having problems putting 3mo down for naps

[BabyBearsMom]

I know this isn't what you want to hear but DD was terrible at napping when she was little. Swing or no nap was basically her policy. And even then she wouldn't always nap. She grew out of it at around 6 months. Now she naps like a dream.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thank you everyone for the replies.

after reading this, i started putting DD in her swing for naps, and it really helped a ton, at first. i noticed that with the swing if she woke up after a little bit (we have a video monitor) she could easily fall back alseep. she could sleep 3 hours in it sometimes. i was so happy we finally found something that worked.

however, in the past week, it has totally stopped working. she goes down fine, then within 10mins-1 hour she wakes up, screaming. after i change her and/or feed her, she's ok, but then she is totally wide awake, and the nap time is GONE, gone gone for another 2 hours, at least. yesterday, despite trying the nap nanny, the swing, her crib, whatever she did not nap more than 30 minutes at a stretch. she would nap 10 min, wake up screaming, then be awake for 2 hours. then, process repeats again. today, she napped for 1.5 hours in the morning and then 1 hour later before lunch time. both times woke up screaming bloody murder..i have no idea why.

when my DS was similar age he didn't have a schedule but at least he woudl nap for 2-3 hrs at a stretch. it is so frustrating, i can't even get my DD to nap for a decent bit, period. it is so horrible, i feel like i spend the entire day ignoring my son and trying to get my DD to nap. and when she is finally asleep i am scrambling to feed him or change his diaper bc she could erupt at any second. it sucks watching the minutes fly by as i try to get DD to nap, and then if i do, my DS wakes up from his nap.... and if when she naps, their naps do not overlap at all, there is no time to eat or do anything.

has anyone tried blackout curtains, am wondering if they may make a difference. my dd sleeps in her crib most nights from 9pm to 6:30am without a problem, and she is not swaddled or anything like that. i hear her wake up in the middle of the night and then go back to sleep on her own. i have no idea why sleeping during the day is such a problem for her.

[BabyBearsMom]

has anyone tried blackout curtains, am wondering if they may make a difference. my dd sleeps in her crib most nights from 9pm to 6:30am without a problem, and she is not swaddled or anything like that. i hear her wake up in the middle of the night and then go back to sleep on her own. i have no idea why sleeping during the day is such a problem for her.

We have blackout curtains in DD's room. It definitely helped when she was younger. Now that she is older, she doesn't care as much.

to you, mama. This is really hard. DD was always a terrible napper when she was younger (9 months and under). She was really hard to get down and then wouldn't sleep for very long. Now that she is older, she is a champ. Goes down for 1 nap, 2 to 3 hours at a time, no problem. Unfortunately, some kids are just tough with naps. But she will grow out of it.

[trcy]

She sounds like my LO....could only get her to nap in her swing, but would have no problems at night. She is just about 7 mo now and naps in the crib are starting to get better. I would also try to swaddle her and see if that helps. Good luck.

[Giantbear]

First three months of life are really the last three months of pregnancy, it just happens outside of the womb. I would try a swaddle, or i would try the swing, a bouncy seat or what have you. Do not fear that she will not learn how to sleep without it as it is still too early. We concentrated on what would allow her to sleep instead of trying to get her to sleep how we wanted her to (my daughter never took to the swaddle, so we stopped trying to force it). My daughter was a car seat sleeper for months 2-5 (supposed to be 4 but then she got sick) and while many argue against it and will post articles against it, she learned how to sleep for long periods of time. Now, she sleeps through the night 99% of the time. At the young age, the arms and legs go as instinct, a swaddle or snug position helps keep them at bay and a lot of times it is the moving arms and legs that wake them. Keep the times consistent, keep things dark and quite (with noise machine) for nighttime only, and worry about the transition out of what works later.

[rin]

We have blackout curtains in our DD's room, and they help a lot. She doesn't seem to need them as much now (she's almost 15 months), but when she was little they were essential otherwise she'd never go the sleep. The other thing that really helped was a white noise machine (we started off with an actual box fan because it was the summer, but now we just have a 2-hour recording of a box fan that we play on loop on her ipod w/speakers).

ETA: She might just not be a big sleeper. I hate to say it, but my DD was never a good napper. Things got better around a year or so once we started just putting her down for one nap a day, but she's never been a 2-3 hour/day napper.