What the .... Is a contact nap?

[MakeMineALarge1]

Seriously just seen a picture of someone on mat leave, her baby is asleep on her, she's calling it a contact nap?
What the actual fuck, surely baby's just gone to sleep on her.

Weird post

Yes, her baby has gone to sleep on her. That’s a contact nap.

What's weird about it

What's weird is your raging about something so completely innocuous

Contact nap 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Why is it not just a nap then?

It's called a contact nap because the baby is having skin to skin or close contact with the mother during the nap as opposed to napping in their crib or moses basket. It's recommended to encourage production of milk supply if a mother is breastfeeding and some believe it helps to promote attachment/bonding.

Oh dear OP. You've upset the performative PFBs

I know someone who says stuff like this. As though it’s revolutionary just because she’s got a proper name for it.

To be fair to her though…contact naps are lovely.

It's just a nap that's all, why does it have to have a special name?

It's called a contact nap cos they cannae nap without having contact.

I used to call it Velcro baby when mine was that age.

Lol. I agree OP. It’s just a nap.

Yes it's lovely when your child falls asleep on you, but I had no idea it had a special name.
Every day is a school day

The person I know also wangs on a lot about having a “highly sensitive baby” and how special she is because of that.

I’m fairly sure she just means the kids cries a lot.

Velcro baby 🤣🤣🤣 I'm having that one

It is just a nap…my 14mo DS is having a contact nap right now.

It is a completely normally and healthy thing that has been given a name by the sleep training industry to be able to tell parents that contact napping is inherently bad and does not really count as a nap. That baby sleep only ‘counts’ if it is in a crib. So all the parents of perfectly normal
babies think there is something wrong with how their baby sleeps and so they need to pay a sleep trainer to help them.

It’s literally just to make money

*normal

Tell me you don't follow approximately 250 "sleep experts" on Instagram without telling me...

Not sure how someone can make a performance of having a nap. Doubt they'd get many viewers...

Well it's to distinguish between 'just a nap' which can be anywhere and a skin-to-skin nap which is recommended to promote milk supply. Not sure how much more abbreviated you'd like it to be!

she will only contact nap is a great shorthand for fuck off with telling me to sleep when she sleeps and put your judgy eyebrows away at the state of my floors

Reminds me of the first time I heard the term 'playdate'. When mine was young we didn't give it a name.

Nap and contact nap are different I think:
’my baby loves to have naps’ - great
‘my baby loves contact naps (and won’t settle otherwise)’ - nightmare because it means you’ll have sleepless nights and days and won’t remember your name due to sleep deprivation.

When I was pregnant with my first midwives and doctors said baby always has to sleep on their own. Then my baby was born and he wouldn't, that's when I learned the term contact nap. It's made me realise there's nothing wrong with my baby as so many people and medical professionals told me only nap in a crib is safe and good. That's why I like this term.

We called them snuggly naps.

I missed not being able to have so many snuggly naps with my second. Heading the little noises they make, watching their chest go up and down, sniffing their beautiful little heads, seeing how just proximity to you makes everything right in their worlds.

I still get them with my 3.5yo sometimes. So precious.