She won't nap!!!

DD is a terrible napper. It seems I spend my whole day fighting to get her to go to sleep. She has already got into the habit of wanting to feed to sleep and use me as a dummy, but as soon as I put her down she is awake again and we start the whole process again. Our day today has consisted of very tired baby = me letting her feed to sleep, put her down, starts bawling and we start the process again. In between me trying to get a few things done... and my older children at least fed. I earlier fed her to sleep and then just sat there letting her sleep on me until she went into a deep sleep. I then put her down and she stayed asleep, I thought success, she then only slept 15 mins... and is awake and crying already. I am so frustrated. I would be happy to sit with her all day if she was my first child but I have a 3yo and a 20 month old that need me to.

I have tried everything. Dummies- won't take them, singing - just howls, rocking - just howls, patting - just howls. Wrapping her (she's wrapped at night) Won't have a bar of it during the day. The only thing that will stop her crying is the boob and even then when I get her to sleep she won't stay asleep.

I don't get it, she sleeps fine at night, has a feed, is wrapped and put into bed drowsy and self settles fine into sleep then. Why is daytime so damn hard then. I never had these issues with naptime with my boys... but then they were bottlefed so it just seemed easier to get them into a routine. Help how can I get her to settle and stay asleep during the day.

:hug: Hun what a tough time for you!

Have you got a carrier or a sling? I can't see how old your DD is - if she's just going through a rough, unsettled period, she may be finding the closeness to you comforting. If you have a sling or a carrier, she may just be happy to doze if she's close to you and you can go about your day.

I hope she settles for you soon. Hang in there!

ETA: Just re-read your post, if she sleeps well at night, it is most likely just a phase... She can sleep, she will sleep! She may have also worked out that by demanding the BB all day long, she gets your attention!

Have many carriers, I'm a bit of a carrier nut lol. She doesn't really like to be in them though. She fusses a lot in them and does the same thing. Cries and carries on until I feed her in the carrier and then falls asleep but only sleeps for about 20mins in the carrier as well.

She hasn't slept during the day since 6 weeks old so she's been like this for the last 2.5 months. But as you said she does know how to sleep she sleeps fine at night... I don't know what her issue is during the day.

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I'd do a really tight wrap - see my description here: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...9/#post2825518. As mentioned, my DS seemed not to like it, but he does now and it really, really worked. He'd protest while being wrapped initially (and sometimes still does), but not hysterical and I'd always hold him - but wrapped - until he completely calmed down - and he did calm down. Do you put her down just when you see she's getting tired rather than after she is tired, IYKWIM.

Google Happiest Baby on the Block - try some of these techniques...this was recommended to me, but too late so I never tried them out myself but they sound like they work for some (don't worry, they don't involve letting your baby cry or ignoring her - just ways to settle)

I'll go have a look at that site. At night she sleeps in a woombie wrap. They are tight, there is no getting out of them. But when I put her in it during the day she just cries.

I try to put her down as she is getting tired. Sometimes she settles herself but she only ever sleeps for about 20 minutes. Mostly she just cries when I try to her to sleep. Yet she sleeps at night. The only difference between night and day is I give her a bottle before bed at night but she only has boob during the day. I don't know if that would make a difference.


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Oh hun, I feel your pain!! My DS was similar in that I always had to feed and rock him to sleep from very little to at least 6 or 7 months. He's always been an excellent night sleeper, but during the day he was a terrible little man! I could never put him for a nap drowsy as he would always wake and cry, and I didn't like to put him down fully asleep, but that's what I always ended up doing. And I would always feed him to sleep too which I didn't like doing also. He used to sleep for 20 minutes at worst, and 45 min -1 hr at best (not many of those days though :() only ONCE a day. All I can say that I'm sure she will improve one day! Have you had her checked for things like silent reflux etc? GL darl, hope it all improves for you both soon :crossfingers: