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View Full Version : my 8 month old will only take 1/2 hour naps - help!!



jlps74
10-15-2003, 04:41 PM
My 8 month old son is sleeping fairly well at night. But during the day he will only nap for 1/2 hour and wakes up crying because he is still tired. I have tried to let him cry but he makes himself hysterical. Sometimes when I pick him up he will fall back to sleep but then I have to hold him for an hour or so until he wakes up. Any suggestions?

little mama
10-16-2003, 06:02 PM
Try to establish set naptimes during the day. I started doing this with my daughter when she was five months, because although she was sleeping through the night (and had been since she was three weeks old) she wasn't napping and was getting really cranky. I started putting her in for a nap in the morning, about one to two hours after she woke up, and in the mid-afternoon. It didn't work at first. She would cry, and I would settle her down, and put her back in her crib. I would have to do this a number of times at the beginning, and I couldn't just let her cry, because she would also get hysterical. I had read that babies who were colicky had a very hard time getting used to a nap schedule, and that was certainly true for my daughter.

Admittedly, during this time she rarely ended up taking a nap, and both of us were exhausted from our attempts. But when I decided that maybe this wasn't going to work after all, after three weeks, I noticed that she was starting to get tired around the times when I tried to put her in for a nap. So I tried putting her in, and she actually started taking naps. They were short at the beginning, but turned into one to two hour naps. She still has the same nap schedule at ten months, and it was a great improvement on her mood.

So I think that getting her used to a schedule really worked. Waiting for her to get tired and nap worked sometimes, but not often enough. Good luck!

julieallisonmiller
10-17-2003, 04:49 PM
I am a mother of five children ages 8,6,4,2 and 4mo. All of my older children were fairly easy to work into nap schedules but my baby has been more challenging. I believe the key to a good nap is putting them down before they get too sleepy. This way it avoids a lot of fussing when you put them down. With the age that your baby is you might try putting him down with a favorite toy or stuffed animal. This will help settle him down while he goes to sleep and it will still be there for him when he wakes up. All of my children have gone through a stage where they didn't nap as well. I use a fan or some type of sound to quiet the room for sleep. I firmly believe when they are over tired they have a hard time staying settled down. Like when we as adults are exhausted and fall asleep fast and hard and then jump and wake ourselves up. Just FYI my children at eight mo. were sleeping 10-12hrs. at night and a one and a half to two hour nap twice a day. Generally it was waking around 8:00am nap 10:00-12:00 then nap from 2:00-4:00. Of course this varied from child to child some required more sleep others less. But that might give you an idea of a schedule that worked for us. I do rock or sing to them to get them down for sleep both at nap and bedtime so they associate this "ritual" with sleep. I believe they still associate "Jesus Love Me" with bedtime:D I hope this helps some and I understand your frustration. It's hard to get anything done. Just remember it's probably just a phase maybe teething but it won't last forever. Even if it feels like it.

jlps74
10-18-2003, 10:12 AM
Thanks for the suggestions. I am trying to set a schedule for him. Hopefully this will work. Thanks!

MartiesMom2B
10-18-2003, 10:16 AM
Something else that I've found, is that sometimes DD will wake up and cry a little but if I leave her alone she'll go back to sleep. I found this out when I was in the middle of something and decided that I'd get her when I was done. So keep that in mind too!

HTH

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

egoldber
10-21-2003, 10:35 AM
Folks have given good advice, but another thing to try if he wakes up early from his nap, is to go into his room, lay him back down and say "it's not time to get up yet, it's still time for sleep". And leave the room. This works for my DD when she wakes up early in her nap, but I can tell that she is still really tired.

HTH,

Kieransmom
12-15-2003, 06:39 PM
Just curious to whether your child's napping has gotten any better? My 7 month old is going through this too now. We finally got him sleeping through the night and now he won't sleep much during the day. Two 1/2 hour naps and he's so cranky by bedtime. Any hope?
Michelle
Mommy to Kieran, born 5/9/03