[kallagreen]

My DD sleeps for nothing.... My DS would sleep great as an infant and still does... but my DD however... AHHH!!! She won't sleep for more than 45mins at a time... and I don't know what to do. She eats (nurses) before she goes down and 45 min later she's awake. She puts herself to sleep doesn't cry when she falls asleep... but she won't stay a sleep and this just causes CRANKINESS ALL DAY!!!

Has anyone else been through this and what works...??? PLEASE!

[grace.maddie]

my first NEVER EVER napped. she got up in the morning and din't close her eyes again until bed time at night.
good luck with that!

[sar1]

If she wasn't cranky about it, I'd say it's nothing to worry about (although REALLY inconvenient!). DD was like that for the first few months, but hers was mostly b/c of reflux pain. Then once she was on zantac for it, she had to actually learn how to sleep longer, which required me watching the clock and being right at her crib at the 45 minute mark to make sure she had her pacifier and sleep sheep turned back on. It was a lot of work, but it worked and she was a much less cranky baby getting the sleep she needed.

How often does she nap? Maybe if she had one less nap per day she'd sleep longer. That transition period when they're dropping a nap is not easy. My DD is going down to one per day right now and she's really unpredictable.

grace.maddie - if I had your first child, I would have lost my mind!

[Couponclipper003]

You are not alone...My DD didn't nap for more than 25 minutes at a time (she is now 3 and doesn't nap for more than 45 min at one nap a day)...and lucky me..my DS is now the same way and he is seven months old!! Don't get much done during the day...that's for sure! :-)

[FirealSwords]

Been there twice! I feel for ya!

Have you talked to your ped about it? I was concerned too, but ped asked how much they slept all together.... turns out, my kids just decided at birth that they would do all their sleeping at night, so naps were very short. As long as your kids are getting enough TOTAL sleep, there might not be anything you can do. I know it's frustrating, and you prob will get nothing done until your kid is like 3, , but after I realized that's what was happening with my two, it made it easier to handle. Both mine didn't sleep through the night until almost 18 months either, so DH and my sleep was messed up for 3 straight years. UGH. And now, DD (4) is fine without a nap, and DS (3) refuses to nap, so night time is precious in my house!

[danielephant]

my DD does not nap well either, the only way she will nap is on my lap or in our bed...WITH ME...and i do not like naps they make me more tired, but right now she is on her daddy's lap sleeping while he is playing video games. UGH! I hate it...she does sleep all night now, she goes down at 9:15 every night and gets up around 8...fine with me!

[FirealSwords]

Originally Posted by danielephant

she goes down at 9:15 every night and gets up around 8...fine with me!

Must be nice!!!! Mine are down at 7, and up at 6. No matter what time I tried putting them down at night, they will not sleep past 6AM. This explains why nighttime is precious! I'm up with them from 6AM til 7PM and it's overwhelming. It's hard sometimes because it pretty much means we are in at 5 or 6 at night getting ready for dinner, baths, etc. because the kids have to get to bed! I wish I could put my kids down around 9 or 10 and have them sleep-in. At least I know school won't be hard, because I won't have to drag them out of bed.

[sar1]

How is it that kids just put themselves on a clock like that? DD goes to bed at 8 pm, and wakes up at 7:02 am nearly every day. Even on nights where we had to keep her up later b/c of travel or put her to bed sooner b/c of crappy naps that day - 7:02 am. It's quite hysterical now when you hear her babbling in the morning and you roll over to look at the clock and just as you expected - 7:02 am. There's no sleeping in. But at least it's not 6 am!

[roygbiv]

My first child was a cat-napper... never more than 30-45 minutes at a time. He'd take about 5 or 6 naps all day long. Drove me crazy because I never had a nice chunk of time to get something accomplished.

My second is a good napper - usually 2 naps a day for 1.5 hours. Now she takes one nap a day for 2-3 hours... heaven!

Each child is different... and I just had to adapt as best I could. I hope things work out for you.

[kallagreen]

Originally Posted by FirealSwords

Must be nice!!!! Mine are down at 7, and up at 6. No matter what time I tried putting them down at night, they will not sleep past 6AM. This explains why nighttime is precious! I'm up with them from 6AM til 7PM and it's overwhelming. It's hard sometimes because it pretty much means we are in at 5 or 6 at night getting ready for dinner, baths, etc. because the kids have to get to bed! I wish I could put my kids down around 9 or 10 and have them sleep-in. At least I know school won't be hard, because I won't have to drag them out of bed.

She does sleep through the night but she just started (thank god because I was losing my mind!) And I do agree nights are very very very precious... they gone down between 6:30- 7:00 and they are up between 6-7 (well DD gets up at about 4:30- 5:00 to nurse and then goes back to bed).

But we have had a long rode to get to where we are. DD had problems with her ears since she was born and just got Tubes put in about a week ago and before tubes we FINALLY figured out that she had reflux.. so she was put on meds. and then we had to deal with constipation with the meds. and switch the meds again. But between everything it was always so hard to pin point her sleeping. So I've never really known what she was like "well". And now I do... i think!

Atleast I don't feel like the only crazy one now. I guess this just the season of my life right now.

Someone was saying that they are having a hard time getting their kid on one nap I just did that and it was hard but it was TOTALLY worth it.

[up2late2]

My little DS did not nap well at all, and he was cranky because he was bored. Almost from the time he came home he needed to be entertained. He is still nonstop at 2 and does not nap at all. He also doesn't go to bed until at least 10:00 and back up at 7:00 everyday. I don't have any advice for you, but I definately know how you feel. Good luck!

[hcsig]

Have one that is a horrible napper. When she was an infant she was the queen of the 20 min nap! Yes you read that right she would take 5-6 20 min naps a day until she was about 8 months old. Then she went to two 1 hour naps (I thought I was in heaven) that lasted for about 4 months then at a year she went down to 1 -- 1 hour nap and has been between an hour and an hour and a half since then.

She usually sleeps for about 10 hours at night, and is a very high energy toddler. She was a high energy baby also which explains a lot of it.

[kallagreen]

Thanks so much for the replies... after much research and thought of her... I have realized that this is all due to her reflux. (which suck but yet a good thing). She has been suffering from this since right after burp... she has silent reflux.

It is a nightmare some days. Somedays I dont want to get out of bed for fear of what the day might be like but I am just trying to take one day at a time.

[sar1]

My DD also had terrible reflux and was on zantac for it until around 7 months old. I know what you're going through, although she greatly improved after going on the medicine (at 4 wks old). We went through a flare-up around 4 months and again just before 6 months. That was the peak and it disappeared after she started on solids. They told us to start dropping her dosage and see how it goes and keep reducing it until she's off. If I remember, the ped suggested dropping the dose by 50% at a time, but I was terrified of how she'd be w/the reflux again so I did the tiniest increments over almost 2 months. I remember how trying it was when she had flare-ups and it's awful. I'm so sorry you're going through this. We started DD on solids around 5 1/2 months (even though we'd planned to wait until at least 6 months) just to help w/the reflux.

[jbarber8]

I have two children. One turned 4 today, the other will be 2 next month. They both still nap about 2 hours a day. (I require it.) My older son sometimes skips a nap but 6 days out of 7 he takes one.

No, it was not always like this. They both took short naps as infants, which got progressively longer as they got older. The worst was when #2 was an infant and on the 20-min nap schedule... while trying to get our 2-year-old to go down for his one 2-hour nap when he was in the "no" stage.

I have 2 pieces of advice.
1. When they wake up, don't rush in. Our youngest calls out to me, but if I don't go in, he goes back to sleep. Sometimes he drifts in and out of sleep for another hour or more.

2. Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam is a book which offers much wisdom on how to get the baby on a schedule so that she'll sleep longer both at nap time and during the night. There is a Book One for infants, and Book Two for Pre-Toddlers. The main idea of the first book is change the schedule to a)Wake Up and Nurse, b) Play, and c) go to sleep... which sort of goes against the natural rhythms of play, nurse, sleep .... but did work for us. I didn't follow it to the letter, but it did help.

Good luck!

Thought of one more thing you can try with an older child: If my older child gets up too early, I tell him, "It's too early, go back to bed." We have problems whenever the clocks are reset in the spring and fall. They can't tell time yet of course. Depending on where you are, this might work: I have explained to Mikey before going to bed, that he is not to get out of bed until it's getting light out (except of course to go use the bathroom). Mama likes to sleep until it's getting light out, which where we live, is close to 7:00.

[kallagreen]

I guess it has been rough for me and I sometimes feel terrible for lettingher cry it out. She will cry (we have done it before) for about an hour (that is my limit) and it renching for me. No one wants to hear there "baby" crying. But I think because we have gone through so much with her I kind of don't want her to go through anytihng else right now until everything is under control.

Its hard because I don't know if she is hurting from the reflux or hurting from constipation. We do have her on probiotics and Miralax. And I am giving her prunes once a day. she is going but it is like solid rocks! (I can't believe that doesn't hurt but atleast she is going).

I just still feel so crazy almost everyday.

[jbarber8]

Try apple juice for constipation. Apple juice always gives my kids the poo-s.

Our first never cried much at bedtime, after the initial CIO 3-day incident. Our second is two next month, and he still cries (for 3 - 30 minutes) almost every time I put him in bed. I get him a drink, rub his back a bit, try to reassure him, but have come to the realization that this is just his way, and I hope he'll grow out of it soon.

I agree, it's very hard to listen to them cry, especially with your first and/or when you think there is a real problem.

[FirealSwords]

Originally Posted by kallagreen

Thanks so much for the replies... after much research and thought of her... I have realized that this is all due to her reflux. (which suck but yet a good thing). She has been suffering from this since right after burp... she has silent reflux.

It is a nightmare some days. Somedays I dont want to get out of bed for fear of what the day might be like but I am just trying to take one day at a time.

DS had it too! I feel for you! We had him on some RX stuff that we fed him with a spoon that was basically a reflux med. I can't remember the name. It had little weird pink suspended balls in that, that's all I remember. It came in a powder form and we mixed it with water to give it to him. We never had to use the full RX because it started helping right away. That's when he was finally about old enough to do solids, and the solids seemed to help with the reflux too.

I'll be thinking of you I think every mama has been through the stage of wanting to melt into the bed and not get out!

[chipmunk]

Originally Posted by jbarber8

2. Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam is a book which offers much wisdom on how to get the baby on a schedule so that she'll sleep longer both at nap time and during the night. There is a Book One for infants, and Book Two for Pre-Toddlers. The main idea of the first book is change the schedule to a)Wake Up and Nurse, b) Play, and c) go to sleep... which sort of goes against the natural rhythms of play, nurse, sleep .... but did work for us. I didn't follow it to the letter, but it did help.

Just wanted to say that BabyWise has been implicated in many child neglect cases because babies are not meant to be fed/sleep on a strict schedule.

I know you were probably flexible in times and focused more on the order of things, but I wish no one ever bought that book again.

I would recommend Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child instead. They advocate CIO but as long as you can ignore that part, it has wonderful information about babies' sleep cycles.

To the OP: my first DD wouldn't sleep more than 45 minutes at a time, either. She stopped taking a nap altogether when she was 3. When my second DD came along, she would take 2-3 hour naps every day - I thought I was in heaven!! I think it's just how they are born, but the reflux I'm sure doesn't help.

[chipmunk]

Originally Posted by kallagreen

I guess it has been rough for me and I sometimes feel terrible for lettingher cry it out. She will cry (we have done it before) for about an hour (that is my limit) and it renching for me. No one wants to hear there "baby" crying. But I think because we have gone through so much with her I kind of don't want her to go through anytihng else right now until everything is under control.

Its hard because I don't know if she is hurting from the reflux or hurting from constipation. We do have her on probiotics and Miralax. And I am giving her prunes once a day. she is going but it is like solid rocks! (I can't believe that doesn't hurt but atleast she is going).

I just still feel so crazy almost everyday.

You need to listen to your gut. There is research that shows that babies who are left to cry for an extended period of time (more than 5-10 minutes, usually) get so worked up that the blood flow to their brains is cut off, which can cause brain damage. There is a reason why nature makes it so hard for us to ignore a crying baby!