To cuddle my baby for all naps and not have a sleep schedule

[Cookiecrumblepie]

I have a 4 month old and am snuggling her for every nap. Co-sleeping and just letting her do her thing. She doesn’t have a set sleep schedule (just rough and whenever I can se me her getting tired) and I let her nap for as long as she likes on me. Her night sleep is fine, also snuggled near me. I feel this is against so much advice but I love it! AIBU?

You can't know that there's any correlation between those two things, I never did that and my children are also now independent adults

You should do what suits you OP, your child is unique, their outcomes won't be affected by what anyone else does or did

Omfg such unnecessary thread derailing. Ironically the pedants don’t seem to have noticed there are two instances of “their” in the post, one correct, one not.

I bet @ItsNotOkItsNotTheEnd was talking about this sentence where their is correct.

My friend did your approach and was sleeping on the floor next to their cots then beds for the next 8 years

My LO is 8 months now and has just set herself a sort of nap schedule... there's only so many hours in the day so now we're down to 2 naps they end up happening at a similar time! We're also still contact napping. I love it but think I'm going to try and migrate her to the bed for naps soon so I can use the time to have some food or get something done. If anybody has any tips on how to do this that would be welcome!

Doubly unnecessary when the post could simplu have been edited 😁No need for spag correction posts

OP I’m mother of a 3m old and already exhausted by all the advice I’m getting some of which is contradictory and against what feels natural to me. I’d say do what is best for you and baby. As long as you know risks then up to you to make that call. X

I did this. I have a two year old now who can’t get enough sleep, I have to wake her from all sleeps including naps. She goes to bed awake and it hasn’t created any sort of sleep issues. We did used to cuddle to sleep but she eventually graduated away from this naturally.

I found at about 5/6 months we generally had a rhythm anyway. I was still able to get out and about. A carrier for naps worked fine and less hassle than a pram for me.

I did this and it was the best choice for me. My son is in reception now and sleeps brilliantly.

Of course not. I had twins first so couldn’t really do this as needed them to nap at the same time. Did do this with my third as much as I could around the older two. Certainly cuddled for most naps when they were at pre school. Just do what works for you. There is nothing wrong with doing naps to a schedule either.

I never had a routine with DD, just lots of lovely sleeping cuddles when I felt like it and putting her in Moses basket/cot when I didn't.

She slept through from the get-go and I never had any problems with her sleeping. I got more fed up with the rigid routines other people had with their babies. Everything had to stop for nap time/feeding time/tummy time. We just did whatever, whenever. It was all very relaxed. And calm!

As she got older and went to a childminder and then nursery, there were never any problems, DD just went with the flow.

I think it just vey much depends on the baby/child. And you! If you want a routine, have one. If you don't, then don't! I always said the routine in our house was there was no routine!

Enjoy your baby.

Just consider if you will want her in childcare.

It is very tricky to emulate contact naps at a childcare setting

My son is 6 months old and I hold him during all his naps. He will not sleep otherwise and would just stay awake all day getting progressively more tired and upset until bedtime. Weirdly he’s always been an amazing sleeper at night and sleeps in his cot in his own room with no issues. He just won’t during the day. Every baby is different. You just have to do what works.

That's what I did it worked for us coslept every night even in hospital the night he was born. He slept on me for nas when we were at home (breastfed to sleep) sometimes I transfered him to a little nest on the floor if I could without waking him but mainly he was on me unless he fell asleep in the pram or pushchair whilst we were out. He naturally started sleeping through at a year and that's when we moved him in with his brother.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say! They're only little once and there's a lot of evidence this makes children more - not less - resilient and independent when they're older

So YANBU

There’s usually too much judgement and emotion on both sides of this issue. Sleep training doesn’t have to be ‘horrible’ and co-sleeping doesn’t have to feel restrictive. I think parents usually find a way that fits the child. I attempted co-sleeping with mine but it didn’t make any difference so I gave up! We did lots of cuddle naps the first 3 months but he transitioned happily into a cot when he was ready (plenty of false starts before that where he absolutely refused to sleep in the moses basket!). Once he was ready it was easily done.

4 months is still so small. Do whatever works for you.

All of this

If you are happy, and baby is happy then that's all that matters. You might start wanting more structure / routine in a few months, but enjoy what your doing in the moment

Yeah they do stick to schedules. You do you but don't belittle anyone else's approach

What does your partner think it hard to think how they wouldn’t feel pushed out

also what about if you wanted to go out have a night away or do something on your own
your DD will be extremely dependent on you and should imagine would be very difficult to settle for her and the person you left her with

finally if this is your choice which is fine but my sister had both of hers in bed with her till they were 8
and all we had to listen to was endless complaining about how hard it was and how she never got a nights sleep

My daughter napped with me on sofa, on own on sofa or in car seat or pram depending on if we were out or not.

My friends all had tbeir babies napping in cots with blackout blinds and white noise.

Whatever works for you.

Worked for me! (Although I didn't co sleep). I joined baby clubs and was able to attend every week. Absolutely could not understand trying to shoehorn a baby into some pre-conceived notion of a schedule. I enjoyed my maternity leave immensely. I never used nap times to get stuff done. I just enjoyed every minute of my wee baby. Sometimes I watched TV or read while they napped on me. I always had a treat drink and snacks. It was honestly the best time of my life.

Just be careful about both of you falling asleep in front of the television (50 fold increase in cot death), especially while your baby is so small.
If you are choosing to sleep together then consider the Lullaby Trust advice.Lullaby Trust Co-sleeping

I’m pretty sure at 4 months I was doing the same. At 14 months, I was not. Totally appropriate in the newborn phase, but you (and your baby) will probably change what you do as she gets older, and that is also fine.

They start to consolidate their naps into 2-3 longer naps as they get older, and those nap times start to get more predictable. So while I never had a “schedule” for DS as such, I didn’t plan activities when I knew he’d be due a nap.

Cosleeping for naps is also fine when they are napping for 30-60 minutes (assuming you are following safe sleeping guidelines, or aren’t actually asleep) but I can assure you that when they are doing mammoth 2-3 hour afternoon naps, as DS did between 18-30 months, you get bored and want to get up and do something else.

Doubly unnecessary when the post could simplu have been edited 😁No need for spag correction posts

Can you edit on the app? Genuine question, I'm not being snarky. I've had a MN break & didn't know they'd added an edit function.