13 wks DD - will only have daytime naps in my arms

[CiaraB]

My 13 week old is a great sleeper at night - will sleep around 11 hours and goes to bed easily enough (I know we're lucky!), but during the day she will only nap in my arms. If I put her down at all - either awake or already asleep after being in my arms - she will cry and cry until she is picked up again. Any tips on how to break this habit?? If she doesn't get her naps during the day she is in a terrible mood.

Do you put her down in her cot ? or downstairs with you ?
If in cot, maybe your LO likes to hear you etc, so being upstairs during the day is what your LO is protesting to.
If downstairs, maybe a few days of reassuring her when she gets upset, then putting her straight back down once calm, and repeating this.
HTH

You're halfway there with her sleeping away from you at night so you need to persevere with what mppaw says. I had precisely the same problem. DD has never learnt to nap anywhere except in the car or on me and at 9.5 months, she now won't sleep in her cot at night either and we are totally ruled by her! I wish I had taken advice earlier but it was too easy to sit all snuggled up with her all day

Don't worry. My first was exactly the same. Around 4-5mths he started settling a bit more easily in his cot. By a year he would go down for a 2 hr afternoon nap in his cot like a dream. You are lucky she goes through the night - our youngest has only just starting doing this at 10mths!

But I wouldn't fret about "spoiling" her. You can't really "spoil" a 13 wk old baby - they just love the comfort and warmth of someone's arms or lap, and who can blame them? It will get easier. In the meantime, try to let yourself go along with it and enjoy gazing at her beautiful face. If there are jobs piling up to be done, try and enlist a friend or relative to do them, or hold your baby whilst you get on with things.

If you really can't manage to sit round whilst your LO sleeps, you could try her in a bouncing/vibrating chair or something like an "amby" nest (a hammock stylie cot).

My 5-month old is lying in my arms at the moment fast asleep. It is mummy who won't put her down. I am treasuring it because i will be going back to work soon.

Seriously though, she used to be like your dd. What I found helpful was to carry her until she has fallen asleep, and then put her down. She would start to cry and I would pick her up again. I kept on doing it everyday and now, she would let me put her down for naps without crying. Most of the time anyway. It is not 100% foolproof.

I used to lie on the sofa with her on my chest while watching trashy daytime TV! I quite miss it. You just have to make sure you have everything handy - tea, remotes etc. Until she got to about 6 mo and didn't sleep through it - then she also got easier to put into her cot (also often timed driving with naps).

My experience was the same as yours, he was great at night time but would only sleep on my chest during the day.

By the time he reached 4/5 months the HV suggested putting him in his cot, drawing the curtains, putting a music box on and just sit by him until he falls asleep. If he was fretful I would stroke his head.

He is now 10 months and will pretty much fall asleep with only a couple of minutes of grumbling.