If you nurse before bed/naps

[karinothing]

How does your child go to sleep when you aren't there?

DS is basically off bottles at all times except before naps/bed if I am not there. I know that he is capable of going to sleep without one because he naps just fine at daycare without a bottle.

At daycare they just put him on his cot and tell him to go to sleep and he does. This does not work at home. At all.

DH is home with DS for the next three weeks and we would love to get him off the bottle during that time. BUT I sitll want to nurse him before bed/naps. Is this possible? Any tips. DS is 14 months.

[Deleted]

I nurse him if I'm around. If I'm not, for naps DH just pins him to the bed in a hug hold and waits him out. At the right timing, he falls asleep in 5-10 minutes and just naps in the bed. For nights, he gets a cuddle and a song with dad or grandma and then gets put in the crib. There are usually some tears, but he sleeps. Really, you just have to let the other people figure out something that works and be a consistent as possible. It works better for bedtime than naps, as DS can will himself through a day with no nap if he gets really pissed off.

[karinothing]

Dec 19, 2012 10:05:30 GMT -5 @tokenhoser said:

I nurse him if I'm around. If I'm not, for naps DH just pins him to the bed in a hug hold and waits him out. At the right timing, he falls asleep in 5-10 minutes and just naps in the bed. For nights, he gets a cuddle and a song with dad or grandma and then gets put in the crib. There are usually some tears, but he sleeps. Really, you just have to let the other people figure out something that works and be a consistent as possible. It works better for bedtime than naps, as DS can will himself through a day with no nap if he gets really pissed off.

Yeah, that is how we would up with no naps last week lol. Sigh. WHY can't he just act at home like he acts at daycare. He is a little baby manipulator.

[Deleted]

Daycare is magic.

Or they just don't want to miss a minute with us. No nap days are from hell.

[mrshandy]

We never really perfected it. But DH figured out his own routine, which I think included a book, some rocking, singing. A sleep sheep.

We basically did no bottles after a year.

He still nursed before naps for me and would have no bottle before naps with DH, so it is possible. It may just take some time for him to find his own routine.

I would just tell him to find a routine that works for him and stick to it. Your DS needs the same sleep cues every time, that's how your daycare probably does it. Also peer pressure, since everyone else is sleeping.

[karinothing]

Oddly DS is fine without a nap lol. He just wants to go to bed earlier. DH however needs the break ha ha.

[DarcyLongfellow]

I nursed DD before sleeping (not necessarily *to* sleep) until she was nearly three.

It was very much a part of her routine, but if I wasn't there, she knew that dad or grandma or whoever couldn't do it, so she didn't even ask.

DH has actually always been better than I am at rocking her to sleep. He just throws her up on his shoulder, and she's out. When I do it, she just wiggles around and tells me my shoulder is too hard ;-)

[mrshandy]

Dec 19, 2012 10:15:00 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Oddly DS is fine without a nap lol. He just wants to go to bed earlier. DH however needs the break ha ha.

I totally understand your DH needing a break. I would just leave him down there for "quiet time" if he doesn't want to nap. That's what we do nowadays. DS will only nap 50% of the time. We need a break.

[cookies]

My husband turns on the Sleep Sheep, reads him books, sings him songs, and rocks him until he falls asleep. It's gotten to the point where it's easier for him to get our kid to sleep than it is for me to nurse him to sleep. However, if I'm home the baby won't settle for dad.

Days without a nap are the worst. I feel bad saying that, but it's hard for everyone.

[rootbeerfloat]

They learned to sleep fine at daycare, but H was never really successful laying with them. He'd go for a drive or a walk in the stroller or just skip it (leaving me with a super grumpy kid to return to!).

[karinothing]

Why do babies sleep so well at daycare! I got the daycare teacher to give me the CD of the music they play. Next thing i am going to create life size cardboard cut out outs of the other kids sleeping and play snoring nosies lol.

Seriously though he goes down in 2 seconds and sleeps for 3 hours if he has a bottle. I just figure he shouldn't be using them anymore.

[cookies]

Dec 19, 2012 13:16:25 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Why do babies sleep so well at daycare! I got the daycare teacher to give me the CD of the music they play. Next thing i am going to create life size cardboard cut out outs of the other kids sleeping and play snoring nosies lol.

Seriously though he goes down in 2 seconds and sleeps for 3 hours if he has a bottle. I just figure he shouldn't be using them anymore.

It took a long time for my son to have magic naps at daycare. They had to pull out all the tricks to get him to sleep without crying like crazy. Most of the time they stood by his crib and patted his back until he fell asleep. He's 19 months old and I think he only just started sleeping without help at daycare a few months ago. I think he was like 15 months old when his teacher sent a note home saying "Freddie fell asleep without crying today!" He is a sleep demon!

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2012 13:16:25 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Seriously though he goes down in 2 seconds and sleeps for 3 hours if he has a bottle. I just figure he shouldn't be using them anymore.

Oh geez at 14 months if DS goes down for a nap that easy and sleeps that long I would give him a bottle until he's 5!!! 14 months is still young enough for a bottle IMHO, I say don't try to fix what's not broken. That sounds like an incredible nap.

[karinothing]

Dec 20, 2012 5:41:46 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Dec 19, 2012 13:16:25 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Seriously though he goes down in 2 seconds and sleeps for 3 hours if he has a bottle. I just figure he shouldn't be using them anymore.

Oh geez at 14 months if DS goes down for a nap that easy and sleeps that long I would give him a bottle until he's 5!!! 14 months is still young enough for a bottle IMHO, I say don't try to fix what's not broken. That sounds like an incredible nap.

Ha ha. Thanks. I guess part of this is I am going to have to start pumping again soon becuase my BM stash is almost gone and I don't want to pump lol. (I don't want to give him WCM in a bottle) .