Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

My DD is 15 weeks old. She is an AMAZING sleeper at night – been sleeping 12 hours straight for the last week. Prior to that she was sleeping 10 hours straight for about a month. I know I am blessed in that department (don’t hate me – friends tell me I should not admit that to other new moms) and I also know it can change at any time.
However, she is not the best napper. I do notice she seems tired in the morning 2 hours after she’s been awake. Some days she will fall asleep and nap for 2 hours – others she won’t fall asleep at that time at all – even if she seems sleepy. She does not like to be “put down” for a nap at all….am I trying that at too young an age? I don’t try it daily but have tried it here and there…she screams and flips out if I put her in the crib for a nap. I do let her cry for 5 to 10 minutes before getting her. I get the best naps out of her in the swing so I tend to stick her in there when I can tell she’s really tired. She’s big for her age – she’s over 16 lbs (strangers that stop and ask how old gasp and tell me they thought I was going to say she was like 8 mos old) and just seems more alert and older than other babies I know or have seen her age. I can’t just put her in the swing – I need to put the tv on for her. Please no flaming for sticking a 3+ month old in front of the tv – it’s the only way I can get a shower in some days.
I guess my question is – when do the naps become scheduled? Maybe scheduled isn’t the right word. I don’t need them at the same time every day – I am out and about with her some days – others days we are just home. She’s my 1st child so I need napping tips from BTDT moms. Friends tell me not to worry…that it will just happen. I’m not sure what that means if I don’t try putting her down for a nap. When should I try to get her to nap on somewhat of a “schedule”? I have 2 sisters who have 6 kids amongst them and they stress me out telling me she should be napping regularly now and that she should “go down” for a nap without flipping out.
I just worry that some days she doesn’t get enough sleep/naps . I know she’s getting a ton of sleep at night but I know a baby her age needs to nap during the day. Some days she naps great – others she literally will not nap at all (like today…and I am currently about to LOSE MY MIND - she's teething and crazy fussy at the moment!!!)

TIA for the help!

ETA: she will fall asleep best for a nap in my arms - but then if I move her she wakes which frustrates me big time. She's a light sleeper during the day. Will fall asleep in the car but anytime we arrive somewhere and I turn the car off - she wakes.

Message edited 10/8/2010 5:15:37 PM.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

I don't have any advice because I am going through the same thing with my 11 week old.

She will fall asleep in my arms but if I put her down she wakes up. She will fall asleep in the swing, but not if I lay her in her crib or the pack and play. I am getting 10-11 hours of sleep at night so I feel like I can't complain.

I am really worried because she starts in daycare in 3 weeks and I worry about her napping there if she can't be put down or fall asleep on her own for a nap.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

DS is 4 months old. He also STTN

When he wakes in the AM I feed him. we sit on the couch I turn on the TV (for me basically as I feed him) We talk and we play on the couch.

Then I put him in the exersauser for a little while, until he has had enough and I know he is tired. I

do put him in the swing, but some days I also put him in his crib. I turn on the mobile and he looks at it and laughs and will eventually fall asleep. Some days he will cry for a bit. If he gets into a real CRY I will get him. (Maybe try to swaddle for naps in the crib? that helps DS, but we stopped swaddling recently) I think it is important to get him use to napping in his crib. He does sleep best and longest in his swing.

Depending on when he wakes up (anywhere from 530-7ish) he will be up for about an hour and then nap for about 2-2.5 hours (in swing - less in crib).

Maybe try putting DC in the exersauser. DS will go at it for a while in there and it does tire him out. He loves it. It is hard to really have a routine because some days they are not themselves but I do try to keep it close to a routine and that means that if I have errands to run im not getting out the door until at least 12 because of DS nap and feeding.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

DD is 6 months old, but we went through this too.

We'd watch for her cues and try to put her down when we KNEW she was tired. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

Don't let them stress you out about having a schedule. Some kids have one and some don't. Things tend to fall into place as they get older.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

M DD is 14 weeks, also a great sleeper at night, not so great at naps. However, she will go down with no problems. She just doesnt sleep for long and wakes up cranky. By evening time, the sleeplessness has caught up to her and from 4pm-6pm are the worst parts of my day. There was a period where I used the swing as well, but I was afraid she was getting too used to the motion. She would take great naps in there....but eventually I just wanted her to nap motionless and in her crib. Her naps are not as long, but I feel better about her sleeping motionless. I really do believe that because she gets 11 hours at night, that that contributes to short naps in the day. The Ferber book suggests to cut back on the nighttime sleep. Either wake her earlier or go to bed later....she will get the same total amount of sleep but just distributed differently over the course of 24 hours. I havent tried this yet because I really cherish my nights after she goes down, and the daytimes aren't rough but not TOO bad YET. The Weissbluth book does say that a schedule sort of starts to emerge at 3-4 months. You can try to put DC down around the same times everyday for naps and see if that helps at all. I'm working on getting her down at 9am everyday for a nap first and see if that helps out with scheduling.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

At that age 2 hours of wakefulness was a lot for my DD - 1.5 was her max before her first nap. If she looks and acts tired, she's probably overtired. Weissbluth does say you can start sleep training as early as that age - it just may or may not work if they're not ready. We did nap training at about that age and DD did well on it. I highly suggest you read Weissbluth - it's great on sleep training and is not just CIO (that's a very small part of what he recommends).

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

DD slept through the night from around 10 weeks. However, like u, she didn't nap!!

And it's difficult. I know I know, we can't complain cause they sleep at night BUT it's a looonnnnggg day when they don't nap!

I digress.

She HATED napping. We pretty much put her in her crib or swing after she had been up for two hours. We pretty much forced her to nap.

Now, at 5 months, she naps three times a day NO PROBLEM. Up at 8. Nap at 10. Nap at 1. Nap at 5. Bed at 7.

Good luck. I read the book "Sleeping Through the Night" which was awesome.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

DS was taking 3 naps still at that age, but they were random, not really set. I would say at about 6 months we started a schedule. He naps about 1.5 hours after he wakes for only about 45 minutes and then again at 3pm. He takes a paci and his blankie and goes right to sleep for the most part. But on the flip side, he just started STTN and it's FAR from consistent.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

DS is also 15 weeks old and probably for about the past 3 weeks he's been napping in his crib.

I'm a BIG advocate of being consistent with your kids. It worked out beautifully for my DD and it's working out really well for DS so far too. We would just put DS in his crib and he would cry for maybe 10-15 mins and then fall asleep. The naps were short at first, but now, a few weeks later, he goes down right away and he'll sleep 2-3 hours at a time.

So keep trying. Try every day. Eventually she will get the idea. JMO. Good luck!

Also... I wouldn't let other people stress you about how she should be on a schedule by now. She is still very young and getting to know the ways of her new world.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

Posted by Mere09

We would just put DS in his crib and he would cry for maybe 10-15 mins and then fall asleep. The naps were short at first, but now, a few weeks later, he goes down right away and he'll sleep 2-3 hours at a time.

So keep trying. Try every day. Eventually she will get the idea. JMO. Good luck!

Also... I wouldn't let other people stress you about how she should be on a schedule by now. She is still very young and getting to know the ways of her new world.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

Message edited 10/8/2010 11:35:26 PM.

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

Everything you've said sounds exactly like my DS so far (except he gets up once through the night to eat ). What worked for me was realizing that I was trying to put him down for a nap when he was overtired. He's not on any kind of set schedule because I'm EBFing on demand, but he goes down 1.5hrs after he wakes for his first nap and sleeps about 45 minutes. After that, he's usually awake for 2 hours and he goes down for another 45 minutes, and so on until bedtime. We've been doing this for about 2 weeks, and my DS is SO MUCH happier!!! He goes down for naps so easily now, and it's only a struggle if he gets overtired.

Staying at home for a few days during his nap times helped tremendously for us. Once he got into more of a routine with naps, we were able to venture out and he would nap in the car/stroller/park/etc. Good luck!

Re: Napping a 3-4 month old...a little long...BTDT mom's PLEASE come in!

Posted by OrganicMama

Everything you've said sounds exactly like my DS so far (except he gets up once through the night to eat ). What worked for me was realizing that I was trying to put him down for a nap when he was overtired. He's not on any kind of set schedule because I'm EBFing on demand, but he goes down 1.5hrs after he wakes for his first nap and sleeps about 45 minutes. After that, he's usually awake for 2 hours and he goes down for another 45 minutes, and so on until bedtime. We've been doing this for about 2 weeks, and my DS is SO MUCH happier!!! He goes down for naps so easily now, and it's only a struggle if he gets overtired.

Staying at home for a few days during his nap times helped tremendously for us. Once he got into more of a routine with naps, we were able to venture out and he would nap in the car/stroller/park/etc. Good luck!