8 Month Old Not napping - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

Loud · 02-02-2006, 06:51 PM

Hi there. I baby sit my 8 month old grandson full time. I dearly love him! My problem with him is that he resists taking naps during the day. Sometimes I'll get real lucky, and he'll sleep for a short while. My own two children were great nap takers, so this is a bit hard for me to get used to. Is it normal for an 8 month old boy to not need a nap during the day? My daughter says he wakes them up at night: or else he'll wake up very early in the morning, for a bottle feeding. My daughter is kind of telling me to just keep him up: don't try and get him to nap, so he'll sleep better at night. He's at an age where he's in to everything; and not getting a break is really tiring for me. Anyone else have this problem? Brenda

Gayle0000 · 02-03-2006, 07:41 AM

Our baby (5 months old) completely stopped napping when she was 3 months old. She transitioned from normal infant napping, to periodic catnaps...to no naps at all. Our pediatrician said some babies just don't nap...just like adults, some people need more sleep than others.

I know what you mean about not getting a break, but you really cannot make them nap if they don't want to or need to. The goal is to have them get good sleep patterns at night, so whatever it takes in the day to make that happen is what you should do.

So, it is normal for some babies to not nap. I can tell you if I successfully got our baby to take naps, she would be up at all crazy hours of the night.

Altson · 02-03-2006, 08:33 AM

It is normal for some kids to not nap. 1 of my 4 kids NEVER napped from day one, it was frustrating.

What I did - instead of a nap, set up a quiet time, same time every day. Make the room dim, calm and quiet. Tell him you and he are going to relax, maybe lay on the floor with him while he lays with you and has a few softbooks or stuffies to play with. If he crawls around, let him, you just relax and don't do a lot of talking, etc. At least you'll get a calm time.

I know that this does absolutely nothing for you getting a "break" to do other things. There's also nothing wrong with having him in a pack-n-play for 30 minutes by himself in a room while you get a break. He would be safe and could entertain himself. It's also ok to have him in a pack-n-play or an indoor/outdoor play yard, etc. while you take time to sit down and relax for a bit or get a project done.

Playpens used to be the norm, now they're poo pood by so many people. Like we're all supposed to follow little kids around all day long and let them do anything and get in to everything. Personally, that's not my thing.

Bless you for being a fantastic Grandma willing to provide day care to her Grandbaby!!