Naps...please help!

Danalana wrote: Kade sleeps pretty well most of the time, at night. He'll sleep for 4 or 5 hour stretches most of the time. The trouble is during the day. I'll feed him and he will go to sleep while I'm burping him...I'll lay him down and he wakes up almost immediately. Well, after a few hours of this, he is usually crying hysterically because he hasn't had sleep. This poses a problem if there is somewhere we have to be, you know? Sometimes I go ahead and hold him for quite a while and let him sleep on me, but there are times when I really need to put him down. Part of the problem is that his arms fall when I put him down and that startles him awake. And, if they don't, he ends up jerking them anyway and waking himself up. Do any of you have any advice? He sleeps great in his carseat. I had to run to town a little earlier and I put him in it (he was already asleep)...he's still asleep in it! I know there has to be a better way to do this and I am depending on your expertise to help me!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: If it helps at all, myu kids slept in their crseats most of the time... just easier that way, less waking up. Have you considered swaddling the arms once he's asleep so he doesn't jerk them around?

lisar replied: If he sleeps fine in his carseat then let him nap in that for now. He is still little enough to let him. Bring that carseat in the house and let him sleep. Have you tired the swing? Raygen napped in the swing until she was almost 1. Its the only place she would nap.

Danalana replied: I have tried swaddling, which is how he sleeps at night. It seems like there is something about the day that makes him wake up. I will try the swing, Lisa! For now, he is still asleep, and that is wonderful I just heard of a girl whose baby would ONLY sleep in his carseat, so they ended up putting his carseat between them in bed and letting him sleep in it

5littleladies replied:
One of my dd's would only nap in the swing as well.

I agree-He's little, I'd let him sleep in his carseat if that's where he is comfortable.

mommy~to~a~bunch replied: Let him sleep on his belly. It's the ONLY way my kids stayed asleep.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
once my kids outgrew the carseat sleeping phase...they'd pretty much only sleep on their belly, too.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: You roll your eyes, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Put him wherever he will sleep. Maddie was a belly sleeper, too. *gasp!!* Ethan lived in his carseat b/c he had reflux. There's no rule that they have to sleep in a crib.

5littleladies replied: Just chiming in here-mine were all belly sleepers too!

coasterqueen replied:
ITA!!!! Kylie was a carseat sleeper and so was Megan.

sparkys2boys replied: Car seat sleepers here for both of my boys, and then Cameron lived in his swing for abit too..lol. Do what ya gotta do Dana.

moped replied: swaddle swaddle.....naps and nighttime

Danalana replied: I was rolling my eyes at the idea of having the carseat in bed with me, not sleeping in it in general. Thanks for the suggestions...I haven't tried having him sleep on his belly because of the risk of SIDS.

grapfruit replied:
I was sitting here thinking the same thing. Why would you put the car seat in bed w/you?? Stick that puppy on the floor and enjoy your bed

Danalana replied: Except for 2 naps, I haven't slept in our bed since he was born!

grapfruit replied:
See! There's your answer, stick him in the car seat and put him next to your bed!

Our Lil' Family replied: Thomas napped in his swing until he was 3 months old. I think I'd try car seat or swing before trying on his belly, just because I'm paranoid.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Dana, just so you know... SIDS can happen anytime, not just during sleeptime. An aunt of mine lost her baby to sids, and he was sitting in his carseat, awake, right next to her, with other family members right there as well. She and others were F/A CPR trained, and there was nothing anyone could do. not even the paramedics once they arrived a few minutes after the 911 call. That said... those angel care pads to put under the mattress etc...those are a crock. If sids strikes, it strikes.

Most doctors will recommed not having a baby sleep on their stomachs, bcause if god forbid sids should strike, the parents can't come back and say that the doctor told them to do it. It's an increased risk, yes... but the risk is still tiny.


I hope you find something that works!

julesmom replied: My oldest slept all night in his swing with it going. That is the only way he would sleep. I put the swing right next to our bed. We did this with her for a couple months. Eventually, he slept in his crib. The ped. knew about it and had no problem.

Moms got to get some sleep in order to function!!

~Roo'sMama~ replied: I'd try waking him up a little after you feed him, and then laying him down while he's still awake and see if he can drift off to sleep on his own. Andrew always did the same thing that Kade is doing... he'd wake up and realize he wasn't being held anymore and freak out. The only way I could get him to nap was if I slowly transferred him into his swing after he fell asleep and started it moving right away. That was fine for during the day but he started having problems sleeping in his crib at night too after a while and it was horrible. We're still working on getting him out of our bed.

When Allie was a newborn I'd lay her down in her bassinet and turn on her mobile and she'd go to sleep watching the lights and the little bears going around. I'd stay near by so she wouldn't get scared, but I didn't hover over her. After a little while I could just lay her down, turn on the monitor and leave. When she moved into her crib I put the the mobile on her crib too and she loved it. By the time she was too old to have it in her crib she didn't' need it anymore.



A co-worker of Dh's has a Baby Sense monitor and when her baby was just a few weeks old it went off in the middle of the night. When she went to check on him his face was blue - she picked him up and he choked a little then started breathing again. They think he was choking on some spit up or something. So they do work - in this case it could have saved her baby's life.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Omg that's too funny!! There's no way I'd want a big honkin carseat in the bed with me! You'd think that wouldn't even be safe... I didn't think you were supposed to put a carseat on a soft surface like that because it could tip over.

Allie slept in the carseat on our floor by the bed when she had bronchiolitis - she was about a month old. It was after she got better that I started putting her to bed still awake. She'd slept in the swing a couple nights too when she was sick, so I was very pleasantly surprised that it worked.

mommy~to~a~bunch replied:
ITA with Rocky. SIDS is made to frighten parents, the risk is VERY small. A baby's death is usually labelled SIDS even when there are other underlying causes, sometimes from vaccinations. I've read that in some cases, the death occured within days of the child getting vaxed. That can't be a coincidence!

My2Beauties replied:
I beg to differ, SIDS is mainly an obstruction of air, they suffocate themselves laying on their stomachs because they cannot hold their heads up well enough nor roll over....SIDS has dramatically decreased since docs have been telling people to let their children lay on their backs And I mean dramatically. My friends daughter died from SIDS, she was blue and purple (obstruction of air) when they found her. She rolled over on her belly while her and her dad were taking a nap in his bed. She was 6 months old too. I've never heard of it having anything to do with vax

That being said though, Aubrey sleeps better on her tummy too but she was probably 5 or 6 months before I did this, I even posted about it because it freaked me out. Honestly, the statistics don't lie, I would not put him on his belly until he can roll over on his own

FWIW, Hanna slept in her carseat until she was probabvly 6 months old, on the floor, not in the bed with us, how weird to have that big ol' thing in the bed, plus the bed isn't level, to me that would be dangerous IMO. Aubrey slept in hers until she was about 3-4 months old. They're on an incline and it's good for their little bellies because they aren't laying flat right after they eat. Do what works!

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Sorry - I should have specified again that I was talking about them being a crock for SIDS. Yes, they start beeping after about 10 seconds, to warn you if your baby stops breathing for longer periods of time, and in that particular case, was good to have. What I meant was, if SIDS strikes, it's not a mattress pad that's going to save the baby, and getting it just for the purpose of preventing SIDS won't do a lick of difference.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
No, I have to respectfully but strongly disagree.

Sids is more easily classified as death from obstruction of air... but truth be told, there are no actual symptoms of obstruction of air. When my aunt's baby had it happen.. he was SITTING in his carseat, with people ALL AROUND. There was nothing wrong, he wasn't eating, wasnt drinking, wasn't playing with anything... he was just sitting there, nothing wrong with is airway. He just stopped breathing. It was noticed RIGHT AWAY. They did cpr on him. His airway was clear. The paramedics did CPR. The airway was clear.

They autopsied him - the airway was CLEAR. Cause of death? SIDS.

It happens MORE FREQUENTLY when babies are lying on their stomachs... but that's more suffocation, not SIDS. They're just classified the same way. It's a horrbile tragedy no matter what the circumstances... but it's important to know that SIDS is NOT always caused by suffocation from being on their stomachs. It can happen ANYTIME, in ANY position.

The reason it has "decreased dramatically" is because, no offense, but more doctors are smartening up and realizing that accidental suffocation is NOT SIDS. The statistics don't lie.... funny how the statistics on infant deaths numbers has stayed pretty much the same, but the number of those cause by SIDS is the one that decreased.

SIDS is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.. because they can't actually find anything to link the cause of death to, other than literally, they just stop breathing. No cpr can save them. They call it "crib death" because most deaths are found in the morning... but it happens ANYWHERE. It's not because they suffocate in their bed. If they would suffocate, honestly, there would be evidence of that around their nostrils and mouth. there would be abrasions. There would be vessels burst, evident in the whites of the eyes. SIDS doesn't have that. It's an easy way out for the doctors, to pinpoint death on some unknown, and have the parents feel better that it wasn't something they could have prevented.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: ITA Rocky. There is no known cause of SIDS. It used to be don't put your baby on their back, then it was their side and now it's "back to sleep"...dont' put your baby on their tummy. When really nothing prevents it. It seems they take the greater percentage of infants who died on their tummy, etc and just go with that.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Oh ok I see. I guess it really wouldn't help with an actual case of SIDS, but so many people group suffocation in with it so I thought you were saying they just don't work.