So lost on naps - I don't think I will ever figure this out

[Fuzzy Bee]

My 13 month old still needs help getting through naps. She wakes up every 45 minutes with naps. I usually jump right in and nurse her to continue the nap. at night she wakes every two hours.

Also, she never seems well rested after a nap especially when we are home. She is fussy, rubs her eyes, scratches her ears but as soon as we go out she is okay.

She sleeps from 8 to 6 and has a 2 hour nap during the day. She will not take a second nap.

[marispel]

If she is waking up hungry - then what about feeding her a snack before her nap and then nursing her down? Do you use a sound machine or a loud fan? I find that helps to lull my DS during his naps too.

[Fuzzy Bee]

Originally Posted by marispel

If she is waking up hungry - then what about feeding her a snack before her nap and then nursing her down? Do you use a sound machine or a loud fan? I find that helps to lull my DS during his naps too.

The thing is that she has always been like this for naps. I do give her three "meals" with snacks but she would rather nurse more. This is why I never let her CIO because I suspected she woke for hunger since she would only nurse for a couple of minutes even as a newborn. Also, if I let her nurse for as long as she wants she still wakes up and wants to nurse more.

We do have a sound machine. I got the idea to nurse to continue the nap from LLL and now I am feeling like I should have stopped it long ago because she does expect it.

[47jennifer]

I don't have any solutions, but did want to sympathize and let you know we're in a similar situation. I always need to nap with DS, often he has the nipple in his mouth the whole time. When he seems to be in a deep sleep, I sneak away. He'll go on his own for an hour at most. Sometimes he wakes up crying and fussy, and nurses back to sleep for a while longer. Other times, he'll wake up and I can hear him moving around the room, happy (he sleeps on a mattress on the floor). When he wakes up crying I just assume he isn't done sleeping yet...have you seen if longer naps will help with your DDs fussiness?

At night it's the same...he's up every 1-2 hours, and needs to nurse. We've tried having Daddy comfort him, but he's pretty persistent! I think some kids just know what they want and aren't going to accept any substitutes! I don't think it's a situation we "created", so don't feel there's something you should have done differently.

Hope you can find a solution that works for you and your LO!

[GoJoJo]

My 16 mo girl takes what I call 'nurse-naps'. She sleeps ON me and if she wakes up I'll usually stick a nipple in her mouth or she'll root around to find it. She takes 2 naps a day (although we're sort of transitioning to 1 longer nap) of about 1.5 hours each. I feel like I might be the only mom on the planet who does this, and it is intense to have zero naptime mobility, but it works for us most of the time. I must admit I'm wondering how long this will continue...until weaning?
We fell into this routine a long time ago b/c I was losing my mind with the 45 minute naps...and she wasn't happy either. Oddly, she sleeps fairly well at night in a crib.

[lifeguard]

Ds had a very similar sleeping style to what you are describing until about 16 months - after we nightweaned him. I still nap with him most days but he can usually get through the nap now without needing to nurse partway through.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by GoJoJo

My 16 mo girl takes what I call 'nurse-naps'. She sleeps ON me and if she wakes up I'll usually stick a nipple in her mouth or she'll root around to find it. She takes 2 naps a day (although we're sort of transitioning to 1 longer nap) of about 1.5 hours each. I feel like I might be the only mom on the planet who does this, and it is intense to have zero naptime mobility, but it works for us most of the time. I must admit I'm wondering how long this will continue...until weaning?

You are not the only mom on the planet who does that! DS sleeps in my lap for all his naps, has since he was born, he won't sleep any other way. I get confused when people talk about 'getting things done during nap time' because I can't do the dishes while he's in my lap!!

Yes, OP, my DS is the same, he won't nap for more than 45 minutes & then I can usually get another 45 minutes out of him if I nurse him the minute he stirs... it doesn't bother me since he has to nap in my lap anyway, but it's sometimes an issue when he falls asleep in the car or something, he won't fall back to sleep once I get him out even though he's still tired (maybe I should do the lean-over-and-nurse-in-the-carseat thing when that happens!! Never thought of that but I bet it would work!) OK so I'm no help with your problem I guess, since I'm in the same boat!

[mckittre]

I have to nurse my 14 month old back down in the middle of his nap often. Not always, and not usually more than once, but it helps him take a long enough nap, and he needs one long nap. I can usually sneak away after a minute or two though.

He does pretty well at night though - I'm not really sure how often he wakes.

[weliveintheforest]

my kids have both gone through phases of napping on me, or with me nursing them back to sleep a lot.

Would your dd let you swaddle her? What does she sleep in? I found my son would wake himself up a lot if he was uncovered, I think he would twitch and startle himself. I might also try moving the nap earlier.

[LCBMAX]

I survived my frustration at having to lie down and nurse my son through almost EVERY SINGLE NAP from birth til about 18 months with an ipod. I even got movies on it so I could look forward to the second half of the nursing nap.

BTW for white noise - my husband "composed" some white noise tracks and shares them for free here.

[jillian+1]

Meh, this too shall pass. My dd didn't really learn to put herself back to sleep until we did gentle nightweaning at 17 months. You could try the gentle nightweaning techniques for "napweaning" -- the Jay Gordon method involves timing the nursing and gradually cutting back on how long you nurse her, then popping off and cuddling her to sleep.

[Louisep]

I had to do this too (though I cuddled him back to sleep after 45 minutes when he woke up) until very recently. He now can nap anywhere from 1 to 2 hours by himself. I never ever thought I'd see the day! I think it was a combination of dropping to just one nap and getting all his teeth through that helped him both nap and sleep better at night. These things happened around 14 months.