almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

DD is almost 4 months old. Lately, she has been really having trouble with her afternoon/evening naps. She seems tired, yawns, sucks her thumb but once she goes down, she fights sleep. She doesnt have any other problems with any of her naps except the late afternoon/early evening nap. Today she woke at 2:30 and its 5:00 and i tried twice to put her down already. she is wide awake. Are her wakeful times just extending as shes getting older? Any input would be helpful. TIA!

ETA: she sleeps through the night from 7ish-6:30am with no feedings. I usually put her down about 1.5 or 1.75 hours after she wakes in the daytime.

Message edited 10/24/2010 10:00:38 PM.

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

My DD went through the same thing - no matter now tired she really was she fought sleep like crazy. She also used to soothe herself to sleep and then she stopped right around 3.5 - 4 months. I tried CIO and failed miserably - I couldn't stand it. I ended up rocking/soothing her to sleep so at least I knew she was getting the rest she needed. After a couple of weeks she sorted herself out - her sleep pattern was changing and her wake time was extending. I think she just had to figure it out and work things out.

I know that's of no help but I just wanted to let you know I went through the same thing with my DD!

Good luck!

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

I was actually thinking of posting a similar question! my dd is 3.5 months and fights going down to sleep for her naps and going down for the night! full on screaming and crying when I try to put her down but she will rub her eyes, sucks her hands and whine a very sleepy whine but will not sleep!

:( i do hope this sorts out soon. i just went to work last week and its been so hard adjusting to work and then to top it off her not sleeping/fighting her sleep.

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

It sounds like she is telling you she doesn't need that nap anymore. Especially since she isn't having trouble going to sleep at any other times. More awake time- more time to play!

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby helped me a lot. It sounds like you are missing the window and she is getting overtired. You may want to put her down 15min to 30 min before you think you should put her down. Does that make sense? If you want to put her down at 5, try 4:30.

They need so mch sleep at that age and I never would have known that without that book. I don't think she is trying to give up that nap. JMO

I remember at that age it being something like - they shouldnt be awake for more than 2 hours at a time without a nap. Katie usually took one after being awake from 1-1.5 hours and her bedtime was 6:30

HTH

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Posted by jtotheo

Posted by DeniseMarie

The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby helped me a lot. It sounds like you are missing the window and she is getting overtired. You may want to put her down 15min to 30 min before you think you should put her down. Does that make sense? If you want to put her down at 5, try 4:30.

They need so mch sleep at that age and I never would have known that without that book. I don't think she is trying to give up that nap. JMO

I remember at that age it being something like - they shouldnt be awake for more than 2 hours at a time without a nap. Katie usually took one after being awake from 1-1.5 hours and her bedtime was 6:30

HTH

Thanks for the response. I actually do have that book and have read it maybe 8 times already,..i love it! I do try to put her down less than 2 hours of wakefulness. She woke up at 2:30...i thought i saw signs around 3:45-4 that she was getting tired so put her down but she fought it. I tried again around 4:30ish. again, she fought it. usually when i put her down for her naps, she will just go to sleep silently on her own. So I was wondering what was going on with her. It only happens at that time frame too....shes not really cranky, but she isnt playful as usual either. I ended up keeping her up but we did bath and bedtime a bit earlier. I thought I had read somewhere that around 4 months of age, their wakefulness can extend past the 2 hours so I was just wondering if anyone had experience with that.

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Posted by CucumberGirl

Posted by jtotheo

Posted by DeniseMarie

The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby helped me a lot. It sounds like you are missing the window and she is getting overtired. You may want to put her down 15min to 30 min before you think you should put her down. Does that make sense? If you want to put her down at 5, try 4:30.

They need so mch sleep at that age and I never would have known that without that book. I don't think she is trying to give up that nap. JMO

I remember at that age it being something like - they shouldnt be awake for more than 2 hours at a time without a nap. Katie usually took one after being awake from 1-1.5 hours and her bedtime was 6:30

HTH

Thanks for the response. I actually do have that book and have read it maybe 8 times already,..i love it! I do try to put her down less than 2 hours of wakefulness. She woke up at 2:30...i thought i saw signs around 3:45-4 that she was getting tired so put her down but she fought it. I tried again around 4:30ish. again, she fought it. usually when i put her down for her naps, she will just go to sleep silently on her own. So I was wondering what was going on with her. It only happens at that time frame too....shes not really cranky, but she isnt playful as usual either. I ended up keeping her up but we did bath and bedtime a bit earlier. I thought I had read somewhere that around 4 months of age, their wakefulness can extend past the 2 hours so I was just wondering if anyone had experience with that.

at 4 months, 2 hours was still my DD's limit, but her sleep was consolidating, naps were slowly lengthening so she was on her way to 3 longer naps. by 5 months, she only took 3 naps, but was never really up for more than 2-2.5 hours even then. hth.

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Posted by jtotheo

Posted by CucumberGirl

Posted by jtotheo

Posted by DeniseMarie

The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby helped me a lot. It sounds like you are missing the window and she is getting overtired. You may want to put her down 15min to 30 min before you think you should put her down. Does that make sense? If you want to put her down at 5, try 4:30.

They need so mch sleep at that age and I never would have known that without that book. I don't think she is trying to give up that nap. JMO

I remember at that age it being something like - they shouldnt be awake for more than 2 hours at a time without a nap. Katie usually took one after being awake from 1-1.5 hours and her bedtime was 6:30

HTH

Thanks for the response. I actually do have that book and have read it maybe 8 times already,..i love it! I do try to put her down less than 2 hours of wakefulness. She woke up at 2:30...i thought i saw signs around 3:45-4 that she was getting tired so put her down but she fought it. I tried again around 4:30ish. again, she fought it. usually when i put her down for her naps, she will just go to sleep silently on her own. So I was wondering what was going on with her. It only happens at that time frame too....shes not really cranky, but she isnt playful as usual either. I ended up keeping her up but we did bath and bedtime a bit earlier. I thought I had read somewhere that around 4 months of age, their wakefulness can extend past the 2 hours so I was just wondering if anyone had experience with that.

at 4 months, 2 hours was still my DD's limit, but her sleep was consolidating, naps were slowly lengthening so she was on her way to 3 longer naps. by 5 months, she only took 3 naps, but was never really up for more than 2-2.5 hours even then. hth.

Thanks! I should mention that the nap im referring to would have been her 4th nap of the day....so maybe shes working her way to 3 naps a day as well. Naps are slowly lengthening as well, so this is good to know.

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Posted by jtotheo

Posted by CucumberGirl

Posted by jtotheo

Posted by DeniseMarie

The book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby helped me a lot. It sounds like you are missing the window and she is getting overtired. You may want to put her down 15min to 30 min before you think you should put her down. Does that make sense? If you want to put her down at 5, try 4:30.

They need so mch sleep at that age and I never would have known that without that book. I don't think she is trying to give up that nap. JMO

I remember at that age it being something like - they shouldnt be awake for more than 2 hours at a time without a nap. Katie usually took one after being awake from 1-1.5 hours and her bedtime was 6:30

HTH

Thanks for the response. I actually do have that book and have read it maybe 8 times already,..i love it! I do try to put her down less than 2 hours of wakefulness. She woke up at 2:30...i thought i saw signs around 3:45-4 that she was getting tired so put her down but she fought it. I tried again around 4:30ish. again, she fought it. usually when i put her down for her naps, she will just go to sleep silently on her own. So I was wondering what was going on with her. It only happens at that time frame too....shes not really cranky, but she isnt playful as usual either. I ended up keeping her up but we did bath and bedtime a bit earlier. I thought I had read somewhere that around 4 months of age, their wakefulness can extend past the 2 hours so I was just wondering if anyone had experience with that.

at 4 months, 2 hours was still my DD's limit, but her sleep was consolidating, naps were slowly lengthening so she was on her way to 3 longer naps. by 5 months, she only took 3 naps, but was never really up for more than 2-2.5 hours even then. hth.

Thanks! I should mention that the nap im referring to would have been her 4th nap of the day....so maybe shes working her way to 3 naps a day as well. Naps are slowly lengthening as well, so this is good to know.

Message edited 10/24/2010 10:06:50 PM.

Re: almost 4 mos old - fighting sleep or just more awake?

Not sure if it means anything but at 4 months my youngest son started having similar issues. I actually did a search here and found the timing was the same with my oldest son...both seem to have gone through a growth spurt at the time (realized after at the 5 month appt when the numbers shot up).

Things returned for both boys in a few weeks. Maybe something like that is happening? I hope so because then there is an end in sight! It also triggered the start of transitioning from 3 naps to 2.