what the heck am I doing wrong

[TraciG]

I am almost always home so Sydney can nap, well she slept 2 full hours before, I made the mistake of looking in on her & she was up, crying, maybe she was about to get up anyway, because I didn't make any noise, who know's so I give her her afternoon bottle, she plays 5 minutes & is rubbing her eyes already & wants me to hold her, always wants to be held when tired so she's back in the crib crying, I cant take it anymore, she hardly ever wakes from naps well rested, makes life very tough ! We haven't left the house yet today, it's 4:20, we have a barbecue later, dont want her to be cranky, we'll have to put her to bed there then bring her home later.

needed to vent BIGTIME

she's almost 8 months old

[mamicka]

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. I (we) still have those days sometimes & DS is over a year (although DS has never slept for longer than 1.5 hours for a nap). Hang in there - vent away. :)

[stillplayswithbarbies]

If she wants to be held when she is tired, I don't understand why you put her in the crib? Why not hold her?

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[lisams]

Even to this day when DD wakes up from her nap she likes to cuddle. Sometimes she is crying or just kind of wimpering. It takes her a few minutes of us just rocking. Sometimes we sing a few songs or read a few books. A two hour nap is really good at that age, I didn't get barely any of those until DD was 12 months old!!

Lisa

[deborah_r]

Yep, I frequently have to hold and rock my 13 month old when he wakes up - he doesn't want to go back to sleep, but he is not fully awake yet, so I hold him and rock a little into he starts acting more awake. It's pretty rare that he wakes up smiling and happy, even with a 3 hour nap.

[TraciG]

Sydney isn't happy unless she gets all the sleep she needs, if I hold her she isn't happy, she needs to sleep more, if very obvious to me when she's still tired because she cries so I hold her but I would like her to sleep more if she needs it, hardly ever does she sleep 2 hour naps !!!!

[squimp]

Sounds like you have her best interests at heart, so I can't imagine you're doing anything wrong - you're trying to help her sleep.

Not sure if this will help, but .... Our baby is 8 months old and she has been napping much better since we got a white noise machine. Much like your Sydney, she needs her long naps, and needs to wake up on her own or she's cranky. I used to have to tiptoe around the house because the least little noise would wake her up. I noticed that "shushing" would help her calm down and go to sleep. Now we use the white noise for every nap. It was a homedics model from Target for $12 or $15.