short nap in the afternoon...!!! 6 months old

[sasa15]

Only half an hour...why not 2 hours...
how do I get in a better afternoon routine..?
He wake up but still tired and can't get to sleep again,...why????
Not dark in his room....Does it matter?

[fisil]

Dark might help.

Ds was a but like this. I found that if I went to bed while ds had his nap then when he woke up and started crying I would take time stirring from my slumbers, and while I was trying to get myself awake, he would drop off to sleep again, and go much much longer! However, I never quite managed to make it work ignoring his crying if I was awake!

[Lucycat]

Keep persevering with the nap, does he scream the place down when he wakes up? I found that one dd2 was moving around (and climbing/jumping/running!) she was shattered and needed the nap, which I'd stuck with. Does he have a morning nap too? and I agree with fisil, absolute dark - too dark to see anything to play with!

[sasa15]

ta...
sometimes he's really awake after half an hour....smily...I just go to 1 clock center and he will have half an hour around 3.30pm...to 4pm..

BUt I'l like to give him a good nap routine...

p.s. need to get new curtains..

[sasa15]

only 30 minutes in the morning 9.15am to 9.45am
what time shall I put him down...he has lunch around 11.45 finish 12.15...I put him down 12.30
12.45pm sometimes...
But he looks tired also after half an hour in the morning....
It must be the light....

[TracyK]

Is he warm enough? my ds used to wake if he wasn't absolutely toasty.

[sasa15]

I think so...
I always touch him and he's warm...
just with blanket..with sleeping bag I tried and during the day...he woke up sweating for wome reason...
do I need black out curtains?

[TracyK]

some always say to have blackout curtains even for napping - however i always leave ds room light so he can tell the diff between nap and night sleep. iykwim.

[HappyMumof2]

Message withdrawn

[marry]

My 9 month dd did exactly the same thing, it drove me crazy. It's only in the last few weeks that she's started getting in a good routine. I went with the blackout curtains, i think they helped, and had a few weeks of not going out at nap time or changing the routine... Dull for me, it touch wood it has finally worked. She slept for 2 hours this afternoon!

[pupuce]

I think he is going to bed too tired actually!
If he ends his AM nap at 9:45 he should be back in bed at 12 and you should work with him to go back down (if he wakes) for a good 2 hours.
A dark room will definitely help.

[sasa15]

gReat I'll try all.....
ta

[sasa15]

he's not screaming...I'm leaving him ....but sometimes he really kick with his legs...also can see around him and play with toys for a bit and then
follow asleep again for an hour in total today...

he's a light sleeper..and any light sound wake him up....

[hermykne]

sasa my ds is the same age and i have the same routine going as you , settling him at 12.30 or so, its only last week he has started to sleep for an hour or sometimes an hour anda half. perservere, thats what i continually tell myself and it will eventually come round,

i didnt do this with my dd and its was age 1 before she slept for the 2hrs at noon but now she religiously tells me its sleep time.

[sasa15]

ok then....

[jabberwocky]

sasa, just posted this today on another sleep thread:

I heard about Elizabeth Pantley's book No Cry Sleep Solution and decided to give it a go. Probably the most helpful piece of advice for me was to get the napping under control. DS was not sleeping nearly long enough during the day and therefore was too wound up to sleep well at night. We worked on that and got his wakenings down to (only!) 2 times per night.
I had almost despaired of any more improvement. Finally realized that part of it was ds enjoying private night time with dh, who had taken over most of the awakening as I got so awake doing it I often didn't ever get back to sleep and this was making my depression worse. I steeled myself to a godawful week of bad sleep and took over the night routine. When he woke, if it had been a reasonable enough amount of time since his last bottle I would give him one. If not, I just rubbed his back and said "Shh", etc. I tried not to say very much at all though, just to be a comforting presence. Then I would leave. If he cried, I waited 10 minutes before going back in to repeat same thing. It only took a few nights to get him down to only waking once. I am still envious of people whose babies sleep all the way through, but this is sooo much better I am happy with how it is going. The other thing with ds is that he is a bit of a nightowl. I finally decided that that is just his biological clock. At 9:15 he goes into his bed for a little quiet playtime and I tell him "15 minutes until lights out". At 9:30 I tell him goodnight, turn on his sleepy music and turn out the lights. By 10:00 he is down. He wakes once about 3:00 am then not until about 8:am.

Sorry this is so long, but I hope it is helpful to someone.