My 9 week son sleeps well at night but is difficult to settle in the day
My 9 week old struggles to take a morning nap. He sometimes goes down for a lunchtime nap but can waken after an hour in which case I cannot get him back to sleep, which results in a really cranky baby from about 3.30 onwards until bed time. My husband and I are at our wits end with the constant crying all day if we can’t get him to take his naps. He is an excellent baby at night. He goes down no problem at 7pm, gets woken up for the 10.30pm feed and goes back to sleep until 6.30am/6.45am in the morning. We don’t understand why he sleeps so well at night, which we want, but can’t settle for his naps during the day. Could it be we are over stimulating him too much in between feeds or do we possibly need to use the controlled crying method?
He takes 6ozs at 7am, 10.30am, 6.15pm and 10.30pm. He takes 5ozs at 2.30pm. He weighs 12lbs 5.5 ozs.
He naps from 8.50-9.20am and 12-1.15pm.
Controlled crying should not be used with a baby this young. It would seem that your baby is fighting his naps during the day. This often happens when babies are overtired. Despite sleeping so well at night he may need to be settled for his naps earlier than at present to allow him to wind down gradually and settle to sleep. Babies of this age are often ready to sleep after 1.5 hrs of being awake.
After his feed at 7am encourage him to have some kicking time and perhaps sit in his chair whilst you have breakfast. About 8.20am take him to his room and change him. Draw his blinds and curtains and sit with him in the dark. This wind-down time should be done by one person only. Hold your son close, swaddle him , if he still is in one, but don’t have any eye contact. Some parents may use a dummy at this time to help calm a baby but remove it before he sleeps. Feel his body relaxing and growing heavy. When he is heavy eyed but not fully asleep put him in his cot, tuck him in well and leave him. A baby may fuss and cry for 10 minutes before settling themselves to sleep. Unlike us they cannot turn over and get themselves into a better position. We rarely fall asleep as soon as we lie down and may turn several times before being comfortable. A baby cries himself into a sleepy state. If you know that he is fed and winded it is best to leave him for 10 minutes and see if his crying begins to decrease. This “crying down” is typical of a young baby settling to sleep. They begin by crying loudly and then gradually decrease in volume and intensity. If you go in and pick him up again during this period he needs to start all over again relaxing into sleep and this is where the fighting sleep and over tiredness begin. If he is still crying continuously after ten minutes then go in and check him. Try not to pick him up again but reassure him you are there but by a few pats or stroke his head and say “shush”. Stay only a minute or two and then leave him again for another 10 minutes. He will then learn how to settle alone.
One of the reasons a young baby wakes after an hour at lunchtime is hunger. Offer him a small top up of 1-2 ozs of milk before going down so you will know that any waking is not due to this. It can take a while for a baby to learn how to sleep through his light sleep, especially in the day. If he should wake after an hour at the lunchtime nap, leave him 20 minutes to see if he will go back to sleep again. Then go in and reassure him as described above.
Make sure he is well tucked in either over a swaddle or sleeping bag. Use a thin cotton sheet lengthways and secured down the cot sides with two rolled towels. Check his room for any chinks of daylight which maybe causing him to be disturbed either whilst settling or when in a light sleep.
Frances, Gina and the team