How do you get your baby down for a nap? Help!

[ILikeYourSleeves]

Hi, my DS is nearly 10 months old and he doesn't really have any daytime routine re napping. He sometimes naps, sometimes doesn't, often depending what we are doing and where we are. If we are at home I tend to give him a breastfeed around 130 / 2pm which can make him fall asleep for his nap. He rarely falls asleep in his pram now when we are out as he loves to watch everything going on round about him but he will often fall asleep on the way home in his carseat.

He starts nursery in a few months time when I go back to work and I am worrying how he will go down for a nap! They said that they are used to getting babies down for a nap but DH will also have him for a day each week and I don't think DS would just go for a nap without being breastfed and DH won't know what to do. So I'm thinking I need to start introducing a way to get DS down- how do you all do it? Where do they nap and are they in a sleeping bag or something? Just now I just lay DS down on bouncy chair and starting to put him in cot, but just lay a blanket over him as he is already asleep upon transfer to cot.

Help!

[JammyQueenOfTheSewers]

My DD was dreadful at taking daytime naps. Would sleep for about 30 mins on my lap or int he pushchair if we were out walking and that was it. At 7 months she went to nursery 2 days a week, and somehow (I haven't actually asked how) they got her to sleep in a cot (something she would never do in the daytime at home), but again only for 30 mins at a time. Just recently though (she now 14 months) I've tried her in the cot again and she now will often have a daytime nap and often for an hour or more, sometimes up to 2 hours! So it might get better. I think she's taken to napping more since she's been more mobile and is wearing herself out.

[januarysnowdrop]

I wouldn't worry too much - nursery staff have all sorts of magic tricks up their sleeves, and children tend to behave quite differently in different places (and with different people). I picked up a few tricks from watching the staff in my DD's nursery putting the babies to bed while I was helping her to settle in - they either rock them to sleep in their arms and put them down when they're asleep, or they put them down and stroke their backs until they drop off.

With my DD (now 14 months) when we're at home, I tend to wait until she's obviously knackered then put her in her sleeping bag, give her a bottle of milk in a darkened room, pop her in her cot (she prefers to lie on her tummy now) and stroke her back while I sing her a lullaby. I realise you're still breastfeeding, but is he willing to take a bottle or a cup (expressed milk or formula)? Might be worth getting him used to having one before daytime naps in advance of nursery and your DH looking after him. Any new routine always takes a little while to establish, but if you decide on a plan for your nap time routine and stick to it for a week or so, with a bit of luck he'll get the idea....

Good luck!

[Phoenix]

My ds has always napped in his pushchair. I push him backwards and forwards in the kitchen and he goes off to sleep. He's 2.6 now and occasionally he asks for a dummy, blanket and pushchair

[angel1976]

Do you use a dummy? My 6 month LO will go to sleep at night with very little problem. I kiss and cuddle him, tell him it's sleep sleep time, sometimes I rock him a bit, put him down on his side with his blankie and he goes to bed. The naps are a different story, he will cry for his dummy. Usually he stops once that is in his mouth and will fall asleep. I have no idea why he needs it during the day and not during the night. Does he show signs of tiredness? When my LO rubs his eyes repeatedly, I whisk him upstairs to his cot, close the curtains (he will then start to cry), puts the dummy him and pats him and he usually goes off. Maybe you can try some cues for him to nap so he knows it's nap time?

I have the same problem as you when we are out and about, my DS will just keep watching the world and not sleep. I found that putting a blanket over his pram helps so have purchased a Shade-a-babe to see if that helps... I always watch other women with sleeping babies in their prams in real ...

[LANDGIRL71]

Both my boys have been the same - really good at night, straight off to sleep but really bad at napping. I have had to rock them both to sleep during the day (under much duress of them fighting the desire to sleep!) but they have been angels at night, just put in their cot and go off on their own. Only difference with my youngest is that he has always wanted a dummy - the problem I now have is that I have to get up several times a night to retrieve it for him and put it back in his mouth - I kind of wish in hindsight that I hadn't let him have one!

[TKsMum]

Hi, my 9-month old stays awake and plays in his cot instead of napping. He doesn't cry either, just wanting to play. I'd have to give him a breastfeed, only then would he get drowsy and fall asleep. If he misses his nap he'd get grumpy later on though, often falls into dinner time, and it's then extremely hard to get food into him. He'll have to go to daycare or get looked after by someone else in a couple of months when I go back to work. I have no idea how he's going to get his day naps. Has anyone got any ideas... HELP!

[Reesie]

I've never been able to get the holy grail of getting my lo to nap in her cot. I usually pop her in the buggy and get my daily bits at the local shop about a mile away or run an errand and she falls asleep whilst we are out and about. She's 20 months

[AttillaTheHan]

We had the same problem with ds when he was small so have been a bit more structured with dd, 4 mths. She goes for daytime naps in her cot, we take her up when she's showing signs of tiredness but not too cranky. I put her in her cot, stroke or pat her chest until she's calm then leave my hand on her chest until she has her eyes shut and her breathing slows down. This took about 30 minutes for the first week or so but now she goes down in 5 - 10 minutes with little crying. We took her out today and she got herself off to sleep on her own, in her car seat whilst we were in a cafe!