"My Newborn Won't Nap"

This is one a series of frequently asked questions about babies and sleep answered by Ann Douglas, author of Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler: The Ultimate No-Worry Approach for Each Age and Stage. For answers to other baby sleep questions, consult the archives of this blog and the baby sleep questions FAQ at Baby Sleep Solutions.

QUESTION:
"My newborn won't nap!"

What you're dealing with here is a very common (and also a very frustrating) situation. Some parents of newborns find that their babies won't nap at all. Others find that their babies nap for 20 minutes maximum – barely even a catnap. So what's going on?

YOUR BABY IS STILL A BABY. Your baby hasn't mastered those all-important self-soothing skills that will allow him to get himself back to sleep if he momentarily stirs during his nap. He'll acquire those skills with a little help from you as he gets older, so he's relying on you to help him to get back to sleep at naptime.
What you can do: Try to get in the habit of putting your baby down in a bassinet or crib for at least one of his daytime naps, so he can start to get used to napping on his own, as opposed to in the sling or in your arms. He won't start forming powerful sleep associations (making the link between his environment as he was falling asleep and when he wakes up) until around age three to four months, but it's still good practice, for him and for you. You may want to use some of the baby-soothing strategies listed in Table 6.1: Baby-Soothing Techniques: Your Best Bets – Pages 162 to 169) to settle him, if he protests when you try to lay him down. All of these techniques (they include sound/vibration, scent, massage, motion, patting, and numerous other strategies) can be highly effective in soothing an overtired or over-stimulated baby and helping baby settle down to sleep. Hint: If you've noticed that certain things work well to soothe your baby at night-time, you may want to use these same techniques at naptime—or adapt them slightly so that baby learns to differentiate between the sleep that occurs at night and the sleep that occurs at naptime.

IT TAKES TIME TO LEARN TO READ YOUR BABY'S SLEEPINESS CUES. These cues can be subtle and fleeting. One moment your baby is tired: the next he's overtired.
What you can do: Watch for such sleepiness cues as calmness, reduced activity, a baby who is less tuned-in to her surroundings, who is quieter and cooing/babbling less, who is nursing more slowly/less vigorously.

OFTEN NIGHT-TIME SLEEP COMES FIRST. An overtired baby will not nap well. Until your baby is sleeping reasonably well at night, her daytime naps may be short and erratic. Once your baby hits the four- to five-month mark and becomes physically capable of going for a five month stretch in the night without a feeding, you'll probably find that it's easier to get your baby down for a nap.
What you can do: Learn how your baby's sleep patterns are evolving. This will help to ensure that your sleep expectations are in synch with your baby's particular developmental stage.

REMEMBER THAT EVERY BABY IS UNIQUE. Your baby's temperament will effect the ease with which you're able to get your baby down for a nap. If, for example, your baby is highly sensitive and his patterns are highly irregular (or he has other challenging temperamental traits -- see Table 4.2: Temperament and Sleep – Pages 115 to 120), you may find him longer to settle into a naptime routine than other babies his age. And if your baby was born prematurely or with any special needs, that needs to be factored in as well.
What you can do: Appreciate all the things that make your baby unique, including his "sleep personality." Refuse to become competitive about with other parents when it comes to the issue of sleep. Instead of worrying about who is getting the most or the least sleep, focus on swapping coping strategies and offering one another support. That's what will get you through the long nights (and sometimes longer days) of parenthood.

Recommended Online Resources -- Naptime Solutions for Newborns (0 - 4 months):

How to Get Baby to Nap
National Sleep Foundation: Children's Sleep Habits
Berkeley Parents' Network: Trouble With Baby's Naps (0-12 mo)

Technorati tags: baby sleep newborn naps

Comments

[Giani]

My baby is two months old and he sleeps eight hours straight at night, Should I wake him up for a feedding?
Giani,

[Kate Pike]

Glad I found this post as i'm having problems with our 12 month old son waking up every 2 hours in the night. Will try some of your suggestions,

Kate

[Aurora]

My 7 month old is so energetic. It seems she does not ever want to sleep. Her naps are a lot of the time exactly 1 hour long. Which is fine, but when it comes to bedtime, she goes down for a few hours then wakes up, I give her her bottle. Then about 1 or 1 1/2 hours later she is up yelling...loud. I have tried to let her put herself back to sleep, sometimes it works and sometimes not. I certainly don't want her to wake the whole neighborhood. Since our neighbors bedroom is about 15 feet from her crib. I am losing a lot of sleep over this and it is starting to effect my relationship with my husband. Please give me something to live by. I know this too shall pass, but when! Help. Thanks.

[Vincent Nkhoma]

My four months old baby boy cant nap for longer than two hours a day and at night it is not pleasant as he wakes up no fewer than five times. What can I do as this is affecting my health as well.

[Vessy]

I have a 5 week old, and his sleeping habits are just so sporadic. Today he has slept a total of 2 hours, if even that...at night he sleeps more regularly, which I guess is a good thing, but my husband and I are so tired and I really need to slumber too. Hard to do this when there are so many other things that need to get done...
Sincerely,
Cranky but loving life:)

[Puja Pathak]

my baby is 8 months old. fwe weeks ago (when solids were not introduced)she used to wake up once or twice for a feed. she is on solids now 3 meals a day but she still wakes up at night 3 to 4 times (more than before) for no reason. I need to settle her back (rocking or rubbing her back) to sleep every time she wkes up.
Im very tired during the day. Can you help me?

[Niico]

my baby is 2weeks and she will not settle for me atall
some nights i have to get my mum to come to put her down at night as i am a single mother and she is somethime like that durin the day aswell
please can you help me as i am a young single mother to a 2week old gorgeous girl :)

[Maggie Tan]

my daughter is 5 months old now and she wakes up every two hours for breastfeeding. There are times she slept for 5 hours, other than she wakes up and doesnt feed for long. Any suggestion will definitely help.

[Emily]

I'm having a similar problem. My five month old son wakes up about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours at night to breastfeed. Sometimes I think it's because I run to his rescue every time he starts stirring. I think I need to let him try to soothe himself back to sleep. He eats tons before bedtime and I have established a good bedtime routine, but he STILL wakes up! Some babies just do that I guess. Don't worry everyone, it'll pass!