How to reassure baby??

When I go into my little bub's room at 7am every morning, he is so happy and is content to gurgle to himself, which makes a wonderful start to the day.


However, it's a different case for the naps. He wakes up crying from them everytime unless I am there when he wakes up to calm him. Sometimes I am in the bathroom and by the time I get to him, he's already having a mini meltdown. Is there anything I can do to teach him so that he wakes up happy like he does in the morning? His naps are very short, at 9am/12noon/4.30pm, he naps anything from 20-40 mins. Is this related to the problem?

Check if you baby wakes up because of any noise or too much daylight. My baby cries as well when he wakes up and has not slept long enough. When he had a long and good nap he is always very happy. 20-40 minutes naps sound very short to me, but my baby is a good sleeper and always naps two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.

have to agree with Yogini on the crying part. If babies are well rested after a nap I feel that they don't cry. (both of mine cried when they woke up and then I would try and get them to go back to sleep and they would!)


some tricks to help them -


1. darkened room (Gina ford recommends pitch black, but mine are darkened and they sleep just fine in it)


2. Transition object - I think you were getting some information on this on another thread - CRJ sticks a cloth in her cleavage and then leaves it with her baby when he goes to sleep - some object that will help signal your baby that it is nap time


3. A mini, modified routine for settling for naps - something like a book, a song, a cuddle and then into the crib- getting them used to that and signally for their body to wind down and sleep.


4. White noise - since you're in Spore, I am guessing that you already have this covered with the whole airconditioning bit. But if not, a regular fan that makes noise can help.


If he is waking up between 20-40 mintues after he goes to sleep, he is getting up as he comes into his light sleep instead of settling back down. Babies need to learn how to settle back down. Both of mine got the hang of it (or just naturally transitioned to it) after about 12 weeks, not earlier. Earlier than that they both fussed a bit in the middle of their naps as they came into their light sleep. I made it a point, however, to have them go BACK to sleep.


I hope this helps - don't be too frustrated. Daytime naps, in my experience (just two kids though, so not a real expert) take a bit of time for kids to fall into.

thanks, ladies for the advice.


tried the transitional object a few days back with a little piglet toy but didn't work. but will try again.


dummy: a dummy used to help him sleep but these days he's quite good with grasping things and actually takes it out of his mouth!


darkened room: yep, doing that!


routine: as he uses his sleeping bag at night and is ok with it, i put him in it for his morning nap in the hope he'll understand this is sleeping time. he's been asleep for more than 30 mins now on his own so fingers crossed!


white noise: have the ceiling fan on...


i keep wanting to give up sometimes, because i keep thinking, maybe he is just a wakeful baby and maybe i should be grateful he's sleeping approx. 12 hours a night without trouble? but at the same time, he does get grumpy in the day when tired so i know he'll feel better after a good nap...have to keep working on it!

How old is your baby? I'm thinking that perhaps he doesn't need to nap so often, especially if he's sleeping for 12 hours at night. My kids used to have one morning and one afternoon nap. However, the morning nap was dropped by about 18 months or so (if I'm accurately recalling that). Maybe your baby isn't that tired and that's why he wakes up so quickly. Perhaps drop the 9 am nap---he's just slept for 12 hours and only been up for two.


Good luck.