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Parenting

Please talk to me about naps!

9 replies

HenrysHome · 22/01/2021 10:04

Please break down for this very sleep deprived mama how I achieve the holy grail of putting my nearly 17 week old baby to nap drowsy but awake in his cot for a good length of time so he wakes up well rested.

Currently he will only contact nap after being bounced around. The instant I put him down he wakes or if not instantly then within five/ ten mins. He is so fitful, squirming around and flailing about at the slightest change of position or noise. Here is what I do currently:

Keep an eye on the clock - his wake window is 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours depending on time of day.
Look for his tired sign - trying to fling himself backwards
Take him straight upstairs into his room. It has blackout blinds so is very dark.
Put him in his sleep sack
Turn white noise on loud
Dummy in
Cuddle/ rock/ vigourous bounce until drowsy

Then one of these options
Too tired to fight so fitful contact nap
Put down in purflo in cot, eyes ping open, baby gets horrifically overtired

Help!!

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Ohalrightthen · 22/01/2021 10:10

ahhhh this isn't what you want to hear, but if "drowsy but awake" doesn't work for your baby (and it very, very rarely does), at 17 weeks you can't teach it. You just have to wait it out.

Basically, up until they're about 6 or 7 months, you can't really change anything they do, so you just have to find what works for your baby and do that. That may mean that you have to hold or wear your baby for all their naps for the next couple of months. It is much, much more important that your baby gets enough sleep than that he sleeps in his cot.

If I were you, I'd forget about the cot for the next month or so and just accept that contact naps are what needs to happen for your little one to get enough sleep. Set yourself up with tea, biscuits and a boxset, bounce to sleep, then try to relax yourself. This is a phase, and you'll get a lot more joy out of this time if you just lean in to what your baby needs, rather than exhausting and upsetting both of you by trying to fight it.

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HenrysHome · 22/01/2021 10:28

Oh no @Ohalrightthen that's not what I wanted to hear 😂 any tips for helping him get a more restful sleep? Even when he's on me he squirms around and flings his legs back and cries out or moans x

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LizFlowers · 22/01/2021 10:32

At 17 weeks mine used to have a sleep with me, or I had a sleep with him. We both woke well rested.

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Ohalrightthen · 22/01/2021 10:34

@HenrysHome

Oh no *@Ohalrightthen* that's not what I wanted to hear 😂 any tips for helping him get a more restful sleep? Even when he's on me he squirms around and flings his legs back and cries out or moans x

Can you put him in a sling so he's kinda swaddled? The wriggling and flinging and moaning sounds like wind, or silent reflux, how is he with burping?
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babyno2pending · 22/01/2021 10:54

At this age I contact napped/co slept for every sleep he had. You get more rest and he sleeps longer, sadly other things have to wait at this age 😩 unless you get a good sling he can sleep in while you do things?
Like pp said drowsy but awake is defo a myth at this age. My 8 month old only needs a little settling then falls asleep on his own and sleeps in his cot for hours on end in the day now so don't worry it will end :)

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Superscientist · 22/01/2021 12:05

My 5 month old will sleep if we walk in the pram or on me, I get maybe 1 non contact nap a week if I'm lucky. She is a relatively high maintenance due to reflux and possible allergies.

In the last week or so a couple of my mum friends with 5 month olds have started to be able to put their babies down for naps in their cribs.

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unmarkedbythat · 22/01/2021 12:07

I used a wrap sling a lot and for a long time just accepted that I had a baby who needed to be held and other things were going to have to come very low down my list of priorities.

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ZooKeeper19 · 22/01/2021 22:34

@HenrysHome deffo swaddle. I swaddled my one till 6m. Also what worked for us (you can try) was a thick fluffy blanket I wrapped him into (so baby vest, then bamboo muslim swaddle then blanket) and I carried him around till he fell asleep fully, then a bit, then gently put him down (anywhere). The fact that the wrap was so thick meant he was in "his" environment that smelled of sleep and nicely warm too (I kept checking for overheating).

That being said he spent 90% of his day outside with me in a pram so hence the process as I needed him to sleep while I did things. I rocked him in the pram at signs of waking up and he slept quite decently. Nights were a different story tho.

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HenrysHome · 23/01/2021 01:34

Thanks everyone, a few tips and tricks to try but buy the sounds of it I'll just need to ride it out 😬

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