sleep props - daytime naps

[mololoko]

hi, am new to mn so hope i'm doing this right!

have 11 wo dd who goes down beautifully in her cot at night (7pm) if bathed, swaddled, rocked to sleep, fed (after swaddling!) and we leave white noise on.

she goes to sleep easily in moses basket after 11pm and 4am feeds without those props.

however, i have REAL trouble getting her to nap during the day. sometimes i manage it if I swaddle her and put on white noise and she may then sleep for an hour.

otherwise (even in her pram) she wakes after half an hour or less.

i am really concerned that we are setting up a whole series of props she needs to sleep which will be impossible when she is too big to swaddle. any advice?

thank you.

sorry, meant to say, i do reswaddle after night feeds or if she escapes in the night otherwise she wakes herself right up by waving her arms around! is this bad?

thanks

It's very common for them to not nap more than 30-45 mins at a time at this age. The naps will naturally lengthen as they get older.

At this age she is far too young to worry about forming habits, just do whatever works! If she sleeps well at night then you are very lucky.

I wouldn't worry about the swaddle. I swaddled my lo when she was very small but by 3 months she'd grown out of the cloth and could wiggle her way out anyway. As they get older the startle reflex calms down which means that they are less likely to wake themselves up through sudden jerky movements and so don't need to be swaddled.

There's nothing wrong with sleep "props" or cues as long as you can sustain them and they don't exhaust you too much. I think it can be very helpful for the baby to know that certain things e.g. a song or being rocked mean that it's time to sleep.

hey! thank you for the fast responses!

i appreciate the reassurance - is it OK to swaddle her for daytime naps as well as at night? is it OK to swaddle her in her pushchair?

Moloko - I've just bumped a thread that might help you - 'NO LONGER NAPPING FOR MORE THAN 45 MINUTES'.
HTH

hi ndg - sorry to be such a useless newb but what does "bumped a thread" mean? how do i find it? thanks very much

really really don't worry about habits or props at this age. Whatever works is just fine for a good while to come!

oops, ignore me, have now found the other thread.

thanks for the reassurance, just want to be told i'm not making a rod for my own back later on by making life easier now!!

My ds never napped for mor than 30 minutes til he was 9 months old. I used to have to rock him to sleep in the day with the extracter fan on and then I could never put him down but I quite liked cuddling him while he was quiet, lol (I didn't happen that much unless he was asleep!)

Have you tried rocking her just as she's waking up from her nap to try and lul her back to sleep? Often if you catch them before tey wake up fully then you can extend their naps. Have you tried feeding her to sleep? A lot of people may say it's a bad habbit but was the only way my ds would EVER sleep in the day. People told me I was making a rod for my own back and blah blah blah but it's rubbish in my experience. He's 14 months now settles himself in his cot fine at night, sleeps through the night and has 2 good long naps- no rocking or feeding required! She'll do it when she's ready.

Do whatever works. Nothing wrong with swaddling, well done for getting her to sleep so well at night, sounds like you're doing fine! It will work itself out.