Day sleep problems, please help

My son is 7 months and I'm having great difficulty getting him off to sleep during the day. I've been trying to get him to have 3 sleeps a day but when I put him to bed he continually rolls over, laughs and spits (I know he's not doing it to intentionally upset me but it's hard to experience). I go back into the room 10 minutes later and he is on his tummy up the other end of the cot playing and babbling. I've tried swaddling him and that worked for a few weeks but now he works his way out of his wrap and I try re-wrapping several times but it keeps happening. This happens even when he is tired. I just don't know what to do and I'm at my wits end.

Should I be trying to get him to have day naps? What can I try to get him to sleep.

Please help me as I'm getting so down. Do I need to change my thinking on day sleeps or should I persist with some new strategies.

Any chance he could be ready for 2 sleeps now? Perhaps he just isn't tired now when you are putting him down. Or does he still give you tired signals before each sleep? I know with my DD from about 6 months she was having 2 day sleeps of 1.5 hours each.

Hth, it's tough, just when you think you have it sorted, they go and change things up on you.

My son moved to 2 day sleeps around that time (might have been 8 months).

Sleep transitions are a real pain in the bottom!!!


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My DD was on two day sleeps around 7-8 months and it worked really well. Maybe try cutting back to two - one mid morning and one mid afternoon.

Good luck!

Thanks guys. I will try cutting back to 2 day sleeps and see how we go.

DS was doing the whole rolling, wriggling up the end of the end of the cot and babbling tonight when we put him down for his night sleep. He was tired as he had been grizzling for about an hour before hand.

DP thinks DS sees it as a game as DS laughs and giggles when we go in to check on him. Tonight we let him play it out in the cot and only went in when he cried for his dummy which he had dropped. He eventually went to sleep up the other end of the cot and we moved him down when he was asleep. Do you think he can make those associations yet that makes it a game?

so we let him play in his cot until he fell asleep again today both at his morning sleep and before he went to bed at night. It took about 15-20 mins of him being all hyper (giggling, babbling and moving up the other end of the cot) in the cot before he was in the mood for sleep, despite putting him being put down with sleep signals. I onlywent in at the point where he started to cry and then I re-poisitioned him and re-plugged his dummy and he probably went to sleep about 10 mins after that.

Does anyone else have this go on when trying to but their LO down?

Erm. Does a 21 month old jumping on and off his bed while laughing hysterically count?

To me it sounds like he's going pretty great to be able to self settle so well at his age. If he's happy to babble away to himself before he falls asleep and no screaming then that's great, I'd just leave him to it and only tend to him if he's getting upset. Some kids have different ways of soothing themselves, you know? DS didn't start to self settle until he was 17 months old (and that was only because my milk dried up as I was 16 weeks pregnant and he had no other choice!) so you're doing a great job!
And I agree, it does sound like he may be heading toward only needing 2 day sleeps. Maybe dropping one may make him that tiny bit more tired and he'll nod off quick. And please, try not to get stressed over it!

DD1 was like that at that age, when she was showing her tired signs I would put her in her cot and she would play around for about 15 minutes and then fall asleep. Like you the only time she got upset was when she had lost her dummy. I would embrace it while he is doing it and yeah 2 naps a day sounds better now.

My DS is 6 months old and he has started doing the babbling and playing when I put him down for his nap. Doesn't worry me too much because it's still quiet time to me. He's in his cot, just talking to himself and then eventually he will fall asleep. If I put his dummy in and he turns his head to one side I know that he will fall asleep straight away. If I put his dummy in and he just looks at me I know he's going to play for a while when I leave. A little while later I'll go in and his head will be to one side and then next minute asleep. All good.

I hope you get things sorted out soon.

I think that's pretty awesome. No one goes to sleep straight away. He's just taking his time winding down.

I've never had a self-settling baby. DD1 took until 2 yrs!! DD2 is nowhere near it either.

Heaven - true about not going to sleep straight away. I guess I'm just getting used to this new developmental stage

Aussiegirl - yep I know that little look that means they are going to play in their cot. I get the look, a smile, a laugh and sometimes a squeal and a spit. It sounds like it's more me than him that needs to be sorted about the issue. Thanks for the reassurance.

Kazzo - yes I found going with the flow and accepting the behaviour and just hoping that he would end up asleep much more helpful than constantly going in and trying to settle him. We seem to be operating okay on 2 naps over the last few days. I still get the same behaviour but two naps might mean he is a little more tired.

Helle - I've been stressing less over the last couple of days as I've discovered that he will go to sleep at the end of his play session in his cot, it just takes awhile. I'm sure my bub will be jumping off his bed and laughing when he is that age. I'm sure that's exactly what he would be doing now if he could.