My DS is 7 wks and has decided to give up napping. Yesterday he maybe got around 3 hours worth of naps through out the day. He used to fall asleep with his bottle and sleep till the next one. Now he stays awake all through the bottle and is wide awake cooing and smiling when he is done. Then after 2 hours he is so tired and crying from being so tired. I do everything he likes to try to get him to go back to sleep but he just crys till he gets his next bottle and then once again he is cooing and smilling. And then i try to put him to sleep but he just gets upset when he start to doze off and if he does he only stays alseep for 15 min at the most and then he stays up till the next bottle. Last night he was up every 3 hours, which after we bought him a swaddle blanket he had been going 6 hours. He is in the swaddle blanket all night but for naps during the day I just wrap him in a blanket. The swaddle blanket is very restrictive and I do not want him to grow too attached to it. If he is in it all day I am afraid it will not make him want to explore and develop properly. Again today he is doing the same pattern. But I put him down for a nap at 11:30 and he has been up twice crying and then just fell back to sleep on his own. Is something wrong or is he just over tired? What can I do to help him go to sleep? I am sure once he sleeps good he will be able to nap better again.

At 7 weeks, 11:30 would have been too late to put my DS down for a nap. He would have been way overstimulated. If he woke for the day at 6 he would take a nap at 8 and then 10 and every two hours the rest of the day. Sometimes, he would only nap for 15-20 minutes sometimes and 1/2 an hour - just depended on the time. I am thinking you may be dealing with an overstimulated baby. Your baby is only 7 weeks. Just hold and cuddle as much as possible. He is prob. just awake more than you are used to becasue he is growing out of the sleep all the time newborn phase. Watch him closely in the morning for signs of tiredness. May just be a yawn, or jerky movements. I can't imagine he could go longer than two hours without a nap though. It should be about two hours after you get up in the morning that you try. Good luck :angel:

I was trying since 9 to put him down for a nap, 11:30 was the time he finally fell asleep. I usually put him down for a nap either right after his bottle or an hour after. This gives him an hour and a half to 2 hours awake time.

That's funny...my DD just turned 8 weeks today but during all last week she was WIDE EYED and ready to go. She wasn't cranky during the day it was at night. She was so tired from not sleeping during the day that at night she was so tired she couldn't fall asleep. I mean yes she would sleep during the day but not for long and not as often. Now, today and yesterday she has taken naps. Yesterday, she was asleep for most the day and then today she just now woke up from her second nap today. And it was about a hour earlier and now it was about 2 hours. She is just swinging away right now lol.

That's about the age when they "wake up" and realize that you are there and there are neat things to look at and stay up for. Like rouge said, watch for that first sign of him being tired and start putting him to sleep then. It can be a rub of the eyes, a yawn, or just turning his head not to look at you when you are playing. If you don't he will get over-tired and not sleep well. And at 7 weeks it's still too early for that little guy to start forming "habits", so I say just do whatever it takes to get him to fall asleep. If he needs that bottle or swadling blanket let him do it. I swaddled DS everytime he slept for about the 1st 3 months. Then he decided that he didn't like that anymore. DD I could never swaddle.

I wish you luck

He might be going through a growth spurt. I had always thought they slept more while growing, but I found the opposite to be true with DD. We ended up putting her in her swing to fall asleep for naps (she'll sleep longer in there during the day) and her crib at night. You might want to try that. If all else fails, I guess you could take him for a ride in the car or maybe the stroller if it works. Perhaps if he likes to "suck to sleep" you could give him a pacifier. At night, DD will automatically close her eyes when she gets her pacifier (she won't take it during the day, though). She knows it's bedtime then. SHe's 3 months and we've had a lot of trial and error. Some things that used to work no longer work to get her to sleep.

He seems to know what puts him to sleep. In the past it was a bottle, or his pacifier or a car ride or me walking with him. Every time now I try one of those things he will relax and enjoy it but as soon as his eyes falls shut he starts to cry and either push the bottle or pacifier away. In the car he crys as soon as he gets in the car seat. And for me walking him, he arches his back so it is hard to hold him. It is like he knows he is falling asleep and does anything to make it not happen. We joke with him that the sleepies are coming to get him and we have to run away from them.

Hi 2fast.

My 4 week old decided not to nap this week too. It sucks. I was used to two 3 hour naps during the day to either rest myself or get stuff done around the house. Today, he napped twice for 20 minutes until 4:00 pm when he fell sound asleep. It is now 5:30 and I am thinking I need to wake him up so that he will sleep tonight.

Yuck.

-Jen