Baby Parenting Guide

Home > Baby Sleep Information > Baby Sleep Knowledge Base > Why wont my baby sleep during the day?

Why wont my baby sleep during the day?

I have a 4 months old and he sleeps 9-10 hours every night, which is fantastic, but he wont take more then a 30 minute nap from 2pm-8pm. I give him a bath at 6:30pm and put him down at 7:00pm. It takes about an hour or less for him to fall asleep. I do let him cry for 10 minutes and check on him until he is asleep. I just started feeding him cereal during the day. I have tried a swing, rocking him,I have music playing for him, ect. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know he is tired so I am NOT trying to get him to sleep when he isn't even tired, I thought about that myself, but I shows me ALL the signs he just wont sleep, and I can't get anything done and it's not pleasant to have a mad baby from 6:30-8pm everynight. PLEASE HELP!

Public Response to Why wont my baby sleep during the day?

  1. I have a 4 month old with the exact same problem. My daughter sleeps from about 11 at night until 9 or 10 the next morning. What I do during the day is when I start to notice that she is getting tired I put her in her bouncy seat. Of course she starts crying, but I ignore her for about 5 or so minutes. The make her a warm bottle and then rock her. Usually she conks out after that. She only sleeps for about 30 minutes as well, and takes about 2 or 3 of those small naps a day. But when you think about it, most babies thier age still wake up during the night. The sleep so good at night that they won't need as many naps throughout the day as a baby who wakes up at night. If you need those usual nap times to do housework or other chores, just lay him in his crib while you do it. Crying sometimes doesn't hurt him, and he may get bored enough to just go to sleep.
  2. My friend's daughter will never sleep at her Dad's house. They always have the TV on and it overstimulates her. (She naps great at my house with no TV on).
  3. I had teh same thing...my son would sleep 10-12 hours a night and was awake more during the day. He would really only take cat naps during the day. You can't really have it both ways.