So, my little girl doesn't do naps! She falls asleep alright but wakes up as soon as I put her down, or on the rare occasions she does let me put her down (or stop pushing the pram if she has fallen asleep there) she wakes up after about 10-15 minutes.
Her Dad and I decided enough was enough, she was becoming a COMPLETE nightmare at the end of each day because she was just exhausted and so just cried for about 3 hours till we put her to bed!
The nap rehabilitation, as I have dubbed it, has been going okay. To start with we let her nap for as long as she could lying on us/being held by us. We didn't even try to put her down, just so her wee body could get used to the idea of resting. Once that was in order we have now moved on to trying to get her to stay asleep for a little longer in the pram or even better in her cot (although I am not always at home, so the pram is just as good in many ways!).
We had already had some limited success with putting her down on a blanket on the floor (easier to negotiate as there aren't things to wake her up by lifting her over the sides of the buggy/cot) but generally she was only having one “good” nap each day and it still didn't feel enough, though perhaps over the last few days she has been doing a bit better.
Today, though, she has amazed me. This morning she fell asleep in the pram on the way to a friend's house and she stayed asleep for 2 hours!! Then after an hours playing she fell asleep again, I woke her up after an hour as I thought it was getting silly! She then played happily at a baby group before falling asleep again (as I write this she has been out for about 25 minutes!)
I worry now though that she won't sleep at night, it is increasingly becoming an issue that she wakes in the night, and I am not really sure what the cause is, so I don't feel particularly equipped to deal with it! My leading theory is currently teething, but time will tell!
Do you have any napping tips? We will gladly hear them!
She's still little yet, I wouldn't get too hung up on napping and sleeping at this stage, it just makes you go crazy! Emily only started sleeping right through the night at about 14 or 15 months and previous to that was up anything from 2 to 4 times per night, more when she was younger. I wasn't really there for daytime naps but Keith tried to encourage one nap in the afternoon, which he still does and that seems to work for us. Mornings and for doing stuff then it's home for lunch, a quick play and then 2pm(ish) it's naptime. We have always put her upstairs into her cot for her naps and I think she feels safe there so is happy to sleep... sometimes for 2 hours! Babies don't like to go to sleep, they are scared they miss something amazing!! :)
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