Need to stop baby napping in sling

[DustyRusty]

My 8 week old DS will only nap in my Moby sling. If I try his cot (which he sleeps in fine during the night), the pushchair, his car seat, a bouncy chair etc, he screams & can't seem to switch off. He ends up getting increasingly upset & overtired. In the Moby he calms quite easily, and so I've been relying on using it for every nap. Not ideal, but I figured he'd grow out of the habit.

But today I've hurt my back lifting one of my older DCs, and wearing DS in the Moby is agony, so I need to find another solution, which ideally would be him napping in his cot. Any suggestions for helping him to sleep in there? At night I breastfeed him to sleep, but a) this doesn't seem to work in the day and b) I have older DC to look after (age 2 & 4), so can't spend ages in the baby's room feeding, rocking, patting etc. Have tried white noise but doesn't seem to make much difference, and he can't keep a dummy in his mouth. He'll lay in his cot happily for a minute or so then start crying.

Help!

I was in your shoes when my baby was your age and u had a toddler too. Hard isn't it. No help, but I had to persist with the sling because I didn't have another option. She wouldn't sleep anywhere else. I got through a lot of ibroprofen!

In fact I only started trying to get her in the cot around six months or so. My advice. Try to keep using the sling. Invest in another sling that is hip supporting. Pressure is off the back then.

Then start thinking about cot in a few months. Not what you want to hear maybe but definitely easier.

Didymos sling will take pressure off your back and onto your hips.

You might want to see GP for stronger pain medication. It's not long term, so it's very very unlikely that it will affect DD via breastmilk.

Swing? I would sometimes swaddle my DS tightly and put him in the swing. He was prem though so maybe less mobile than your DD is right now.

Failing all that, a very tight swaddle in a dark room followed by CIO might be your only option.

FWIW we had to use the sling (with pain meds at times) or swaddle until seven or so months. I wasn't able to cope with CIO. I nursed him down for naps and bed, and still do, though he goes down instantly at nursery of course! I only had the one though so it was easier for us. I could only face CIO at 13 months. it all depends on how you're feeling about it.

Thanks stillhopeful and oikopolis - I've gone down the stronger painkillers route, and am giving him a dummy in the sling (where I can stop it falling out!) which means he'll fall asleep while I'm standing still. Beforehand he'd sleep in the sling but only if I jiggled around first!

I'd never heard of Didymos, but just been on the website & they look really good. Love how you can buy mini ones for your children to carry their teddys in!