3 mnth old - HOW DO WE GET HIM TO DAYTIME NAP?

[ursulacloybeam]

Our little boy sleeps quite well at night (down at 7pm, feed around 3am and again at 6ish). But during the day it's recently become quite a battle to get him nap during the day.

THe easiest one is the morning nap, around 8am. He'll go down for about 40 minutes to an hour. But after that, he seldom wants to nap at lunchtime or in the afternoon.

He feeds and nods off at these times but then wakes up as soon as I put him in his cot. No matter how long I rock him in my arms beforehand. Or he'll go down and awake again 5 minutes later.

Any tips on how to sleep train a very lively, wakeful 3 mnth old during the day?

[MegBusset]

Take him for a walk in the pram
Drive in car
Bouncy chair on vibrate mode
Walk him in a sling

?

[ursulacloybeam]

Thanks for those. All of those things USED to work. If I go on a drive that takes at least an hour and doesn't involve stopping at traffic lights (he cries) he does still nap. But otherwise he's a big fella so the sling is not comfortable anymore and the bouncy chair has lost its magic too. I'd really like to train him to sleep in his cot so I can something else while he sleeps, rather than driving, walking and pushing his pram.

[MegBusset]

Hmm

How about lying down next to him on the bed and cuddle/shhh to sleep, then sneak away when he's off (or grab 40 winks yourself)?

DS1 didn't nap in his cot til about 5mo but all of a sudden got the hang of it.

[ursulacloybeam]

Ooh, well that's encouraging. The bed thing sounds interesting, but I was, perhaps naively trying to make his cot "the sleep place". He would, until recently, sleep anywhere. Beanbags were a favourite. But just as he hit the 3 month mark, the world suddenly got exciting for him and now, BF seems to be the only thing that makes him nod off. He'll sleep on my lap but that's not ideal obviously.