......to think that pram naps aren’t a problem?

[Njh1986]

Interesting debate on this subject with friends today; literally divided the group in half.

Background: Our 4 month old has a serious case of FOMO and major issues sleeping where it’s light. Self settles and sleeps beautifully in her cot at night, waking only for the odd feed. Our house is south facing and has two or more full height windows in all rooms apart from bathroom. We use a blackout blind AND blackout curtains at night but can’t in the day as her room gets too hot. I spent week upon miserable week recently trying to to train her to sleep in a semi light cot, then accidentally stumbled upon the magic of a pram plus Snoozeshade and she’s napped like a dream ever since!

I think it’s brilliant; I literally pop her in, switch white noise on and cover her up and she’s out in seconds. Pram doesn’t need to be moving, no dummy etc. Means I can be out and about shopping/walking/chilling in the garden at nap time without having to be tied to the house. Also meant she napped like a dream last weekend when she stayed with the in laws.

However, a couple of friends seem VERY convinced that she should be napping in her cot. Like, practically trying to stage an intervention! When I pressed them on this, their reasoning was that it’s just what babies should be doing, she can’t nap in her stroller as a toddler etc.

AIBU to carry on with my system, thinking that it works and it’s fine? MIL keeps telling me that babies have napped in prams since prams were invented, but I’d love to hear some more recent points of view!

Just wanted to mention (and this is totally beside the point of course as it would be bonkers not to let your DD sleep in the pram for naps if that's where she settles best), but if your DD's room is too hot with blackout blinds and curtains while it's still winter, you might want to think how you're going to deal with this in summer. So hard trying to keep rooms cool - we sometimes had to resort to making a nest on the floor (coolest part of the room) with fans directed at it!

This of course presumes you're in the UK/it's currently winter in your part of the world.

I think it depends on the pram, tbh. In general it's fine, but some pushchairs/prams have a car seat adaptor so you can slot the car seat into the base. There have been safety warnings about babies sleeping in car seats because they can suffocate, as the angle they are sat at causes lung compression. I always let my children sleep in car seats as I knew no different (mid 2000's), but I wouldn't now that this problem is known.

There have also been 10 deaths due to babies napping in a certain Fisher Price baby bouncer, because they were put in unrestrained and they rolled out of it.

So generally, it's great when babies will sleep anywhere (my DDs used to sleep on a row of chairs in church, with full worship music in progress from a band), but safety needs to be considered.

My little one always has a nap in his sling. I get so many comments, i dont see what the problem is!