Cry it out during naps to lengthen them?

Hi all,

Our 10 month old son has been a terrible napper for a long time
(usually a 1/2 hour, twice a day). He cries a lot when I put him in
his crib but will eventually go to sleep. He sleeps from 7pm til 5 or
5:30am at night.

I also have trouble getting him on a strict nap routine--our first son
fell into one easily, but #2 just will not, no way, fall asleep by the
clock--he needs to be obviously sleepy!

He is clearly not getting enough sleep. He's clingy and cranky all
day, and just looks awful. I often carry him around in a backpack for
the afternoon nap; that will get me a long nap about half the time.
He's 21 pounds and since it doesn't always work anyway, I'm trying to
find a better method.

He has some neurological damage from a traumatic birth and the doctors
believe that could be causing his bad sleeping.

Anyway, today I decided to try letting him cry himself back to sleep
when he woke at 30 minutes. It took 25 awful, horrible, gut-twisting
minutes... but he did go back to sleep for another 30 minutes, and was
a new and delightful baby the rest of the evening.

I never thought I'd be able to let my baby cry but I never had an
extremely colicky, constantly-crying, difficult baby before! My
stomach is in such terrible knots most days... all I want is for him
to get the sleep he needs.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has every had success with letting
their baby cry during the nap? Did they eventually stop waking up
after a short period?

OK. Thanks so much!

Amy

wrote:
Hi all,

Our 10 month old son has been a terrible napper for a long time
(usually a 1/2 hour, twice a day). He cries a lot when I put him in
his crib but will eventually go to sleep. He sleeps from 7pm til 5 or
5:30am at night.

I also have trouble getting him on a strict nap routine--our first son
fell into one easily, but #2 just will not, no way, fall asleep by the
clock--he needs to be obviously sleepy!

It is not uncommon for babies' early tired signs to
go unnoticed and for them to have a hard time getting to sleep
once they're overtired. Is it possible that you're missing the
early sleep cues and that he's overtire by the time you're trying
to get him to sleep?
What's the rest of his day like? Does he have structure
to the rest of his day? If he doesn't, then it's maybe not
surprising that he doesn't fall into a routine with his naps.

He is clearly not getting enough sleep. He's clingy and cranky all
day, and just looks awful. I often carry him around in a backpack for
the afternoon nap; that will get me a long nap about half the time.
He's 21 pounds and since it doesn't always work anyway, I'm trying to
find a better method.

He has some neurological damage from a traumatic birth and the doctors
believe that could be causing his bad sleeping.

Anyway, today I decided to try letting him cry himself back to sleep
when he woke at 30 minutes. It took 25 awful, horrible, gut-twisting
minutes... but he did go back to sleep for another 30 minutes, and was
a new and delightful baby the rest of the evening.

What does he have in the way of comfort items/habits?
If he's having trouble with the transition to sleep, maybe a
blankie or some other lovey would help? Is he getting enough
physical activity or fresh air? That seems to help some babies.

I never thought I'd be able to let my baby cry but I never had an
extremely colicky, constantly-crying, difficult baby before! My
stomach is in such terrible knots most days... all I want is for him
to get the sleep he needs.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has every had success with letting
their baby cry during the nap? Did they eventually stop waking up
after a short period?

It depends on what's causing the problem. The
assumption behind crying it out is that you can force the
baby to learn some techniques for falling asleep on his
own. If he's got the ability to learn to do that, then
crying it out may lead to him learning how to get to sleep.
If he doesn't have the ability, then it's not likely to
help.

Best wishes,
Ericka

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi all,

Our 10 month old son has been a terrible napper for a long time
(usually a 1/2 hour, twice a day). He cries a lot when I put him in
his crib but will eventually go to sleep. He sleeps from 7pm til 5 or
5:30am at night.

I also have trouble getting him on a strict nap routine--our first son
fell into one easily, but #2 just will not, no way, fall asleep by the
clock--he needs to be obviously sleepy!

He is clearly not getting enough sleep. He's clingy and cranky all
day, and just looks awful. I often carry him around in a backpack for
the afternoon nap; that will get me a long nap about half the time.
He's 21 pounds and since it doesn't always work anyway, I'm trying to
find a better method.

He has some neurological damage from a traumatic birth and the doctors
believe that could be causing his bad sleeping.

Anyway, today I decided to try letting him cry himself back to sleep
when he woke at 30 minutes. It took 25 awful, horrible, gut-twisting
minutes... but he did go back to sleep for another 30 minutes, and was
a new and delightful baby the rest of the evening.

I never thought I'd be able to let my baby cry but I never had an
extremely colicky, constantly-crying, difficult baby before! My
stomach is in such terrible knots most days... all I want is for him
to get the sleep he needs.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has every had success with letting
their baby cry during the nap? Did they eventually stop waking up
after a short period?

OK. Thanks so much!
Does he crawl yet?
I'm asking because #1 was as you describe, rarely napped, except in the
buggy from about 2 months till 9/10 months. She did sleep 12 hours at night
without fail though.
At 9/10 months she started crawling and she suddenly started sleeping
properly in the afternoon, often for 3 hours, but generally at least 2-and
it didn't change her night sleep time either.
At about the same time she dropped her morning nap, which was half an hour
in my arms, which might have had an effect on the afternoon sleep too.
As you said it made a huge difference to how happy she was!
Debbie
Ps. I don't think 25 minutes cio is actually very long, although it
obviously feels it while it's going on! I've heard times in terms of hours
before!

wrote:
Hi all,

Our 10 month old son has been a terrible napper for a long time
(usually a 1/2 hour, twice a day). He cries a lot when I put him in
his crib but will eventually go to sleep. He sleeps from 7pm til 5 or
5:30am at night.

I also have trouble getting him on a strict nap routine--our first son
fell into one easily, but #2 just will not, no way, fall asleep by the
clock--he needs to be obviously sleepy!

What's his daily routine like? Do you have activities that always take
place at the same time? Maybe getting him to sleep "by the clock" isn't
the best option, maybe getting some kind of routine going, like getting
up at 5 or 5:30, nursing/whatever he usually has for breakfast, some
quiet time in a safe spot (playpen,...) while the rest of the family
gets ready for the day, some playtime with you, then a snack, then you
either put him in the backpack or in the stroller and go for a walk, and
when you come home it's naptime, maybe after another snack if he's
hungry. Maybe he'll fall asleep during your walk and you can either find
a bench and sit down and read/knit/whatever while he sleeps, or you can
head home and put him down to sleep there.

Same for the afternoon nap, fid a routine that works for you. I don't
know how old your oder child is, but something like pack snacks, walk to
playground, let the kids play, eat snacks, walk back home via the long
way, put baby/both down for afternoon nap might work?

He has some neurological damage from a traumatic birth and the doctors
believe that could be causing his bad sleeping.

Is there any kind of therapy they recommend? Exercises you can do with him?

Anyway, today I decided to try letting him cry himself back to sleep
when he woke at 30 minutes. It took 25 awful, horrible, gut-twisting
minutes... but he did go back to sleep for another 30 minutes, and was
a new and delightful baby the rest of the evening.

With Sam I set a timer. I'd start at I think 2 minutes, when the timer
went off I went to him and talked to him until he settled down again,
then I went back out and set the timer again, for 3 minutes this time. I
went up to 5 minutes at first and gradually incrased the start and end
times. It did work well this way.

Take care!
Nicole

have you tried cranial osteopathy, or whatever it's called, I've not tried
it myself, but I've heard it has good results with babies who have had
difficult births, I'd have not hesitated to take my own daughter had she
shown any signs of colic, grouchiness or anything, but despite a difficult
birth she's been fine, or maybe it was her strong head which didn't mould
that caused the difficult birth!

Anne

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions! I'm going to make a
cranial sacral appt. today!

Amy