Getting 6 month old to nap... advice needed!
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Anonymous
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Hi. I'm a new-ish nanny (3 years, 2 families). I currently care for a almost 6 month old little one, and I'm having some difficulty getting her to fall asleep and stay asleep during naps.
We weaned her from the swaddle a couple of weeks ago, and that was rough, but she eventually slept through the night and took a couple solid naps during the day. When swaddled she napped really well, and now naps are a disaster. So I'm looking for some advice. Today, I put LO down to nap 2hrs after waking. We have a routine, then I lay her down and promptly leave the room. After 30 minutes of her laying there, some talking, some playing, I went in and gave her back the paci and (gently) held her arm down - she fell asleep within 30 seconds. Then she woke up 30 minutes later. I let her fuss, and she fell asleep maybe 10 minutes later. And then she woke up 10 minutes after that. For the next half hour she cried... I went in every 10 minutes, giving her a paci, laying a hand on her tummy, then leaving when she calmed. Needless to say, she never calmed (yet was clearly still tired). I'm at a loss. Mb & db are first time parents who rely on me for advice, however I've only cared for two infants in my career as a nanny and both of them responded well to what I've been doing with baby girl. Thanks in advance! I should add that baby is happy when awake, developing normal, with no health concerns. Not teething, no gas/reflux issues. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like she doesn't know how to put herself back to sleep and is waking mid nap cycle. How did her paremts get her to sleep through the night? |
Anonymous
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If she wasn't crying after 30 minutes initially, why did you go in?
You could try keeping her up longer than the initial two hours |
Anonymous
MB nurses him then lays him down drowsy to sleep. |
Anonymous
her * (phone typo/auto correct) |
Anonymous
I was watching her on the monitor - she was fussy, and it had been a half hour, so I thought I should try again... If I keep her up any longer she gets over tired. |
Anonymous
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I'd do what you're doing - because she will learn how to go to sleep. I learned that holding the baby's arms on their tummy (assuming she's still sleeping on her back) does help calm them, because their arms are into their body. So if you put her arm like that, it's not a surprise she went to sleep quickly. I might try something different when she woke up - jump on her quickly and sooth her back to sleep with the arm on tummy trick or by rubbing her forehead. This way she isn't awake, playing (or just looking around) - she is back to sleep within 5 minutes (you hope). This way she (you hope) will change her sleep cycle to NOT waking up - you don't want a party to greet her when she wakes up, just you silently rubbing her forehead and holding her arms on her tummy. The hope is she won't need this after a week of doing it.
Sometimes it's just trial and error - BUT don't give up on one thing too soon. So you could keep doing what you described for a week and see what happens. If it doesn't change, then do my jump on them quick trick for a week and see if that works. |
Anonymous
| My kid only did 30 minute naps at that age. That was it. |
Anonymous
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I had this struggle with my last family, almost to a T, and it was near impossible to solve because MB would nurse DS when he woke up from sleep/naps on the weekend. I would NEVER suggest that she not do this, but it just makes it particularly hard on a nanny who is trying to calm a baby who does not know how to self sooth (and it's not as if the nanny can be consistent in these techniques). In the end, I just suffered through 4-5 moths of essentially napless days. Baby was in good spirits and thriving otherwise, and I did at least have him in his crib, all the while playing the come-in-every-10-minutes game, for at least an hour 2 times a day.
This might just be a situation that you have to ride out OP. Sorry! |
Anonymous
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soothe*
months* geeze, autocorrect missed a lot |
Anonymous
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Two of my charges were like this. Literally could not nap longer than 35-40 minutes because they couldn't transition to the next sleep cycle.
We tried many things, going in, soothing back to sleep, leaving them to fuss, CIO, etc, etc, etc. What finally worked was the wake to sleep method. Google it and see if it might work for you. Good luck! |
Anonymous
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I agree with the poster who said to sooth him before he is fully awake.
He should get used to just stirring without waking up. I did this with my charge, and after a few weeks he could stir and settle himself back to sleep. He went from 30-40 minute naps to 2 hour naps. |
Anonymous
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Try a nap in the stroller?
I had to do this for one of my charges that really struggled with adjusting to a new care giver and when work was done on the house. Wasn't ideal but really helped on those days when she was exhausted, as could rock the stroller and send her back to sleep |
Anonymous
No way. If you start that habit it is very very difficult to break. I understand new parents doing it for sanity and survival, but a nanny shouldn't. |