[alikatcreations]

My little boy is catnapping during the day and all of a sudden is crying out for us to put him to sleep which we do, but he closes his eyes, as soon as we leave, he startles, and is awake and cries. He wants to sleep, but not sure why all of a sudden he is scared and startling himself awake. He is 12.5 weeks old. At the moment, we have to cuddle him to sleep, but only for this time of day (around midday to late afternoon). He is otherwise a good sleeper at night and does not need us to settle him. Any info on what this may be might be helpful

[kerrie23]

It is the startle reflex and normal as can be.

[MrsMammaB]

Do you swaddle him?

[KRT]

I suggest you try swaddling/wrapping. I had stopped for a while and then started doing it again when DS was 11 weeks. We swaddled him up until he was 8 months!

I used the angel wrap, which has the baby's arms up within the sheet. It means that they can suck on their hands to soothe themselves, and can hold themselves up if they roll over. There are some good how-to videos on youtube. I just used a flat cot sheet for DS - I found even the big muslin squares were too small.

If this is the difficult time of day for you, you could try only doing it in the afternoon.