Daytime sleep

[88keys]

I'm finding it really difficult to put my nine week old daughter down for daytime naps. She sleeps well at night though (I think for this stage....): around 7.30 till 3.30, feeds, and then again till around 6.45. Any advice appreciated!

What have you tried?

Is the problem that she cries? If so, you could try the shush pat method - look up the baby whisperer. This is where you stroke and pat etc but she is in her moses basket so she gets used to sleeping alone. At this stage you could also try just going for a walk and getting her off that way. Also, do check that she is not too tired or over stimulated to sleep. They do need lots of sleep at this stage and she probably can't do more than a few hours awake. Again, the baby whisperer gives really good advice on this.

Yes she cries a lot! I have been trying to follow the baby whisperer methods, but they don't really seem to work...She will sleep eventually in the pram. She finds it difficult to go down in the Moses basket but fine at night. Shush-pat doesn't seem to work...mostly I just walk round patting/rubbing her back till she falls asleep on my shoulder and then I put her down.

It's possible she may be over stimulated and that I'm missing the tiredness window for falling asleep effectively. I find it really difficult to balance cuddling her and putting her down to sleep when it still seems like she's actually awake!

Just do what works. Don't worry about teaching her to self settle. It comes naturally to most babies when they're older if you give them a chance but less likely when they're younger.

My ds - I stressed about this no end. With dd I didn't an she is the better napper and better at self settling. I cuddled/rocked/stuck in a sling/pushchair for all naps until 4/5 months. Then from 5 months or so we got to self settling and she is a champion napper!!

Have you tried white noise? I put down my 11 week old by changing nappy, feeding, burping then put in Moses tucked up all cosy etc, then out the hair dryer app on pretty loud. She falls a sleep about 3 mins after this.

It works well for the morning nap, but is a bit hit and miss for the afternoon nap.

Also I tend to put baby down no longer than 2 hours of being awake.

She doesn't want to be put down - babies don't like being put down, and they're quite right not to. They need masses of body contact (which generates oxytocin) to develop their brain functions and regulate their systems properly. Humans have evolved so that the most successful babies are the ones who complain the best at being away from their carer. It's why slings work so well - you pop them in and they can sleep happily for hours at a time. I'd buy a sling. At least then you can make a cup of tea while jiggling around. Being outside often works wonders too.

And yes, at 9 weeks I'd be surprised if she could go longer than 90 minutes without a nap. They're often doing 90 minutes up and 45 down at this age, until about 5m.

i'd try taking the emphasis off of sleep and onto being able to put her down. is it that she cries as soon as you put her down?

i used to put ds down beside me as i did stuff on the computer for example, close enough to chatter to him and reach out and touch but in our own space for a bit. or sat in the car seat on the side in the kitchen ( i know danger, danger) whilst i was washing up or whatever and still singing and chattering to him.

i know some people are of the 'never put them down' school of thought and i cuddled ds loads and we often took daytime naps together cuddling, but personally for us this kind of together but not touching times worked well and made sense to me that he was getting secure in being in his own space but me still being 'there' and interacting with him and i think it contributed to him being a good settler for naps etc.

not all babies are the same btw so don't be guilted into you must do it way x. people can get quite religious about methods they're attached to. experiment.