I've read several baby sleep method books and done research and all that about getting babies to sleep. Our biggest problem is naptime. Blake spends about 40-50 minutes eating, then I have to burp him, then change his diaper, and swaddle him up for a nap. The whole process takes between an hour and a little more. Then when I lay him in his crib he kicks and plays and wiggles like crazy. I take him out, rock him, give him a binky and he gets totally drowsy. Then when I lay him down he wakes right up. If I leave him he can usually try to work things out for a few minutes, but then after 5-20 minutes he starts crying and screaming. We try to soothe him with a binky, rocking him, patting his back, etc. He gets drowsy, then wakes up and the whole process repeats. This goes on for awhile until he finally falls asleep. By the time he crashes he's been awake for around 2+ hours. Then he sleeps 40-60 minutes before waking up again. Sometimes he can fall asleep, most of the time he can't. But he doesn't seem really hungry, just still tired.
I don't know what to do! I know nap time is SO important during the day and it helps them sleep better at night. Yesterday he had a 2 hour morning nap in his car seat (after finally falling asleep on his own in the crib, and I had to move him 10 minutes later). Then I fed him and did the whole swaddle and try to get to sleep routine. Once again, after 2 hours of being awake, I finally resorted to putting him in the swing to sleep. He slept there for maybe an hour and then woke up to eat. Scott fed him a bottle so I could nap, then he was awake for 2 hours again before we tried to put him in the crib. Once again he kicked and played and didn't fall asleep. So Scott put him in the car seat and we ran some errands. He slept for almost an hour. Then he ate again. Then I did the whole swaddle routine. After he'd been up for 2 hours again, he finally fell asleep in his crib and slept for 5 1/2 hours. I fed him, he was up for 2 hours (shoot me) and then he slept for another 4 hours.
I feel like he gets so tired being up for 2 hours that he can't take a good nap. And obviously he can't take a good nap because he is only sleeping for 45 minutes. I don't know how to get him to nap longer. I don't know if it's because we've moved him into the crib to sleep. Or if he's so used to being rocked, swinged, or vibrated to sleep. Or if he's relying too much on the binky. Or if he is so over tired that he can't sleep well.
Is it okay or normal for him to be awake for 2 hours and then only take an hour nap? I feel like he needs more sleep than that in a day! That's only 3-4 hours of day time sleep with 9-10 hours of night time sleep. Is that bad? Good? Okay? I don't know. :-/
HELP!!!!
