14 Month Old Doesn't Nap & Constantly Cries

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14 Month Old Doesn't Nap & Constantly Cries

(Chandler, Arizona)

My daughter is 14 months old and we recently let her cry it out at night.

She is doing better at night, about 9 hours, but now will not nap during the day. At nap time she will cry until she vomits.

She also cries and whines constantly and wants to be held or breastfed all day long.

If I leave her in the playroom for a minute she cries till I get back.

I know she is getting her molars, and we have tried orajel and/or teething tabs, but they don't seem to soothe her. She also does not eat very much & now refuses to even eat in her high chair. She only eats "on the go" when she's walking around the house.

I find myself breastfeeding her when she starts crying & now I'm breastfeeding her constantly. This problem has gotten worse in the last couple of weeks. Before that she was happy all the time.

Help!! What can I do??

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14 Month Old Doesn't Nap & Constantly Cries

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Jun 10, 2009

14 Month Old Doesn't Nap and Cries
by: Baby Help Line

I think you daughter is irritable from cutting her teeth. My sons would not take a nap either so I just keep them as busy as I could until they would finally pass out. I noticed if I got them up around 6:00am they would get sleepy around lunch time and I would give them a little Tylenol for teething to help them relax and take a nap. Try to keep her on a schedule with breastfeeding because if she knows she can get it just by fussing a little then she will all the time. She should start getting back on a schedule once her teething is over. I am so glad to see that you were able to breastfeed her this long that is wonderful.

Best wishes to you and your family,

LIZ

Jul 30, 2009

Missing mom
by: Shara

I tried to get my son to sleep on his own a couple of months back. He stopped eating, wouldn't sleep well, refused to let me leave him and nursed CONSTANTLY. After about a week, I stopped trying to push him, and got a new book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantly.

Your daughter is probably stressed out by the change and is trying to reassure herself that you still love her. I highly recommend this book to everyone, but especially to breastfeeding mommies. you could even just get it from the library. She explains how to gradually teach children to sleep on their own and through the night, even night weaning, and her process really works.

Aug 12, 2009

No-nap
by: Lisa

First of all,as a mom who breastfed one of three children, my last,until she was a toddler, I wish I had stopped when she was a year old. She cried for the breast, and I gave in all the time. There is no need at all to breastfeed after the baby has reached their first birthday. I wish I had told myself that back then. y other two gave up the bottle by a year old and were drinking milk from a sippy cup. They also napped much better and I believe that because I drank coffee and iced tea, that this kept my breastfed baby from sleeping well.

Mar 12, 2011

Breastfeeding after first birthday
by: Brit

No need at all to breastfeed after first birthday?? That is not quite true - there are many benefits from breastfeeding after the first birthday.

(Added by Baby Help Line: Yes, that is true, and you can read more about extended breastfeeding here: Extended breastfeeding 101)

Aug 23, 2011

A baby who doesn't nap
by: Paula (Easy Baby Life)

Hi again,

I was reading through this question and a few things came to my mind. (I know this particular baby is now well passed this stage, but there will always be babies that refuse napping...)

I think when this happens; that the baby starts refusing to nap, it is a good idea to not only look for illness or teething, but also think abot if it is time to adapt the baby's sleep schedule.

At around 1-1.5 years, many babies actually do better with one nap per day than two. The baby can suddenly start being awake all the way from morning to just after lunch. So a baby that refuses to sleep at his or her usual nap time, may actually be telling us that it is time for a change.

It can of course be the other way around too; that the baby has been up for too long and is too tired to calm down. In any case, a bit of experimenting may be a good thing in this case.

I know it isn't always that tempting to reduce naps to only 1 per day; it my seem quite exhausting to have the baby up all morning, but on the other hand it makes it entirely possible to do fun things together (like some baby activities, for example. And then you may have a baby who sleeps peacefully and without protests for a couple of hours after lunch.

Paula

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