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Original poster

What the .... Is a contact nap?

143 replies

MakeMineALarge1 · 23/11/2022 13:14

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.

OP posts:
ChildcareIsBroken · 23/11/2022 13:31

BeastOfBODMAS · 23/11/2022 13:28

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

100%

AnnPerkins · 23/11/2022 13:32

SoapMactavish · 23/11/2022 13:20

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.

I had a Velcro baby. It could be difficult being stuck under a baby for 2 hours every day but I often used to think "I'll miss this when he's 17 and 6 feet tall."

He's now 13 and 6'2". He would still nap on me if he could Grin

EmailAgain · 23/11/2022 13:32

I do this for daytime naps and we Co sleep at night it has worked really well for us and settles dc well (they have some additional needs )

carefulcalculator · 23/11/2022 13:33

It is a known term, it is years since I had a baby but the term was known then - as was 'velcro baby'.

ChildcareIsBroken · 23/11/2022 13:34

Almondcroissant12 · 23/11/2022 13:25

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

That's interesting because I read this term in articles that advocated against sleep training.

catandcoffee · 23/11/2022 13:35

SoapMactavish · 23/11/2022 13:20

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.

👍😄

Clymene · 23/11/2022 13:36

Well someone's posted a photo of themselves doing it @Somethingsnappy. And clearly someone's come up with the term.

I used to love it. Sleepy snuggle.

JenniferBarkley · 23/11/2022 13:36

Yeah I always just thought it was a shorthand for "they won't fucking sleep anywhere else and I'm losing my fucking mind". Not a big deal.

JenniferBarkley · 23/11/2022 13:37

Err. The term isn't a big deal.

The non settling babies are a very fucking big deal. Coffee and cake to anyone in those trenches atm.

BiasedBinding · 23/11/2022 13:37

You can put “fuck” in the title OP, don’t worry.

Puppers · 23/11/2022 13:37

What a weird thing to be upset about.

The reason it has a distinct name is because sometimes where the baby naps is relevant to the conversation at hand. It's a bit quicker to say "contact nap" than "napping while I cuddle him/her", that's all. I mean, why do we have names for anything in life? It's just so we can describe something in a more specific way without using lots of words.

RewildingAmbridge · 23/11/2022 13:40

We also used velcro baby, see also limpet and barnacle. DS would not sleep anywhere else for some time....

BeanCounterBabe · 23/11/2022 13:41

My Velcro baby is 12 and I have only come across this term in MN in the last few months. I don’t do insta or any other influencer what nots so unfamiliar with the latest terminology for stuff that always existed.

EndlessRain · 23/11/2022 13:42

Surely its obviously. It's a nap where the baby is in contact with her. To be distinguished from a regular nap because those - normally - take place off the parent giving them a break. My friend's baby naps for 3-4 hours in a bassinet. That means she has 3-4 hours of free time. My first baby could nap for that long, but only if a contact nap, which meant I was basically confined to the sofa, getting absolutely nothing done and afraid to even go for a wee, if I wanted DD to sleep. I'd say the two are vastly different.

People feel how they do about them (with DS I liked them as they were cosy and not a necessity, with DD I didn't because it was the only way she would ever sleep and I felt trapped), but they are different to regular naps.

Clymene · 23/11/2022 13:42

Puppers · 23/11/2022 13:37

What a weird thing to be upset about.

The reason it has a distinct name is because sometimes where the baby naps is relevant to the conversation at hand. It's a bit quicker to say "contact nap" than "napping while I cuddle him/her", that's all. I mean, why do we have names for anything in life? It's just so we can describe something in a more specific way without using lots of words.

When is it relevant? It's such a horrible clinical term.

Also nap implies it's short. If you have a baby that won't sleep anywhere except on you (as I did) it feels horribly reductive.

Problemorno · 23/11/2022 13:43

Currently reading this stuck under a Velcro baby. Fast asleep on me, wide awake and screaming the second I lay him down. My first would happily nap in her cot for hours so I naively expected this one would too....

BobbyBobbyBobby · 23/11/2022 13:44

Why would anyone post a photo of them napping with their baby anyway? Ok to send to the child’s father in private but why the attention seeking of thinking anyone else is interested in seeing them take a nap?

Contact nap sounds like self important nonsenses. It’s a just a nap.

CousinKrispy · 23/11/2022 13:45

Oh god I remember the velcro baby days!!

lostinthejungle22 · 23/11/2022 13:45

How about not calling it a nap, but a day sleep? Who said it's ok to call it a nap? What's wrong with calling a nap where a baby needs to touch the parent, a contact nap, it's shorter!

bloodyplanes · 23/11/2022 13:46

Its a very precious way of stating that your baby fell asleep on you! Performance parenting at its finest.

hesbeingabitofadick · 23/11/2022 13:47

My boycat does that...Once he's had his "din-dins" he's a bugger for wanting a contact nap.😹

Mailista · 23/11/2022 13:48

carefulcalculator · 23/11/2022 13:33

It is a known term, it is years since I had a baby but the term was known then - as was 'velcro baby'.

"Velcro babies" were a Thing in the early 2000s. I wrote an article about it. It basically means "baby who hits the roof if you try to put them down".

"Contact nap" is <boak>

Almondcroissant12 · 23/11/2022 13:50

ChildcareIsBroken · 23/11/2022 13:34

That's interesting because I read this term in articles that advocated against sleep training.

Show quote history

To be fair I don’t know this to be the case but I’m probably a bit grumpy about the whole issue as, although my DS will sometimes nap alone as long as conditions are perfect, he napped exclusively on me for the first 11months of his life and right now he has a cold and cutting back teeth so most sleep is on me and I’ve not slept more than 2hrs straight in over a week.

Dreamwhisper · 23/11/2022 13:50

No useful but I do so miss tiny babies sleeping on me 😢

Somuchgoo · 23/11/2022 13:52

JenniferBarkley · 23/11/2022 13:37

Err. The term isn't a big deal.

The non settling babies are a very fucking big deal. Coffee and cake to anyone in those trenches atm.

It doesn't need to be a big deal.

Either you get to sit, watch tv, surf the internet and read a book whilst they nap on you, or you have then asleep in a sling, and get on with your day, whilst they are on you. You don't need to be trapped, unable to wee or make a lunch just because someone sleeps on you - it's possible to do both at the same time!

I frequently used to work, whilst baby was asleep (and latched on), in the sling.