Help me! My kid won't nap!

[Allegra]

No no solids yet!

Yeah, my six month old won’t swallow cereal yet. He loves to open his mouth for the spoon, but then he stares at me in confusion as the cereal dribbles freely down his chin.

 

[misspriss]

Yeah, my six month old won’t swallow cereal yet. He loves to open his mouth for the spoon, but then he stares at me in confusion as the cereal dribbles freely down his chin.

This made me laugh. My DD, who is 11 months, we did baby led weaning with her, so she pretty much eats finger foods. I tried to feed her some of my yogurt, you know, on a spoon? She holds her face forward like she is going for a bite, but with her mouth tightly closed, and then wonders why she hasn’t gotten any!

My problem is DD won’t (and hasn’t for a long time) sleep more than 20 minutes at a time. I can get her to sleep just fine, but she wakes up easily if I try and transfer her to bed or swing (which she is really grown out of, but she will NOT nap anywhere else). I tried swaddling, white noise, total darkness, different rooms, motion, vibration…everything. I have determined she is just a short napper, she sleeps excellently at night.

I just want to give you a hug. I know baby naps (or lack thereof) can be endlessly frustrating.

 

[Anglewannabe]

I am sorry you are going through this. Is there anyway you can have someone watch her so you could do other things? Even maybe inviting a 5 year old to play with her in the living room while you are in the kitchen doing dishes?

 

[Mintaka]

Can you do the thing where you backpack or sling the baby everywhere you go? Maybe that will keep the baby occupied. And if she is occupied and soothed, she might even drop off.

 

[newlywed8]

To be honest, it is possible at this point that she is overtired. When kids get overtired they actually sleep less, and the more overtired they get, the harder it is to fall asleep.

My younger child was a very high-touch baby. She could not sleep unless she was touching me. She is now 2 1/2 and she is just starting to sleep in her own bed, sometimes. She also had a tendency to catnap for like 20-30 minutes during the day until five or six months. I do not think she started consolidating her naps into concrete 2 naps until 6-7 months. The only way to survive was to use a sling. She literally lived in a sling for the first few months of her life. She could eat, sleep and hang out in the sling and it was how she was happiest.

That is what I would recommend trying. Find a carrier that allows her to be in contact with you but lets you get caught up on the rest of your life. Stop wasting time trying to get her to sleep and feeling overwhelmed and just go about your day. Let her doze off in the sling and start recovering from the chronic overtiredness. Once she starts getting enough sleep again and matures a bit more, it might be easier to get her on more of a schedule.

 

[TruthSeeker92]

Hi,
She’s not on solids yet. Is she eating baby food? If so, check the sugar content. That may be keeping her up. Also, if she watches TV during the evening, or plays with a phone or tablet it will keep her awake because of the back-lit screen. Artificial lighting also will keep her up. Even without all of the things above, it may take a couple of days to get her sleep cycle adjusted. Keep doing research if possible, there could be something else going on which is not apparent.

 

[mlz]

My dear and precious grandson Never would sleep / nap during the day other than extremely short naps ( 5-8 minutes max) and that was it-never hated and we just came to accept it was his body rhythms and accepted it . Hard yes when there is so much to do, but accepted him as he is. Children are all there own in this and the sooner We adjust the better it is for them( and us!)
Prayers,
mlz

 

[bitterhope]

My dear and precious grandson Never would sleep / nap during the day other than extremely short naps ( 5-8 minutes max) and that was it-never hated and we just came to accept it was his body rhythms and accepted it . Hard yes when there is so much to do, but accepted him as he is. Children are all there own in this and the sooner We adjust the better it is for them( and us!)
Prayers,
mlz

Exactly. All babies, children and adults are different. Your baby sleeps so much better at night than most at her age. Be thankful and adjust to her natural rhythm. It’s our job as moms to love and accept our children in the way the Good Lord made them and to help them learn to accept themselves as well. Not napping has many advantages. I found it much easier than my youngest child needing her naps, but her body needs that daytime sleep so I learned to adjust to her needs. After having 7 non nappers it was difficult to learn about naps and not having that 10-12+ hour sleep at night but I can’t change her bodily needs. Many doctors would consider your baby waking to eat and then returning to sleep for a few hours as a morning nap. Some adults need a nap occasionally or even daily while other adults don’t even nap when they are sick. We are all different even in the womb.