11 Month Old Not Napping

[preschoolteacher]

Baby has napped fine here up until recently. Now she's taking forever to fall asleep for her morning nap and waking up from her morning nap very early. She's only sleeping 20-30 minutes or so.

She falls asleep for her afternoon nap, but will always wake up after 45 minutes and scream. She usually can put herself back to sleep after just a few minutes, but recently she will NOT go back to sleep.

Time to drop the morning nap? What would you do?

[melilley]

I would drop the morning nap. Maybe if she doesn't get the morning nap, she will sleep for the regular nap time. I've had to do this before and it usually works out pretty well. It may take a week or two for the child to get used to it though. I have found that they fall asleep during lunch, but after a while, they get into the routine.

[preschoolteacher]

I think this might help in general. Is 11 months too young for this?

[TwinKristi]

Absolutely drop that AM nap. I just started a 10-11month old baby a couple wks ago and mom co-sleeps with baby and breastfeeds so she just nurses to sleep and naps with baby. I obviously cannot do that so since day one I've put her to sleep in a PNP and she would sleep for 30 mins and sleep a bunch when mom picked up. I finally let her cry after patting her back and shhhh-ing and she slept over 2hrs. Now that's our new routine(minus back patting) and she's out within minutes and sleeps a good 1.5-2hrs. Sometimes she wakes up after 30 min and if she doesn't fall back to sleep quickly I check if she has a poopy and go from there. I have a baby sleeping right outside that room and kids in the living room.

[melilley]

I think this might help in general. Is 11 months too young for this?

I don't think so. Some children do not need the morning nap earlier than others. Plus, it sounds like the morning nap is interfering with the amount of sleep she should get.

I have a baby that just turned 1 last week and he stopped morning naps at around 8 months. He took them at home, but not here so I just switched him to the main nap time. He fell asleep in his highchair during lunch most of the time, and still does sometimes, but he takes a pretty good nap.

[SignMeUp]

Absolutely drop that AM nap. I just started a 10-11month old baby a couple wks ago and mom co-sleeps with baby and breastfeeds so she just nurses to sleep and naps with baby. I obviously cannot do that so since day one I've put her to sleep in a PNP and she would sleep for 30 mins and sleep a bunch when mom picked up. I finally let her cry after patting her back and shhhh-ing and she slept over 2hrs. Now that's our new routine(minus back patting) and she's out within minutes and sleeps a good 1.5-2hrs. Sometimes she wakes up after 30 min and if she doesn't fall back to sleep quickly I check if she has a poopy and go from there. I have a baby sleeping right outside that room and kids in the living room.

Sure you can! Just get in the pack n play like that dad did with the crib ::

[AmyKidsCo]

I'd drop the morning nap too, but be aware that some days she may NEED a quick snooze - it's not an all-or-nothing thing.

[TwinKristi]

Sure you can! Just get in the pack n play like that dad did with the crib ::

:: :: ::

[Indianadaycare]

Absolutely drop that AM nap. I just started a 10-11month old baby a couple wks ago and mom co-sleeps with baby and breastfeeds so she just nurses to sleep and naps with baby. I obviously cannot do that so since day one I've put her to sleep in a PNP and she would sleep for 30 mins and sleep a bunch when mom picked up. I finally let her cry after patting her back and shhhh-ing and she slept over 2hrs. Now that's our new routine(minus back patting) and she's out within minutes and sleeps a good 1.5-2hrs. Sometimes she wakes up after 30 min and if she doesn't fall back to sleep quickly I check if she has a poopy and go from there. I have a baby sleeping right outside that room and kids in the living room.

I am struggling with this. 3 month dcb in his second week here. Mom breastfeeds and holds him/pats him to get him to sleep at home. She also picks him up and nurses him whenever he fusses even a little (dad told me this). I cannot do this, and have told her that I put babies in pnp's awake when they show signs of being sleepy, but are still awake. Then they fall asleep and sleep deeply for a good nap. That has worked beautifully for me for years! dcb wakes after a 20 min nap and SCREAMS so loud to be picked up. Not hungry or wet/dirty. And so tired! I think he's already overtired! Mom depends on swing or her pacing/rocking at home to get him to sleep. She is not willing to try my suggestions about how to help him sleep longer and better. It's frustrating!

"since day one I've put her to sleep in a PNP and she would sleep for 30 mins and sleep a bunch when mom picked up."

Do you mean she only slept 30 minutes all day? Was that just her first day?

Do you think I need to continue to tell mom about his constant waking/crying/screaming etc in order for him to get a decent nap? (I fill out a daily log for each child and yesterday had his filled out with what his day really looked like: up and down, crying, up and down, etc) She is still tearing up each morning when she leaves him. I feel bad for her! But still want this to work where he can be happy and rested here too. Don't know if I should just do my own thing here and not keep giving her details of his sleeping/not sleeping.

[Crazy8]

I am going thru same thing with my 11 month old. Doesn't help that family is on a wacky summer schedule dropping older kids at camps, practices, etc. I think baby is taking a little snooze in the car in the morning so we've kind of stopped morning naps but then there are days like today where he was falling asleep before 11am.

I have never had a child this young give up morning naps but this baby has NEVER slept good and has never been on any type of schedule so I'm not really surprised.

[TwinKristi]

I am struggling with this. 3 month dcb in his second week here. Mom breastfeeds and holds him/pats him to get him to sleep at home. She also picks him up and nurses him whenever he fusses even a little (dad told me this). I cannot do this, and have told her that I put babies in pnp's awake when they show signs of being sleepy, but are still awake. Then they fall asleep and sleep deeply for a good nap. That has worked beautifully for me for years! dcb wakes after a 20 min nap and SCREAMS so loud to be picked up. Not hungry or wet/dirty. And so tired! I think he's already overtired! Mom depends on swing or her pacing/rocking at home to get him to sleep. She is not willing to try my suggestions about how to help him sleep longer and better. It's frustrating!

"since day one I've put her to sleep in a PNP and she would sleep for 30 mins and sleep a bunch when mom picked up."

Do you mean she only slept 30 minutes all day? Was that just her first day?

Do you think I need to continue to tell mom about his constant waking/crying/screaming etc in order for him to get a decent nap? (I fill out a daily log for each child and yesterday had his filled out with what his day really looked like: up and down, crying, up and down, etc) She is still tearing up each morning when she leaves him. I feel bad for her! But still want this to work where he can be happy and rested here too. Don't know if I should just do my own thing here and not keep giving her details of his sleeping/not sleeping.

Yes the first 6 days I believe she only slept 30 min a day but was happy that way. The 2nd week I started the fussing before sleep and back patting. I didn't tell mom at first but waited til the length of time she fussed was down to 5-10 and told her about the success. She was going to try it at home but we haven't talked about it since. Yesterday was a rough nap day for her so I'm guessing not. We will see how today goes! This is her 4th week here.
3mos is a little on the young side to be starting but some people feel it's the best time. Creating bad sleep habits now will only make it worse though. I would just try and get him in your ideal schedule and hopefully he's FT and will stick to it with 5 days of consistency but Mondays may be rough too.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

LOL I read this as I am watching my own almost 11-month-old on the video monitor do the routine of stand up, scream, sit down, lay down, stand up, scream, etc. etc. etc..

Good information in here. I appreciate you asking. You are SO not alone.