suddenly not napping in crib

[lisawhalen8]

I have an 18 month old who has been sleeping and napping great since 6 months old, when we used the ferber method. He has been falling alseep in his crib for naps and at nighttime with hardly any trouble since then. Suddenly, this past week, when we put him in his crib for nap time, he cries and cries. We have tried letting him cry it out, but he just won't take a nap. I know he's exhausted, because sometimes when I put him down for the nap, he is practically falling asleep. But as soon as he sees the crib he freaks out. Also, if we take him for a drive, he falls asleep within 3 minutes, so I know he is not just giving up his nap!! He is fine at night..goes in his crib with no trouble. What is going on? What can I do differently? We haven't changed anything recently--we have always done the same thing--so I don't know what's going on! HELP! I have another baby coming in 4 weeks and I am hoping to reslove this issue soon!

[elenamelvin]

I'm having a similar issue. My baby is a little over a month old and was sleeping fine in her bassinet for the first 2 weeks. Since then every time I put her in it she begins to cry. I have rocked her to sleep and put her down. Always within 5 minutes, she wakes up and screams until I take her out. Within minutes of picking her up she is asleep again. We talked to our doctor about it and she suggested putting the baby in her carseat to sleep. However, it seems that is the ONLY place she will sleep now. As a new mom, I'd love some advice!

[Bec caV]

Okay, for the one month old try swaddling, I also recommend white noise, like rain sounds, ect. Reminds them of the womb :)
I don't agree with the pediatrician's advise to let her sleep in the carseat. One it's not a good position for them to sleep in, two, you'll just have to go through all the crying again. It sounds to me that the close, restrictiveness of the car seat is what she's needing, which can be accomplished by swaddling. It keeps them from moving and waking themselves up as well as security. Babies R Us, Walmart, Target about any place that sells baby items, have swaddlers that are real easy to use. I've used Halo and Kidopotamus, Halo is very simple and take no work at all, you just zip baby in and wrap the flaps around their arms, velcro, and done! However they seem to only come in fleece and not many sizes. Kidopotamus run bigger, but are harder to use, but once you get a hang of them it's no big deal. They come in light cotton materials that are good for summer.

For the 18 month old... it's possible he doesn't need to nap as much.
I've not ever... since the day he was born... gotten my 6 month old to nap in his crib. He doesn't nap... (not true, he does nap, just not for long stretches). In the end I let him nap where he wants. He naps in his swing, or on rare occasions he'll nap on the floor. I think he associates the crib with bedtime and knows it's daytime, so he won't go in there. As soon as he hits the bed, eyes open. So I work around it just so I don't have a cranky baby. Bedtime is in his crib, napping is anywhere. As a result, he will nap literally anywhere... at home, at our neighbors, in his stroller (though he wakes up when you take him out), in the car... doesn't matter, when he falls asleep, he doesn't care where he is. Makes getting out to visit people great, he just curls up in my arms or on my lap falls asleep, naps, wakes up, gets fussed over by everyone, happy baby :)