My Baby Falls Asleep by Himself, No Fussing, at Night. Naps Are Another Story Altogether. Advice?

Since birth, my son has been a good night sleeper, but a completely horrid napper. He goes to sleep with out a single sound at night, and has only wakes up to eat (most of the time-he rarely fusses at bed time, and very rarely wakes up at night for some random reason. But napping during the day is a fight. I have to rock him the whole time, or hold him laying on my chest. He will nap in a stroller, carseat or baby sling sometimes. I try to lay him down after being awake for about two hours, but all he does is cry until I pick him up and rock him. Please don't suggest cry it out, I have a heart and I can't stand hearing him cry. He doesn't even like falling asleep in his baby swing, occasionally he does, but most of the time I need to be holding him. He wakes up if I even think about putting him down in his crib. He will be 6 months old next week.

I think part of my struggle is that he's such a wonderful night sleeper and a horrid day sleeper. I would like to not have to be holding and rocking my baby for him to nap just to be able to get more housework done. He's beginning to scoot and move around and I have baby proofing and reorganizing to do. He gets bored easily by his toys and craves almost constant interaction and he can be exhausting at times, but I love him very much and want the best for him.

Suggestion:

Sounds like your baby is social and active and gets a great amount of sleep at night. This is probably the reason he is so active in the day! He is well rested at night.

I have a baby JUST LIKE THIS right now. She is my third baby and is now almost 6 months old. I'm typing this in the middle of the night now cause I'M the one who has insomnia at night. Not her, she sleeps like a dream. But as you describe…she has never slept long stretches in the day. I too am not a believer at all in the cry it out method.

It can make you feel very trapped to not have that break in the day when your baby will lay down and nap. I guess I've looked at it as a trade off…she DOES sleep so well at night, like a little dream. Once in a while she will wake and want to eat. We feed her and put her back.

Here's what I do in the day with her. I let her go and go…. play sitting up in her bumbo chair, I hand her toys, while I run off to put a couple dishes in the dishwasher…then switch her to another area if she is bored and wants a switch. It is exhausting. Basically, I let her get completely worn out. After about the three hour mark, (three hours since her last feeding) she starts to get very sleey and wants to wind down. She will be fussy and rubbing her eyes. I make sure she gets completely worn out before I even TRY to go put her down for a nap. It almost always works. Then when I know it's time, I pick her up and swaddle her. We still swaddle her every time for sleeping. She is familiar with this and I believe it triggers in her the notion of getting some rest. So then I just go upstairs and lower all the shades (black out shades), rock her and YES, as the other person suggested, I DO use a white noise machine. It's called a sleep machine. I love it. I turn that on and then put her down.

Sometimes she will sleep a good hour or so. Often times she wakes way before the hour and I go and put her pacifier in her mouth and re-adjust her swaddle and she falls back asleep. I may have to do that twice.

The key here is to just wear out the baby with playtime. I notice your baby is 6 months old and already starting to crawl? This is also a BIG sign that he is a VERY active baby. He is much more interested in getting on with life, then going to nap!! ha! Personality plays such a MAJOR role in how each baby adjusts. WOW. That is early for that type of movement. My baby is JUST about sitting up on her own and then tips over to the side, but I'm there to catch her. She is very strong with sitting up while we support her holding her hands. ha! she is very active too however!! Your little boy is ready for life and exploring.

I have two older daughters. 7 and 3 years old. They have been completely different, as all babies are of course.