Baby napping on me

[Marie2815]

My daughter is 13 weeks old. She’s never liked sleeping alone so we co sleep at night (safely) and during the day she either naps on me or falls asleep in the carrier. This is fine with me but just wondering if other people had babies that naturally progressed to napping without being held or do I need to start putting her down more? I do occasionally try to but she wakes immediately, or after 15 minutes if I’m lucky. I’m only concerned as I’m going back to work when she’s 9 months old and she won’t be able to be cuddled all the time. Thanks!

Watching as my 12 week old does this still!!

This brings back such lovely cuddly memories! My DD used to do this (she's 13 now and doesn't any more )

I don't know anyone who's baby just happily transitioned from being held for naps, to going down in a cot, alone, with no rocking/feeding/patting. It's a good idea to work on it before you put your little one in a child care setting or you may find they simply don't sleep at all and you are collecting a terribly overtired baby every day.

With my first, I found it help to establish a loose routine based on wake time (eg baby whisperer), with naps on me/in car/pram at first. Once the routine was becoming predictable it was easier to put him down for a nap as his body was expecting a sleep. It's normal for babies to have a little fuss as they are nodding off.

This was (and still is) me and 6 month old DS!!
He would never ever sleep laying down, always had to be on me. Would wake up the minute i put him down and then wouldn't sleep for another hour.
I think it was around 3months when i started laying down to feed him (breast fed), which meant once he was asleep i could then leave him for a little while, although not for long as he usually stirs and realises I'm not there.
We still co-sleep but I'm going to be trying to get him into his cot very soon, as I'll be returning to work on night shifts and DH understandably doesn't want DS in the bed with him as he's a heavy sleeper.
I intend to use the pick up put down method (not controlled crying) to hopefully get him used to it. I've tried a few methods before, none have worked but I'm determined with this one as I'll be going back to work soon.
I don't know anyone who's babies just started sleeping in their cot unless they were 2/3+

My DD was like this though she did sleep OK at night in the next-to-me cot in our room. For the first 7 months of her life she napped on me or would occasionally fall asleep in the pram bassinet while out for a walk. I tried to get her to nap in her cot but it never worked. When I went back to work after 7 and a half months my DH had a few upset nap times when he tried to put her down in her cot, but after a few days she took to her cot fine and now naps in there without a problem. We found keeping the same routine helped her - black out blind, quieter atmosphere, changing into a vest/sleepsuit and a sleeping bag. She's a very good sleeper though so I don't know if I had it easier than some people!

My DS is 12wks today and exactly the same. If I put him down anywhere he wakes within 5-10 mins!

My seven month old still naps on me, he will be going to nursery in two months but it is the same nursery my first went to and they were brilliant with him and even wore him in our carrier for the first month he was there. He will adapt to the routine at nursery once he is there I’m. Or going to stress us all out trying to make him nap alone now.
Have a look at your local nurseries you may find that one would be happy to let you baby nap on the. If needs be because they mostly put them down to nap at the same time. Also even if you do manage to get your little one to nap alone in a cot etc when it’s all quiet it will be such a different environment at nursery that it may not work there anyway. Unless you want to work on getting him to nap alone for you don’t bother, just enjoy those Goethe our cuddles because they don’t last long.

Honestly I would break this habit right now. My ds was 16 months and I was rocking him to sleep. I absolutely hated it so much. he was heavier and I suffered with backaches. He stopped when he went to nursery and they for sure didnt rock them to sleep. And he was forced to settle down on his own.

I don't think it's an issue unless it's an issue for you. My DS is a very cuddly boy and we still do co sleep but at 18 months he began self settling at night, we didn't sleep train it just happened. I went back at 9 months and DS was bounced on a bouncer to sleep with a scarf of mine. Nursery workers are magic at getting babies to sleep. After about a month he slept on the crash mats on the floor like the other kids.

You've got a while until you go back to work, don't worry yourself about 6 months away which is a huge time for a baby! It's really normal for your baby to only want to nap on/near you, you're the most familiar thing to them! I wouldn't worry yet they're not in their cot, over the next few weeks you might find they sleep well away from you. We're conditioned to think our babies don't need us, and they do! It's normal for them to be like this. I found watching the stories from our hypnobirthing teacher on baby sleep helpful - @theyesmummum on instagram. Really reassured me and let me know things were and are okay!

My dd slept well in her cot at night but only on me during the day until she got to 8 months. I think she got to big to sleep on me comfortably and started struggling to nap.
At this point I tried her in her cot during the day and she has more or less every nap in her cot now unless she is feeling poorly.

mine progressed to napping alone, around 7/8 months...though i quite missed the day naps together. Against all books advice I used to let her nap on her tummy and it seemed to work.

My two year old is currently napping on my knee, I love it, it makes me sit down and rest rather than cleaning I can have some time reading (Mumsnetting). My eldest child napped on me until he didn’t nap any longer. It doesn’t have to stop if you don’t want it to.

Your baby will settle into a different routine at nursery so enjoy those cuddles. My son was like this as a baby, stI'll fell asleep on me as a 5 year old and now age nearly 12 still cuddles up to me in the evening, I wouldn't change any of those special times for anything. Your baby will adjust to differences at nursery and you don't have to sacrifice the sleepy cuddles at home to do it.

Ah my little one napped on my for 6 months. God I loved it. But also loved it when he started napping in the cot

Awww I miss those cuddly days when they're tiny. Don't stress OP... 6 months is a long time for a baby. Gets easier after 6 months.

Ah my little one napped on my for 6 months. God I loved it. But also loved it when he started napping in the cot. Quite a few saying they don't know anyone who's babies just started napping in cot. Mine did

Only stop if you want your baby to wake up . Baby sleep cannot be “cured”. They’ll either be happy to sleep on their own or they won’t. Some may respond to the shsssh-patting etc, others will not be interested and there will be some babies who happily fall asleep on their own for 12 hours at a time (this is not down to anything the parents do/don’t do. It’s just the luck of the draw).

You’re not getting into “bad habits”. You’re not making a “rod for your own back”, you’re mothering your newborn. Parent as you want, not how others tell you you “ought” to be doing. At 15 weeks she needs her sleep and that is the most important thing to be worrying about right now so you just need to make that happen. If you need a break, will she sleep in the pushchair/sling? Oh, and don’t worry too much about her going to nursery, she’ll be much older and they react completely differently when you’re not around!

When she’s 13 years, you won’t regret having let her nap on you when she was 13 weeks. Time goes by far too quickly. Slow down. Enjoy the here and now even 7 months is AGES away and so much will change between now and then

Some babies will adjust to napping in a vit/buggy easily, others won’t. Worry about it when you need to. For now enjoy the snuggles.

Can you take any more time off work? (Annual leave/unpaid) as 9 months is not the ideal time to go back to work as many babies have the worst separation anxiety at 9 months.

My children never napped in a cot. They napped on me, and then they napped in their pushchairs or in the car or just wherever!

Them napping on me are honestly some of my loveliest memories of those times when they were little.

Mine did this for over a year - then suddenly decided to start napping in her cot and now does so happily for several hours. Keep cuddling her until you don't want to do it any more and then work on changing it.

Ahhh I miss my lovely baby cuddles

Mine only napped in arms until he was 4 months old. One day, I thought that he was ready for a cot nap, and put him down asleep... He stayed asleep! All naps from then on were done in the cot. Then I worked on putting him down more and more awake. Since about 6 months, he's gone into his cot awake and fallen asleep himself. We're still working on his somewhat persistent catnapping though.

Don't worry about how she'll cope at nursery, apparently they are sleep angels and can make any baby sleep well there.

Thanks everyone. I do kind of love her napping on me at the moment and I have no trouble getting stuff done with her in a sling or while she plays on her mat. She’ll only be in nursery for 1 day a week. I’m going back to work 3 days a week and my mum is having her for two of those days so hopefully won’t be too bad anyway. I think I’ll enjoy the cuddles for a while longer and start trying the cot in a couple of months maybe :)

It must have been only me then haha.
My ds could only fall asleep being rocked and then as soon as he was put in the cot he woke up. cute at first but I hated it at 16 months when it wasnt stopping. he attended nursery everyday then broke the habit.