used to let him cry for 10min, walk in, lay him back down or change him in to his sleeping position, give him his dummy and walk back out again. Now its the same except he gets his dog not his dummy as i am trying to get rid of it.

I hope this helps a little

:D

Michelle

Mum to Ethan, almost 9mths

[Chickadee]

I agree with Michelle's advice. My Chloe dropped from 3 naps to 2 around this age, and slept on her tummy with her bum up from around 5 months. That caused a bit of panic over SIDS but when I phoned their info number I was reassured that there was nothing I could do to stop her and that if she was rolling then she would generally be able to get herself out of trouble. Remove any bumpers, cot toys and blankets that he might wiggle his head under and see if he'll sleep longer if you don't go in to try to turn him.

If you do still want to turn him, then try to do it when he's in his deepest sleep. Most babes have around 45 min sleep cycles, with 15 to 20 min shallow sleep followed by deeper sleep to 45-50 min, then shallow/deep repeats again. That's why a lot of bubs wake at the 45-50min point, but if you can get them past this point they'll go to 1.5 hours. So you may have more luck turning him if you can time it for his deeper sleep cycles instead of say at 1 hr when he'll just be dozing.

I can understand your concern about setting up future patterns. But most, if not all bubs, go through periods where their sleep routines are changing. Sleep gets unsettled as they grow and drop naps, or are teething or sometimes due to the introduction of solids and changing feeding schedules. Most bubs settle back to a new routine after a few weeks, so you may find that by 7 months you're having better days.

MarthaM

[LoniVV]

Thanks for your suggestions MarthaM and Mumofethan,

I have tried to leave him to fall asleep on his tummy and so far after nearly 1 hour of being in his cot (the average for the last 2 weeks) he cries for food (since it is practically his feed time) and we are yet to successfully fall asleep. Once he has fed he will go into bed without any dramas and go to sleep, but is so tired that he only sleeps for a short period. However, if he does manage to crack the hour mark before he stirs he generally sleeps for closer to 1hr 15 or more.

He does fall asleep on his tummy now at night which is a blessing since he does not call out for us to turn him over.

I am trying to read his tired signs but find that when he exhibits them while playing when he goes into his cot he decides to ignore them and explore.

Anyway I will keep perserving and hope that he will go back to putting himself to sleep within a reasonable timeframe.

Today we had a battle to go to sleep and then slept for 55 minutes each sleep.

[Chickadee]

Bubs are very good at keeping themselves awake! I did read or was told that it was ok if bub didn't actually sleep during "nap" time. That just having some quiet down time in their cot would get them some rest. I'm not sure I agree 100%.

What would happen if you just kept him up a half hour longer? So you see his tired signs but wait a bit before starting your naptime routine. Maybe do some quiet activities like reading a book to fill in the delay. It's going to be tiring him out more, which might make it harder to put him down if he ends up over tired, but if he's going to be awake in his cot anyways...

You might also look at feed times and juggle them so that he's not going to be hungry if he does wake up, or give him a top up feed before his afternoon nap if he's not already having one. The risk with that it encourages the "feed to sleep" pattern.

I don't really know, I'm just throwing out ideas here. I hope something works for you!

Martha

[maybe1more]

I found what works for me best is to bath bub in "baby bath with lavender" really helped me, also instead of a morning and arvo sleep i decided to put baby down in between these times instead of bub having two sleeps that only lasted about 45minute each i tried feeding him lunch at 11.00, then bathing him at 11.30 and after bathing putting him to bed, the first week and a half he cried because he was over tired but then after he got use of the routine he started going straight down and slept for 2 1/2 hours to 3 1/2 hours. Although the week and a half seemed liked for ever for him to get use of, it was worth the tears. my son is now 23 months and i still have the same routine, except that i bath him later on after his dinner to help wined him down( they are very active at this age). This may work for you but every bub is diffrent and i hope this can help in any way possible. Best of luck :) Mum to Connor 14/07/03 and trying to concieve bub#2

[Kat]

Hi there,

I find with my girl (7 months) that we either end up having one 'big nap' around or just after lunchtime or else 3 smaller 20 minute naps.

One of the ABA ladies suggested that you be there to comfort them when they do their 20 minute stirring as if teeth are a problem they will need more comfort than usual as they hurt.

We've also had to give pain relief to help her not wake up screaming in pain with her sore gums.

Kat