Getting a 5 Month Old to Nap

Katie B is 100% correct. I used her same techniques and they do work, give it week you will see. Good luck.

HI M.!
I too don't get anything done when my daughters (23 mos and 4 mos) don't take naps. I have made sure that they are good sleepers.

It sounds like your daughter needs a schedule & a nap routine. She knows when she is supposed to sleep at night in the crib, but she doesn't understand when/where she should sleep during the day.

I hold my 23 mos daughter's nap time sacred, otherwise there is hell to pay! My 23 mos old daughter has gotten so used to her mini-nap routine (cup of milk and snuggle on the couch, say "naptime" to the dog, family members --like saying goodnight-- diaper change, and then in her bed) that she will walk into her room herself when I say its time. She naps from 1-4 without a problem.

My 4 1/2 mos old daughter doesn't get an extensive routine, but she still knows when it is nap time. I change her diaper, rub her down with some good smelly lotion (I love Johnson's bedtime lavendar scent), and put her in her crib. I also have a crib toy (Fisherprice Rainforest) that I turn on and she watches that and falls asleep. She has never cried herself to sleep, is able to fall asleep on her own and naps for 1-4 hours throughout the day. I also look for her cues when she is ready to take a nap (yawns, starts to get fussy, etc.) and put her down when she is ready (increases the chances of her going down without a fuss). She naps close to the same times each day, but they aren't always exact.

I write about the crib toys in every post I respond to about getting children to sleep on their own, but I swear they work! Fisherprice and VTech both make them and they are priced around $30. You could get fancy and buy one with a remote, but by the time the toy turns off, the girls are usually asleep. The crib toys are just something calming that gives the child something to focus on instead of wondering where mom/dad went.

I hate to sound like one of "those" parents (MY child sleeps through the night, blah blah blah), but my girls are good sleepers and I think it has to do with having a routine and cues. Children really do need consistency and structure. The schedule doesn't have to be rigid and inflexible, but there needs to be cues to let her know what is happening next or what should be happening now.

Try adapting her bedtime routine for daytime naps--give it a week-- and you'll see her adjust and take naps on her own.

Good luck & sweet (daytime) dreams!
-Kate

I agree with the last mom that a predictable routine and nap schedule is best. Check out "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," to get an idea of how much sleep babies and kids need at different ages, and at what times of day. If memory serves me right, your baby should be napping around 9am, 1pm, and possibly a 3rd short nap at 4pm or so. Also in response to the last mom, however, I have to say that I researched and read every scrap of information I could find about sleep, and kept my daughters naps sacred, and did "everything right" and she still gave me hell now and then with the sleeping. I think some children are naturally more rhythmic and amenable to a sleep schedule, whereas others like to fight it. The bottom line is that sometimes your child's temperment is the most powerful factor, regardless of what you do as a mom. I found that I had to resort to the CIO approach at a few points in her development. At about 5 months, for napping, at about 10 months, for night sleep, and just recently again at 2 years after some illness and travel. So you do the best you can and choose what works for your child. They are definitely all different. Good luck; I know how frustrating it can be!

Will she sleep in her car seat/carrier? I would use that for naps and once baby was in there I would and sleeping I would move it into the crib...to give him the idea that naps were taken in there to but if I needed to go get my kids off the bus I didn't have to wake him...I think if you get in the habit of putting baby to nap at or around the same time everyday, no matter how you get them to sleep(swing is fine)they eventually adjust to the routine...you could also try a lullaby or white noise CD, I'm guessing the swing either had music or made a sound...that could be the missing link(comfort wise). Good luck...sometimes right before a growth spurt baby will change everything from appetite to sleep pattern and then bounce right back in a few weeks...sometimes the pattern just keep changing but in a month or so when baby is moving she will nap again!

She may be ready to eliminate one nap. My son was never a great napper - still isn't. He would take 3 1/2 hour naps a day, then 2 & now I am down to 1! Sometimes, & I do mean sometimes he will take an hour nap. Some kids just don't need a long nap & a power nap will do it. I have gotten used to it & don't push him as he sleeps well at night.

M., you are not doing anything wrong. There are babies who do not nap during the day. There those who take short ones and there are those who take long ones. I have three boys. I have a friend whose daughter will never nap in the day. Your daughter is very active and doesn't need a long nap and don't be surprised if she turns out not napping at all. I know you think if she naps i can get some things done, but it's life, she's an individual. Enjoy her uniqueness and individuality!! I am sure you're going all that is right.

Your situation sounds the same as what my SIL went through with her twin boys...It took her a long time to get them to sleep in their cribs but by the time they were one they were sleeping in their cribs. You are not doing anything wrong, so far as "hurting" your baby. But if you do want her to take longer naps, and in her crib, you are going to have to take the tough route---which may be letting her cry it out for short periods of time. She will learn that the crib is her sleeping place and grow to enjoy that too..Good luck!

Only just a few weeks ago I was going through the same thing with my now nearly 6 month old. She was exhausted and taking only 15-20 minute naps at best and more often just snoozing on me until I tried to transfer her to the crib and then she would wake up. We tried a lot of things...the Fisher Price Rain Forest crib toy seemed like the best thing in the world when we got it...and Genna thought so too. She was so enthralled by it that she stayed awake to watch it and I felt there was something about it that was just too similar to putting my baby in front of the TV. We also tried the "No Cry Sleep Solution" which advocates a routine--definitely helps--but there is only a very short section on napping so it wasn't very helpful.

In the end, we went with the Ferber method. I was adamantly against it until we got to the point where even when I was holding and soothing her Genna was so tired and frustrated that she would still cry. The first nap she cried for 35 minutes (and I cried for most of that too) but at each nap the crying time got shorter until nap #6 when she put herself right to sleep. Now she just sings and talks to herself in the crib for a few minutes and goes right to sleep. So now we have three scheduled naps each day and she sleeps from an hour and a half to 2 and a half each nap and often through the night as well (which is a new development since we got the naps working).

She can put herself to sleep. It's like a miracle when it starts happening. Good luck.

I had the same trouble with my daughter who is now almost 9 months, and knock on wood, naps beautifully in her crib!! For the first 3-4 months, she would nap for HOURS in her swing but then suddendly refused. We started to transition her to the crib for naps and it definitely took some time, but I just kept on trying. We would try rocking, ssshing, keeping her in the crib with our hand on her rubbing her face or belly and making comforting sounds etc. Nothing worked for us, but the transition went much smoother for the babysitter. Eventually we decided that enough was enough and we decided at about 5-5 1/2 months to let her cry it out. She cried for about 20 minutes the first time and then slept for 2 hours and then the next time cried for maybe 10 minutes and slept another 2 hours. She now usually goes in without a problem, will either go straight to sleep or will play and talk to herself or a bit (can even take 20 minutes) and then will fall asleep. I also did not want to let her cry and was really really hoping that I wouldn't have to do it, but it came to the point where there was no other choice. And I must say, although she was always a happy baby, once she started to take better naps, she was even happier.

One thing you might want to go out and buy is the Ocean Wonders Aquarium from Fischer Price:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&...

It's very soothing and helped with the transition as well. You hook it onto the crib.

Good luck, feel free to contact me if I can be of any other help.

Y.

I had the same problem. Try putting her to bed earlier- like 6:30 at first and then one a few weeks have gone by, you might thing about moving to 7. When kids are overtired they are harder to put down for a nap. Start working with the AM nap- it should be within 2 hours of waking up, so if she wakes up at 7, she should be asleep again at 9 for a morning nap. Try putting her down before she shows signs of being tired and it will be less of a fight.

What is your bedtime routine? Have you tried that for naps. My daughter is almost 1 and I've had to resort the giving her bottles before nap time to help her fall asleep.

It sounds to me that she's not getting enough sleep at night. 8-9 sounds a little light. In the Weissbluth book he make the point that "sleep begets sleep".

My 4 month daughter stopped napping and was waking up more times a night than I could count (in my sleep deprived mental state). We did the Ferber process with her and everything changed literally overnight. She's now sleeping 11 hours (only waking up once to eat) and napping four times a day. She gets around 3-4 hours of naptime - which is HUGE improvement. Last night she slept straight from 7:45 to 5:00 then ate and went back down again.

We also had a sleep consultant come out and she noticed quickly that our nap routines needed to change. She said that we needed to put her in a dark room with a white noise machine at least twice a day. Her room now has blackout shades and a white noise machine that runs by her crib. She takes all of her naps there instead of while we're on the move (in the stroller, in the car). This is a tough age, as they're not so portable anymore.

The downside is that we're a slave to her naps, but the upside is huge. We're ALL rested and *much* happier.

Good luck!