Ollie has slept for 20 minutes (in the car and woke up the INSTANT we stepped foot in the air conditioned house) since 7am this morning. The first attempt was made at 7:30 (he generally wakes up at 7am ish, eats and then sleeps for another 1-2 hours.) We have tried going on drives, we have tried nursing him, we have tried letting him cry for 30 minutes spurts, 1 hour + spurts, giving up and playing, feeding him, giving him orajel, changing his diaper, putting him in comfy clothes, reading multiple books, singing songs, giving him snugglies. Currently he has been in his bed for 1.5 hours. For the first hour he played/whined. The last 2o minutes or so he has been freaking out. This is getting ridiculous. I don't know at what point to give up...we go through this battle every day and I don't understand. A 6 month old should need more than freaking 20 minutes of sleep in 8 hours!!! I do the exact same routine we do at night and at night he plays for about 3 minutes and goes immediately to sleep. WHY ARE NAPS SO DIFFERENT!!!!!!
6 comments:
I'm really really sorry. Getting your kid to sleep can either save your sanity, or claim it. Good luck. I wouldn't think less of you if you called it a day and vowed to try again tomorrow.
It's so funny to hear you say that because I've uttered those words many times and every time I do, all mothers around me look at me like I've just said something truly horrific. But it's true. Naps are hard. I've often said that I wish my kids just didn't need them because they're such a pain to get to happen. But they do need them and are cranky pants if they don't get them, so we press forward.
I think I remember you saying you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I don't recall what it is about 6 months, but I remember my kids getting crazy on me at that time and I re-read the 6-month chapter and things seemed to get better. I also remember that around 6 months, my kids stopped going down again in the morning. They would be awake for more like an hour or 2 and THEN be ready for their first nap. Maybe try that. He's not tired enough at 7:30, but maybe he would be at 8 or 8:30. I don't know. Naps are hard. Kids are hard. And every single one of them likes to think that they're special and they don't want to do what all the other kids do.
Naps are so hard! Jenna cried for an hour today when I put her down at her usual nap time. I think it's because her room is so light during the day. She goes to sleep fast when it is dark. You could try darkening the room a bit...not that I know how dark Ollie's room is. Good luck!
just baby tylenol... jk. yeah, just don't even try naps for a couple days, then see what happens? I HATED nap time too- we had a phase similar, but mill grew out of it- maybe ollie will? maybe not
max is killing me today too with only little cat naps here and there (like 15 minutes). i even got my run in this morning so that i could take a nap when my boys did... ha ha.... nice thought though.
max started doing what lauren was talking about and needing to stay awake for a few hours in the morning before he's ready for a nap again. wish i had some great advice for you.
p.s. max woke up and wanted breakfast at 5 am this morning. that was fun.
I agree with moving the nap time to later. That is so hard to do, since 7 am is so early. Camryn and Ryann both grew out of their morning naps earlier than I would have liked and started going down closer to 10am. Then it moved to 11am, now Camryn is at 12 - 1 pm. These darn kids- constantly changing without informing us. Each new stage is hard and fun rolled into one, big, fat stressfully exciting ball. ;) hang in there...
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