How to make my baby nap?

[pandarific]

My 5 month old baby has always had a tendency to fall asleep on the boob. Up until now I have been feeding him to sleep - and since the 4 month sleep regression I've swaddled him up, put on the white noise, fed him and put him down asleep, then sneaked off, with varying degrees of success. I think I need a better way, as success is patchy and sometimes I get three or 4 20-30 min naps out of him all day, which isn't good for him!

Being in the pram or car seat does nothing for him, he's not lulled by the motion as some babies are, he's nosy and will just look around. I have a friend who just puts her baby down and she goes off by herself but I really don't think that ds will. He will go off to sleep the same way in the evenings without a peep, as he is properly tired then, but naps are a different story. Any thoughts on things I could try?

Also, I know he's tired because he rubs his eyes, gets a little bit crabby - I try to put him down around the same times every day.

off.. Some babies are just not great day sleepers. The only thing I'd suggest would be stop feeding him to sleep (which it sounds like you have), and then prepare yourself for war. Consistency and routine are your friends.

Bounce him? I feed, wind and as I'm burping him stand up and kind of bounce a bit ds falls asleep on my shoulder in about two minutes then I put him down, I have found his day naps are shorter now, almost invariably 45-60 minutes, four times a day. Yesterday he napped for two and a half hours in one go, although that was on me as I was giving him a cuddle and watching a film and he fell asleep. He sleeps around eleven hours through the night without waking so I figured he doesn't need as much sleep in the day.

Have you tried a sling?

We used to put DS in the BabyBjorn facing inwards and walk around until he was asleep. Then we would inclip the front and very very gently lay him down on his buggy.

For me the few minutes bouncing has come from doing exactly what @MinnieMountain suggests. Used to use the doing and that's the only way I could get him to nap, then it was sling and put down, now bounce and put down, DS is nearly five months now

*sling not doing

@MinnieMountain yes, sadly he screams blue murder facing in, I've never been able to use it. just getting him used to forward facing now is head control is good enough.

My baby is 12 months old and the only way to get her to sleep is rock / bounce her , in fairness my arms are pretty toned by now yay

I've also let DS fall into his own pattern in the morning he tends to eat burp, sleep, play/book/tummy time/walk in the pram etc, in the afternoon he tends to be more active for an hour or so after a feed then makes his I'm sleepy face and noise, quick bounce and sleep and will wake up for the next feed

I tried to get him on my schedule, he just wasn't interested

My eldest as a baby only had 2 x 20 minute naps per day. He just didn’t nap until he was a toddler.

I did find that at about 6 months naps got a lot easier and longer (going down to 2 naps rather than 3 helped). At around 4/5 months I started reading to DD before feeding her to sleep at naptime, so that she had the association, and then once that was established I started putting her down after a story and a cuddle rather than feeding her to sleep. It didn't always work, but over time it got easier, and it seemed a more sustainable routine than feeding to sleep. I still read to her before her afternoon nap at the weekend (she's 22 months now).

He needs to learn to self settle, whichever way you choose to help him do that. We used a very gentle version of pick up, put down and now DS2 settles himself at nap time (with white noise and blackout blinds, and after a story and singing twinkle, twinkle - same routine as at night) but that took about 8 weeks of consistently doing the same thing. It's also worth keeping an eye on awake time, at 5 months my DS needed a nap after about 1 hour and 45 minutes of being awake.

My DS only had 20/30 minute naps until he was an older baby/toddler. I think it's normal.

My 7 month old DD is a cat napper - 3 x 30 minute naps and has been for a while. Before that it was 4 x 30 minutes. She sleeps really well at night though (between 10 and 12 hours). Occasionally she'll sleep longer but it's unpredictable.

What's his night time sleep like?

My 5 month old will only nap on me in the daytime - if i try to put her down she wakes instantly and wants to play again. She probably has 3x 20-30 min naps a day. We had thought this was just her way - until the last few nights she's slept amazingly well at night (1 wake up or straight through) but the last few nights we've been up every hour until 4am!

So no answers, but sending solidarity thoughts!