baby wont nap unless im holding him

Hi, my baby boy is 6 months and very clingy. He had a rough delivery so ive been quite protective of him. I cant get him to nap in afternoons unless i am holding him. Although he goes down perfectly fine at nights. Its rather stressful and i try to let him cry it out but he just screams n wont give in. i go back to work next week and im worried bout him. Does anyone have any suggestions for me please x

[roobaby]

It can be really stressful trying to figure out what babies need! Not all children want/need an afternoon nap, especially if they sleep well through the night. You might just have an inquisitive baby! Try not to worry too much as he may be feeding off your vibes. If you are relaxed then he will be relaxed. If he really won't be put down in the afternoon then plan some 'down time' into your schedule. Sit on the sofa, give him a cuddle and listen to some music or a kids story cd. If he cat naps for 20 minutes, fine! If he doesn't then you will have had 20 minutes of quality time which is so important. And don't worry too much about going back to work. It will be tough going at first but once he gets into a routine it will be fine. Good luck!

thanks for your advise, ill give it a try x

My little niece was the same as a baby. Not only that, she didn't like folk standing still or sitting down, you had to walk while holding her!

Luckily I was quite patient enough to do this, and because my little sis was still living with us, so I got to hold her a lot. She also fell asleep this way, and I didn't mind holding her at night, because I stayed up late anyways. It probably would have been difficult for my sis and her bf if I didn't, as well as for my mum and dad sleeping too.

I can't imagine how grueling it is to be a mum though, but luckily my niece is 2 and a half now and is happy enough to be sitting with cuddles to sleep.

I just went through something similar with my 5 1/2 month old baby. I recommend you check out the book "SOLVE YOUR CHILDS SLEEP PROBLEMS".It helped me so much.

It discusses:
1) Importance of a routine before bed time
2) Importance of putting baby to bed awake but sleepy and NOT assisting them in sleeping by rocking, nursing, pacifier, singing, etc. Baby must learn to soothe themself to sleep.
3) Tips on how to get your baby to fall asleep on his/her own

My baby couldn't fall asleep without either a pacifier or being nursed, then, every time he woke up during the night without the pacifier in his mouth, he would cry until I got up and gave it back to him or nursed him to sleep. I was getting up sometimes 5 or 6 times a night and his naps during the day were very short.

After reading all about it in the book and talking to my pediatrician, I decided to follow the steps in the book. I began our bedtime routine (bath, massage, pajamas, eat,).I wouldn't allow him to fall asleep eating and when he was getting close, I put him in his crib. He began to cry because he wanted his pacifier but I kissed him and said good night and left the room. After 3 minutes of crying, I went back in for 1 minute to kiss him again and reassure him. Then I let him cry for 4 min's and again, i went in for 1 minute. You keep increasing the intervals like this until you reach 10 minutes, then just keep going in every 10 minutes until he/she falls asleep. Your baby will not stop crying when you go in between intervals, in fact, he or she might cry louder when you leave again. On the first night I did this, the crying continued for 50 minutes and I felt horrible (My pediatrician said it could take 2 hours or more). But now, my baby always falls alseep on his own when I put him down in his crib. He sleeps from 7:30pm to 7am every day and gets up only once around 5am to eat. During the day he stays up for 3 hours at a time and then naps for an hour and a half (before he only napped for 30 minutes).

I also tried running a humidifier in his room to give some white noise. It helps drown out other noises in the house during the day that could wake him up when he's trying to nap.

Lots of info. I REALLY recommend that book. It addresses all kinds of sleep issues and with children of all ages.