At that age, we had to hold her, or she napped "on the go" either being worn or in the car/stroller. There was just no other way to get E to nap. She didn't even nap well at daycare in the crib.
We nap trained at 7.5m, although you could possibly try earlier, around 6.5/7m. It wasn't fun, but it worked.
In my experience, my kids just eventually turned in to good nappers. Not until they were able to roll on their bellies to sleep. We did have some success with unlatching as soon as I saw that they started to get sleepy while nursing, burping them, and then putting them down for a nap. It seemed that the little cat-nap while nursing made it hard for them to go back to sleep when I put them down.
Z sleeps on me for his morning nap. His afternoon nap was hit or miss (if he got it or not) until one day last week I tried putting him in his crib for the afternoon nap. He actually just went right to sleep and got a great nap in. Sometimes he still refuses to take an afternoon nap, but most days he gets an hour or two in.
We let sleep training sink in for a few weeks before any of this so he had kind of gotten the idea that crib=sleep.
I was in the same boat until two weeks ago. He pretty much only napped on me, on the go (car) or laying in bed with me. We too did the snuggles after nursing until 6 months ( when I had to stop nursing) but he continued to sleep on me. I was tired, sick ( I got PG again when he was 4 months). And for me it was survival. Now that I feel better, and have more will power, we started sleep training two weeks ago and it's def helped, however he is older ( 8mos) It's not as easy as night training was but he is in his crib. Granted he doesn't always sleep as long as he would on me, but at least it's a better habit for him and I have Time to myself. I just wish we had started sooner.
Have you tried giving him a bottle instead of nursing to see if that helps get him down before he falls asleep onYou? Granted I know it's more work, nursing is so much easier....
AJ was around E's age when he figured out that napping in his crib was just as awesome as sleeping in it at night (he did the latter really well at that age)-I swear one day it was like a switch flipped. But I've seen posters on here mention that the same thing happened for their kids just a little later...I know its frustrating though because you can't get anything done.
How/where did he nap for whoever was watching him before school let out for you? If AJ hadn't figured things out on his own we probably would have nap trained b/c I knew he was perfectly capable of napping in the PnP at the sitter's.
Ughhh, I'm in the same boat. I have some luck placing him down in the crib on his tummy. Not sure if you're ok with that though ("back is best")?
Can your baby roll? I've never tried this and am afraid to, he has only rolled twice since last week.
He is really comfortable on his back though (well I've never tried his tummy though).
Yes, he rolls both ways all the time.
I thought my baby slept ok on his back too, but he does much better on his tummy, giving me longer stretches at night even (sometimes). I think laying him on his tummy is less startling for him when I move him for a nap so he is able to stay asleep.
I also swear by cuddling with his crib sheet before it goes on his bed so that it smells like mommy. I lay it under me in my bed for a night or two and then put it on his bed. Good luck!
Post by Velar Fricative on Jun 5, 2014 12:33:45 GMT -5
I'm no help either. We have the same issue at 8 months. Since she's great at napping in her crib at daycare, weekends are the only times we can try to Ferber for naps but it's a disaster every time; she cries harder and longer than she ever did when we Ferbered for nighttime successfully at 5.5 months. Lately we have had some limited success laying down with her in our bed and then scooting away when she's fast asleep, but no success with the crib yet except for a couple of fluky times.
I assume we just have to WIO and keep letting her nap on us, in the car/stroller or in our bed until one day she decides she likes her crib for naps.
Post by humpforfree on Jun 5, 2014 12:37:56 GMT -5
I was having his problem last week. One day I draped my sweatshirt that I wear all of the time over the edge of the PNP and then put him down. He slept for 3 hours... His face isn't near the hoodie & he can't pull it in- plus I watch him on the monitor.
I've also started laying him on his side. He falls right to sleep that way. Usually after 20ish minutes when he is good & asleep I will go in and roll him onto his back. He can't roll onto his belly yet so it makes me nervous having him on his side, but he clearly sleeps SO much better that way.. Is side as bad as belly when he is supposed to be on his back?
Since those changes we have had (really) successful naps every day. Might just be coincidence, but I am afraid to mess with it now.
I'm no help either. We have the same issue at 8 months. Since she's great at napping in her crib at daycare, weekends are the only times we can try to Ferber for naps but it's a disaster every time; she cries harder and longer than she ever did when we Ferbered for nighttime successfully at 5.5 months. Lately we have had some limited success laying down with her in our bed and then scooting away when she's fast asleep, but no success with the crib yet except for a couple of fluky times.
I assume we just have to WIO and keep letting her nap on us, in the car/stroller or in our bed until one day she decides she likes her crib for naps.
He is able to sleep on our bed, but I'm afraid of him rolling off the bed.
I like having him nap on me though, but I need to do things too. He takes monster naps on me (2-3 hours) two times a day sometimes.
I try to create some barriers and I move the video monitor camera to the bedroom so we can see her moving around if she does so. I should have specified that we are in an apartment so when she's in our room we are also right outside the room, so no stairs or anything that would make hearing anything concerning difficult.
What about just letting him play after eating since he's awake and in a good mood and then putting him down for a nap later?
I feel like we do things the "wrong way", he usually has a huge feeding session right before a nap. Very rarely he naps without feeding first unless it's on the go.
If I try this, how do I do this if he's sound asleep on me with my boob in his mouth? He will stay asleep if I unlatch and not move. Once I move him, he's awake.
Actually, my dd is the same. She naps while/after nursing. I still haven't been able to get her to do the eat, play, sleep thing. She has mild reflux so will spit up if she's jiggled for play or down for tummy time right after eating anyways. Sometimes I sub the paci for my breast really fast and hold her for a bit. I try to ease her into the pnp/crib by holding her chest to chest, not chest to chest and then end up holding her neck and booty/legs so she's not all of a sudden going from full contact with me to not.
At that age we were still rocking him to sleep almost all the time. We got into a routine of using a white noise machine, and always using the Snugabunny. Once he had the pacifier and I wasn't trying to interact with him, he usually got the picture.
The few times I tried to get him to nap on his back in a crib, it didn't work so well. We transitioned to a crib for naps and sleep around 7m, and he got the picture after a couple of weeks.
I was in the same boat until two weeks ago. He pretty much only napped on me, on the go (car) or laying in bed with me. We too did the snuggles after nursing until 6 months ( when I had to stop nursing) but he continued to sleep on me. I was tired, sick ( I got PG again when he was 4 months). And for me it was survival. Now that I feel better, and have more will power, we started sleep training two weeks ago and it's def helped, however he is older ( 8mos) It's not as easy as night training was but he is in his crib. Granted he doesn't always sleep as long as he would on me, but at least it's a better habit for him and I have Time to myself. I just wish we had started sooner.
Have you tried giving him a bottle instead of nursing to see if that helps get him down before he falls asleep onYou? Granted I know it's more work, nursing is so much easier....
I don't really want to give him a bottle. I just got done with work for the summer and I miss nursing him.
We did modified Ferber, which we had done for night training around 5 months when he wasn't sleeping more than 90 min. We know he responded well to it at night, so we were hopeful. But I will tell you, the first 2-3 days SUCKED. He was pissed he was in his crib since he had gotten sooo used to me. I almost stopped but we continued and stuck with the routine and it worked. We treat nap time almost Idenitcal to bed time. Put on blanket sack, read story, cuddle a bit, put in crib, turn off light, turn on white noise. Give kiss, and leave. We did short intervals of CIO for up to 30 min, them abandoned nap. By day 3 he was whimpering when I shut door, then asleep within 5-10 min.
I noticed you said you still swaddle for naps, we did too up until this point ( 8 months...late!!). But we used this training as a chance to break that too since he was breaking out of them.
I'll be honest, I could have kept him sleeping with me for another few months, but we have another one on the way, and I knew I needed to break these habits before baby gets here.
I totally get the no bottle wanting to nurse thing.
I have no idea, I'm in the same boat. V has always been a crappy napper, and has always taken short little catnaps after nursing (she likes to snuggle my boob too, lol) or in the Ergo. She's just now, in the past two weeks started taking long naps on me after nursing, but won't sleep in the Ergo anymore. And she definitely won't let me put her down in the rnp (where she sleeps overnight).
I think you've gotten some good advice, if you figure out something that works, report back! I love the cuddles, but it would be lovely to have some time back during the day!
What about just letting him play after eating since he's awake and in a good mood and then putting him down for a nap later?
I feel like we do things the "wrong way", he usually has a huge feeding session right before a nap. Very rarely he naps without feeding first unless it's on the go.
If I try this, how do I do this if he's sound asleep on me with my boob in his mouth? He will stay asleep if I unlatch and not move. Once I move him, he's awake.
So did/do we-he nursed to sleep for naps and bedtime until he was 5-6 months old, but started phasing it out on his own. I wanted to cry when he quit doing it, I missed (and still miss) the snuggles. He did figure it out though, hope the same goes for E!