Rod for my own back?

[blushingmare]

Hi
My DD is 10 weeks, so I'm new to this parenting stuff!
I'm just starting to get her into a bit of a routine (my own, not following a particular programme or anything) for bedtime, and I think we're doing pretty well, with her being in bed and asleep by 8pm most nights. We're no where near sleeping through the night, or anything like it, but that doesn't bother me for now. My concern is more with her daytime sleeping. She really really struggles to sleep in the day. I can see she is tired and gets more and more grizzly if she doesn't sleep, but I just can't get her to settle in her moses basket. So I tend to use my stretchy wrap sling to get her to sleep - she goes off straight away in that and will sleep for hours if I don't wake her!

Am I making a rod for my own back doing this? Should I be persevering with getting her to sleep in her basket? How will I ever get her to sleep on her own in a cot during the day if I'm relying on this to give her her sleeps?!

Or shall I just carry on and chill out and hope she'll just get better as she gets older?

It sounds like you are doing fine to me. She is still tiny, and needs the comfort of being close to you. I think at the moment if she, and you, are happy, then that's all good. There is plenty of time for developing independence as she gets older!

I truly want to hunt down and do something to the person who coined 'rod for your own back'. It means nothing!

Of course she sleeps best wrapped in a sling close to her mummy! What a lovely place to sleep!

Relax. Enjoy her!!!!!

Go with the flow! And anything you establish will go down the pan due to teething, crawling, standing, walking... the list is endless. Do what makes her happy and restful. Ultimately the more relaxed you are the more chilled she will be. (that's good! I should take my own advice for once! :) )

I totally agree with Tee, don't worry about the 'rod'.

Just enjoy your bundle of joy, she's still tiny and I really wouldn't start worrying about bad habits at this stage.

Definitely chill out and use the sling!
For a start, 10 weeks is still very little.
What´s more, if I remember rightly there are more cultures in the world where babies are carried in slings A LOT until they are at least 6 months, than cultures where they don´t. In Europe, when Queen Victoria or whoever started the pram craze people apparently were worried about children not being carried enough in slings as they had been for centuries. I learnt this in an exhibition in our Ethnological Museum.
I think, in the history of humanity, the idea of getting babies to sleep in baskets or beds is fairly unusual - if not downright bizarre.
My 3 year old (and my 6 year old) always slept in a sling as babies. This afternoon my 3 year old fell asleep in the child seat on the back of my bike, he was so tired after preschool and a busy week. As your baby gets older, it will just not be an issue any more. Life will change so much and the sling will be too heavy anyway! Enjoy the sling time while it lasts. Your baby is obviously just a normal baby who needs closeness to be able to settle in the day.

Cuddle her and cuddle her some more, there will come a day when she won't want anymore cuddles, my 11mo pushes be away now :( and all I did was cuddle her and put her in the sling when she was tiny- no rod here!

Enjoy the snuggles :)

Thanks very much for the reassurance!

My instincts were saying the sling was the best thing and we both enjoy it! Polygon - that's interesting what you say about it being a cultural thing - we've lost our snuggliness over the years!

And one further related question. Like I say, she'll happily sleep and sleep in the sling. Would you wake her up and not let her sleep for over a certain amount of time in one go? It feels awful to wake her up, but when we get to over 2 and a half hours I start to wonder if it'll affect her night sleep...

blushing IMO you should let her sleep. I think that small babies actually sleep better at night if they have good amounts of daytime sleep.

If you have a 'bedtime' for DD you could attempt to keep her awake for a bit of time prior to this- gentle tickles, cuddles, bathtime, massage, singing (these are ideas BTW, don't try to do them all ). Otherwise I would just let her snooze away.

At her age I would just let her sleep.

Agree, go with the flow. She's little and wants mum! Enjoy the cuddles. I take it you can put her down ok when she's awake, if so just carry on.

She sleeps on her own at night. You have nothing to worry about.

Let her sleep and enjoy the cuddles. My dd would only sleep on me for naps, so that is what we did. By the time she went to nursery at 9 1/2 months we had managed to transfer her to her bouncy chair and she slept in that. The nursery are happy to bounce her in a bouncy chair and she does sleep better through the night if she has a good daytime sleep x

I would let her sleep, 10 weeks is tiny. Also, much better for her to sleep, by any means, than get overtired. I can't imagine anything more comforting for a baby than cuddling next to her mummy and fallling asleep.

Ignore the "rod for your back" brigade, you are doing very well. Your baby is used to her bed, since she sleeps in it every night (or part of it), so when the time comes she will be happy to use it for naps too. If you are not too tired, go and meet friends and have a coffee while your DD is asleep in her sling, soon she will not be so portable anymore.And remember that having you so close for a good part of the day is good for her development too.