Overtired Infant

Hi Girls! It's been months since I've posted here. Anyway, I am having the hardest time getting my 4 m/o son on a proper nap schedule. The problem is that he only sleeps for 30 minutes at a time. So I'll put him down, he will wake up, then before his next feeding he wants to nap again, so his feedings are getting a little screwed up, too. I can't just "let him cry" for a bit because he wakes up happy! He'll just lie in his crib and talk to himself or look around for a while. Then less than a half hour later he's rubbing his eyes and fussing. My problem isn't that I can't get things done around the house or anything like that... My problem is that he's always fussing so much because he is sooo tired. He has been a fussy baby pretty much from birth. He is on Enfamil Gentlease and used to be on Mylicon drops but now is on Zantac for reflux. He's a big boy with a huge appetite. I still can't transition him from a 3 hour feeding schedule to a 4 hour, though we are now at 3 hours 15 min. Our one saving grace is that he sleeps like a dream at night. He goes down around 8:30 or so and wakes up between 7:00 and 7:30. When he wakes up in the morning he is soooooo happy. I just want to keep him happy all day!!! I apologize for the long post but I am desperate. Help!!!

Overtired Infant

Bump!!! Need fussy baby to take longer naps!

Overtired Infant

I never force my DS to take naps. He makes his own schedule. Biome days he naps for hrs some for 20 mins.

At four months I would not force it. They end up with their own schedule and even then it will change.

Re: Overtired Infant

I found ds took much longer naps in his swing, when I put him in the crib they were always short. Do you have a swing to try?

Re: Overtired Infant

Overtired Infant

I have tried the swing... He loved it from birth-2.5 mos or so and it would make him drowsy. Now he's way too stimulated by it. He just stares at his little friend in the mirror and talks to him.

I certainly don't want to "force" him into anything and if he was happy all day then I'd say hey he's happy so who cares? But he's obviously so sleepy and I want to help him.

Overtired Infant

Sounds like he's waking up during a transition in the cycles and its hard for him to put himself back to sleep. The reason why he's cranky not so long after is because he probably didn't get enough of a nap IMO. If he's not crying, let him stay in the crib for a while. He may end up learning how to put himself back to sleep. As for the 4 hr feeding schedule, I still don't have that at 7.5 months! Dd just can't go that long and she's not into drinking more than 5 oz at a time. I've tired stretching out the feedings, it didn't work for us.

Overtired Infant

Wow okay interesting... Although my fast growing man is eating 8 oz each time and has been for well over a month!! Lol. I do leave him in his crib for a while and he just chills out in there and talks to himself. After a while he will start fussing and I still leave him, then after a longer time he starts to cry and then screams come only a couple minutes later so I take him out.

Overtired Infant

DD is 8 months and is still nursing every 3 hours except at night. I would let her go longer but she fusses at 3 hours nearly on the dot. And her naps are similar to your DS. Since about 2 months, she rarely naps longer than 20 mins. If I'm holding her she will nap maybe 30-45 mins. I have never stressed too much about getting her on a schedule. She usually naps every 2 hours so I guess she is on some sort of schedule but I don't stress it when she's not. One thing I do is if I know she is going to be tired soon and it conflicts with when she is due to eat, I just feed her early and then let her nap. Don't be hard on yourself. Try to find what works and do that, even if it's not on a schedule.

Re: Overtired Infant

dd is at daycare. she never takes a nap at the same time or for the same amount of time. on the weekends i nurse her on demand. same as daycare. she never naps at the same time or the same amount of time. it's eat play and nap

Re: Overtired Infant

May I ask what the totaL ounces of formula he drinls per day is?

Re: Overtired Infant

DD used to take 30 min naps at that age and eat every 2 hours and I felt frustrated that I couldnt get things done either. Ped said it was ok as long as she was getting hours at night. Some babies just cat nap.
nothing.you.can.do.about.it.

I can say it does get better. DD is now eating every 4 hours and takes a 2 hour nap in the am and a one hour in the afternoon. They make their own adjustments.

Overtired Infant

Thanks ladies but again - I really don't mind the aspect of not getting things done because I manage to squeeze things in when he IS napping, or on a particular day of the week when I want to get a thorough dusting, vacuuming, etc. session done, my mom will come watch him. Then at night when he is down at around 8:30, I get more done then, too. The problem is that he is so cranky and seems so overtired. I really don't care too much that he's not on a perfect schedule - but it seems to be effecting his happiness. This is the only reason why I want him to nap longer. However, I've come to accept the fact that he may just have a strong personality by nature and this may be at least one reason for his fussiness. But it kills me to see him rubbing his eyes all day.

He eats about 36-38 ounces per day.

Overtired Infant

At that age - DS wasn't really on a great nap schedule. He'd take short naps throughout the day.

Do you follow an eat-play-sleep schedule and not allow him to be up more than 2 hrs straight? That might help with his crankiness.

My DS 2 was cranky at that age as well - it was kind of like he was finally awake for longer stretches and he didn't seem to know what to do with himself while he was awake! He just wanted to be held - standing up.

Re: Overtired Infant

Is he too old or too big to swaddle. DD is younger but the only way she naps good is all swaddled up!

Overtired Infant

He seems to be a tiny bit less cranky the past few days - today was actually a very good day. He played on his jungle gym for a good 45 minutes and that was with barely any interaction with me!! He had a ton of fun with his toys and I couldn't believe how long he was interested in it. Normally he is interested in something for a minute or two and gets bored lol.

I actually do a sleep, play, eat schedule. He just tends to get more sleepy after eating, plus he has reflux and my ped wants him sitting upright and pretty still for a good half hour after eating. This is when I often hold him and do story-time/quiet time for his nap.

He actually never enjoyed being swaddled, even as a newborn. I had swaddle sleepsacks that he liked but only w his arms out lol. He outgrew them before turning two months - he's huge (over 90th percentile for height) and also very mobile for his age... He scootches ALL over his crib and never wants to be restrained so unfortunately swaddling is a no go.