Very tired

[copperred]

My little chap is 5 months old and am finding it very hard to get him to sleep in the day. Because of this by afternoon he gets very cranky and cries when I put him down.
Has any one got any tips for getting him to sleep?

[brightonbythesea]

how do you get him to sleep at night? Feed or rock or does he settle himself?

[copperred]

At night he will fall asleep on the breast, then I put him down and he stays asleep. But in the day as soon as I put him down he wakes up. I've tired doing the same as what I do at night in the day but it doesn't work.

[Roo29]

Just posting to give sympathy. I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 10 week old and I'm just tired now. Having the two year old means I just can't catch up in the day! LO2 struggles with getting to sleep in the afternoon and evening so I often can't get to bed early as often I'm the only one who can settle her. I've decided it's probably just "the witching hour" (google it) and over tiredness. So going to try earlier naps in the afternoon and more use of the sling/pushchair to help keep her happy.

[Doitnow]

I had this problem. I used to feed her lying down in a double bed and unlatch and slide myself away when she was asleep. She wasn't a roller though so she'd stay put.

At the time I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this ridiculousness (dd1 was put in her cot awake for naps and would just settle herself) but it did seem to work. She's 10m now and I'm not doing it any more, although I couldn't tell you how or when I stopped, no recollection of changing at all!!

[Roo29]

Doitnow it's crazy how your second can be so different. My 1st was similar to yours, though I've definitely got some selective memory loss about the difficult bits!

[oscarwilde]

Have you tried letting him gently cry for a few minutes? Not for long, just 2-3 mins at most?
If he ramps up v quickly into full on bawling hysterics then he's hungry, got wind, reflux, needs swaddling/hates swaddling. You have to work through all the possibilities. Some babies just want to be held all the time as close to the food source as possible. buy a sling or just take him to bed with you to sleep/feed for a good 2 hrs in the middle of the day. Quite a lot through will grizzle for a few minutes and then self soothe and go off again. I found it really helpful to raise the head end of the basket/cot permanently. Seems to help any reflux and the eventual stuffy noses.

[copperred]

Thank you for the replies but I'm still not having much luck. He still won't sleep in the day and get very very tired .
Just started reading the baby whisper. Has any one else read it? And is it any gd?

[brightonbythesea]

Does he sleep at all during the day OP?
I would suggest at that age, putting him down every 2 hours. He might be overtired? My DD is a tired baby and still only comfortably awake for 3-3.5 hours at nearly 10 months.

So get him ready for his nap after 1.75 hours and have him in the cot/pram ready to sleep after 2 hours. He might drift off more easily, especially if you try what oscarwilde said and let him grizzle for a few minutes to see if he'll settle himself.

[milkyjo]

My dd is the same. About 50% of the time I can lower her into her cot and she will stay asleep or wake up but then drift off again. The other 50% I will try and lower her down but then wakes up and either is happy and thinks she's had a good sleep or cries hysterically. But the naps will only last 30 minutes. So I then sit on the sofa, feed her again and she'll go to sleep on me for a more substantial nap. I clock watch for two hours when she is awake. I tried baby whisperer with ds and it made me very unhappy, I also tried some techniques with dd which made me even more unhappy. Ds just sorted himself out when he reached 7 months, I am hoping dd will do the same!

[philbee]

Can you let him sleep on you? I used to do this when DD2 was younger and doing the same as you describe. I can put her down now at 4 months, but she won't self soothe to sleep.

[BronaghT]

My DS is 4.5 months. During the day he either falls asleep by me pushing him in the pram or he settles himself. have you tried putting your baby in pushchair around the house or going for a walk when you first notice signs he is tired? I used to do same as you at night time but my health visitor advised I let him settle himself at night when young otherwise it gets harder when a little older. Perhaps try putting to bed awake at night time and this may also help your child settle during the day.,

[HomeIsWhereTheHeartIs]

Copperred my 3 mo DS is exactly the same. As soon as I lay him down during the day he seems to jerk himself awake (despite my very best efforts to lay him down gently, slide my hands slowly out from underneath him and tiptoe away - sure you go through the same!) and then cry immediately. He won't drift off to sleep in the pram when I walk him, and there is no chance he would self-settle if I put him down awake. Yet at night he falls asleep whilst feeding but is nowhere near as difficult to put down.
What is the secret to day-time naps?