I never thought I would care this much about sleep!

Ok so sleep or rather the fight to get him to have it, is driving me to my wits end.
My baby boy is 7m and a pretty good sleeper during the night (8/9 hours, one feed then another few hours).
However during the day it’s a battle for his naps and I don’t know what to do.
To get him to nap I feed him to sleep and then transfer him to the cot (I’m sure that’s not ideal but I’ve tried any other method and this seems to be what works for him).
He is typically on a good schedule of 3 naps a day getting naturally tired before each of the times (9am, 12:30, 3pm = about 3 hours average total )
But now each nap is getting shorter and despite being visibly exhausted he refuses to go to sleep. (Asleep in my arms then waking as I put him into the crib).
Using this afternoon as an example, he refused to do his third nap of the day so it’ll mean 5 hours between his last nap and bedtime. ..::I don’t know what to do. Should I try and change the structure?
For him, a routine really works usually

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.
Add a comment
Avatar

Can you extend the naps by making them contact or in the buggy or car?

Avatar

if we contact it is his longest one for sure! The buggy could either be 30min or 1.5 hours… there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme nor reason as to which one we will end up with.
I’m just trying to not keep contact naps as a practice

Avatar

Around this age it was helpful for us to switch to 2 naps a day and stretch out wake windows once he was refusing his 3rd nap. We did 2.5 hrs in the morning, then 3 hrs, then tried for 3.5-4 hrs before bed. We ended up moving his bedtime pretty early (6-6:30) until he was consistently doing 2 naps a day

Avatar

did it affect how long he slept in the night? On the occasion he hasn’t had 3 naps due to whatever reason, he still sleeps the same hours at night so doesn’t make up the hours he seems to need

Avatar

Honestly there’s absolutely nothing wrong with feeding to sleep or contact naps - especially if that’s the only way he’ll go down :)

You could try slightly increasing the wake windows to see if that helps to build some more sleep pressure x

Avatar

For us it ended up helping his sleep at night and didn’t change the hours too much. Even on nights when he went to bed early he still woke up around 7 which is normal for him. I think we were trying to have him sleep too much throughout the day and he didn’t have enough sleep pressure to feel really tired for bedtime

Avatar

We found switching to 2naps around this age helped! Try extending wake windows slightly and dropping a nap and see what happens :) we had about 2 weeks of 2/3 naps and some early wakes but then it settled and naps were easy again! Xxx

Avatar

sounds like a sleep regression... my son went through the same when he was 7 months, and it was rough cause its also the age they transition from 3 naps a day, to 2 naps a day.. it may not feel like this, during the moment... but it'll eventually pass. I also dealt with sleep regression of refusing to nap, again, last month, at 8 months old, that was the recent sleep regression..

My son's 9 months and 1 week old now, and I've been dealing with on and off sleep regression since he was 2.5 weeks old...

Avatar

doesn’t it feel like every week is a sleep regression 🤦🏼‍♀️ I wish they would understand that sleep helps everyone involved 😂

Avatar

Some weeks are better than others 😂🤣 why with family and friends I mention, "it either got back to normal or i just got used it. Idk at this point 🙃 jk 😂😂"

Avatar

Sounds a lot like my daughter who is also 7m. Since he’s a good sleeper at night, I wouldn’t stress the daytime naps. Because it very well may end up affecting his nighttime sleep😳

Low sleep needs babies really do exist and they’re all over Reddit🙃

🫶🏼

Avatar

Breastfeeding to sleep IS the biologically normal way for an infant to fall asleep.

I personally have never followed a schedule with any of my 3 children. I follow their cues for eating and sleeping. Naps change so much in the first 12-15. months.

You could try side laying nursing him in a bed or a mattress in the floor & then ninja rolling away once he's asleep.

Read more on Peanut

Trending

in our community

When did you circumcise your baby?
If you DID NOT or DO NOT have a circumcised son DO NOT comment this post is not for you!

Did you wait a certain amount of time or have it done immediately?
Again respectfully, this is only for the parents who choose to do so.
opinions about how not necessary it is will not be appropriate for this post. Thank you in advance. 🩵

Avatar

1

48

Can someone pls help i keep making this post and nobody is responding

My boyfriend booked a trip for us to go to mexico for a week as my push present. I have severe anxiety leaving my 7 month old with my mom. I know she will be in good hands but she’s exclusively breast fed for the most part but accepts bottles just fine. i have all my pumping parts packed and will pump when baby normally eats but i don’t want baby to forget me or have latch issues when i return!! any mommas ever experience this?

Avatar

9

Postpartum

I’m only 3 days postpartum (FTM) and already have extremely bad anxiety. I’m crying every night, as I think of another night of no sleep. My baby will not settle in his cot, he cries every moment we put him down unless in his chair rocker. So me and my partner are having to alternate after 3/4 hours of being awake with him downstairs. I’m trying everything to get him to settle. It’s a load of overwhelming stress. I’m 23, I was desperate for a baby and now I have one and feel completely useless. I miss it just being me and my partner.

Avatar

4

23

When does it get better?

I was crying on the phone with the perinatal mental health team today and the lovely lady, bless her, kept assuring me that it gets better. I kept telling her I hope so because people have been saying that since having my LO and it just feels like it keeps getting worse. She assured me it gets better....

Avatar

7

Night time routine

Heya, my 3 week old daughter is currently exclusively breastfed and I’m not pumping. Can anyone recommend the best way to share the load with my partner? At the moment I’m doing all the feeds/burbs/settling and my partner is sleeping through which obviously isn’t sustainable, I’m trying to work out the best way to get him involved. Any advice very much appreciated!

Avatar

6

Rapid cool/ hot shot method

Sorry if this sound stupid but how are we doing the hot shot method?
Are we boiling the kettle and letting it cool a little before adding to hot flask? Then with the cool water do you boil the kettle and leave it to cool right down before putting into another flask?
My baby brain is fried trying to work out the easiest way!

Avatar

7

Read more on Peanut