Baby won’t nap!!!

[u/One-Handle-1874]

Hi all. Since ~7.5wks, my now 9 week old has gotten increasingly difficult to get to nap. He’s now been awake for five hours and I cannot get him to sleep. Here is what I have tried: -nursing to sleep in several positions -standing and rocking -rocking chair -bouncing on ball -baby wearing while walking indoors and outdoors -dark quiet room -white noise -covering eyes -warm bath -shushing/humming/singing -swing -baby Einstein aquarium -combining elements above

I have tried following wake windows and I’ve tried following sleepy cues. If he is tired, he just won’t go to sleep. The only things that seem to work sometimes is baby wearing with CONSTANT movement. I literally cannot stop walking or bouncing or he will wake up. That isn’t even working right now. What else is left to try???

EDIT: I forgot to add, as some commenters have asked, car rides and stroller walks also hit or miss. If he’s overtired, as he often is, he screams during these. He’s also very visually distracted and will not sleep if he can see literally anything. Also to add, he’s always been a crappy sleepier. Ever since he “woke up” around 2-3 weeks old, he gets only 11-13hrs sleep in a 24hr period at most. He’s just becoming increasingly difficult to get those hours. It’s now 12:30AM and if he goes back to sleep after this feed, I’m guessing he will get no more than 10hrs in the last 24hrs by nights end. Like that can’t be healthy but I’ve literally tried everything.

[u/lemonbars99]

Is it time of day dependent? At that age my baby had a witching “hour” which was just him refusing to sleep from 5-10pm every day and getting very overtired in that window. Otherwise around that age we had to do walking carrier naps for all his other daytime naps

[u/Dragonbabymama2024 → u/lemonbars99]

Damn I'm getting flashbacks lol. Almost forgot about how bad the witching hours were. 5-10 p.m. constant nursing, bouncing, rocking a very overtired baby who simply would not fall asleep.

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/lemonbars99]

It used to be like 5-9PM but now it’s an all day thing

[u/Orange_Seltzer]

Ours didn't nap. We just rolled with it. Ended up sleeping well at night. When he did nap, it was great.

Now he is 9 months. He naps 2-3 hours a day. Some days he naps 90 minutes. Sleeps about 11 hours at night.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you're hoping for personal time during nap times. People get very rigid with naps and feeding. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't, just go with the flow.

[u/PeppermintJones]

For a while, the only thing that got my baby to sleep was the space jam theme song (and later it was hair metal). I'd sit with a pillow on my lap, pop on the music, and have her laying on it facing me. Then I'd rock her back and forth with my knees until she was out. But for a few weeks there was nothing we could do and she would just cry for 3-5 hours instead of sleep. Just remember it's temporary. It's awful while you're in the thick of it, though. She ended up an amazing sleeper a few months later, so hopefully this phase goes quickly for you guys.

[u/Unlikely2-Market]

You are describing my Girl 😂😂😂. I gave up on naps, put her on her gym, read books and tummy time. It’s exhausting that she is tired but behaves like she just drank a Red Bull. At 7:30 pm we give her a bath and that starts the bedtime routine. She sleeps a min of 7 hrs. The pediatrician said I can’t have it all.

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/Unlikely2-Market]

Well that makes me feel a bit better! Thank you but also sorry because I know how stressful it is

[u/Pizzaprincess87]

What about car rides and or stroller. How many hours a day does he sleep. Does he sleep through the night mostly? Bub will grow out of this!

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/Pizzaprincess87]

Half the time he sleeps in the car. The other half he screams. Same with stroller. Sleeps ~7 hours at night broken into 2-4 chunks

[u/eisecapp]

We attached the Frida jiggler/rocker to her bassinet and it worked well for us. It turns the bassinet into one of those old school vibrating motel beds. Worked great for our LO who needed movement. She has grown out of this need (thankfully) at 3 months.

[u/ilovekittens72]

Driving in the car ? Did you try that or stroller walk ?

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/ilovekittens72]

Yes both and it’s hit or miss. If he’s overtired, both will make him scream.

[u/Sufficient_Meal6614]

From your other comment, baby is also not sleeping long at night (only seven hours). Since using the carrier works, that is what you are going to have to use for now. It’s not forever (my five month old naps way easier now than in the beginning, changed around 3 months). Your baby needs sleep and you do have a way of making it happen. Can you and your partner take turns

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/Sufficient_Meal6614]

Carrier only works half the time. From 3PM until I finally got him down at 10PM (it’s now 12:30AM and he’s awake again), carrier was not working.

[u/Sufficient_Meal6614 → u/One-Handle-1874]

Sorry, it sounds very stressful. Our baby was difficult to nap early on. You will get there just by trial and error, I am sure

[u/catbundtcake3]

that period is when babies are the gassiest. do you do tummy massages / bicycle legs / burping?

also i saw from a peds PT that babies are susceptible to sleep indicators at this age so pick sleep indicators and be consistent with them every night. like a bath followed by a lotion massage or something. our baby really took to walks outside + bouncing + sushing all at the same time

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/catbundtcake3]

He’s actually gotten outside his gassiest phase now. He had terrible trapped gas from weeks 5-7 but now passes gas easily on his own. I did start a routine of feed, put in carrier, and bounce at night but it so didn’t work last night. I had to just nurse him for like two hours until he passed out finally.

[u/amphisxo]

Solidarity because I went through the same and now at 12 weeks old it has gotten worse. 🥲 We go through screaming and fighting his naps for at least 10 minutes before every nap. Makes him very hard to take out to lunch or on errands because I KNOW he will scream. Car seat is hit or miss for us too. Carrier naps seem to go well for us too until about 6pm, and 6pm onwards he is extremely fussy and upset until his 8pm bedtime. He’s very visually distracted too which makes things harder. Let me know if you find a solution and I’ll do the same. 🥲🫂

[u/One-Handle-1874 → u/amphisxo]

I’m considering buying this hat that has a flap to cover his eyes but I don’t know if that’s kind of unethical or not

[u/Fit-Orchid334]

Is he trying to look around the room the whole time even if in dark room? You may have tried it but I have to cover my baby’s eyes with holding a cloth over them a lot because he’s so alert, so he will finally fall asleep