sleep disparity - on me or not on me

[bumb1ebeesknees]

I've experimented with my baby's sleep the last two days by not putting him in his cot for naps. My baby (14 weeks corrected, 20 weeks by birth) will sleep for hours on my chest a couple of times a day, hardly even waking to breastfeed before going back to sleep.

However, if I put him down in his cot he will usually only go for 45 minutes. This will need to be repeated often but the time it takes to get him to sleep means he doesn't get anywhere near as much as if he sleeps on me.

It isn't practical for me to let my baby sleep on me all day but there is such a big difference in quantity it must have an impact somehow?

I found with ds that it had an impact in that he was a grumpy little sod after short naps in his cot and lovely after a nice long one on me. He slept on me during the day until he was 7 months and then went (quite) happily into his cot to nap. I went through a phase of being very frustrated with it, just looking at mess in the house and thinking of all of the things i could be doing. It got easier when I just went with it, watched Orange is the New Black on Netflix and messed about on mn! I think they just sleep better in their cots when they're good and ready. I'm sure it's not doing your baby any harm having shorted more frequent naps it's just that it made mine soooo grumpy!

I have similar since 4 months. I assume he feels comfy and secure, so when he's in a lighter sleep he doesn't wake, but in the cot he wakes and is wide awake trying to work out where I am! I prefer to take the hit and give him a couple of longer on me naps and maybe a shorter one when I need to put him down. He's better now he's 6 months and sleeps longer and deeper. This is only day naps as well, he's been sleeping for hours fine in his cot at night for this whole time! He's in a great mood if he's napped properly so I'd rather do this for now.

NickyEds exactly my experience! DS is such a grump when tired but delightful when he wakes from a 2 hour nap on me and beams up at me! I just chill with Netflix and them when he's awake I pop him in highchair to watch me do fun cooking and dishes :) as long as I gove him things to bang and sing at him he thinks housework is a game...

My dd is asleep on me as i type, im hoping she gets better with naps in the cot because she will be going to a childminder at 8 months.

I'm moving her from her moses basket to crib soon. Once that move is established at night im going to try putting her upstairs for naps in her cot during the day.

She's only 6 weeks so there's plenty of time to establish a change but i feel like i dont know how to put her down for a nap...

This parenting lark is hard work!

At 6 weeks she will most likely not nap in a cot, that's tiny! I think it's mostly developmental, babies just want to sleep on their parents! I wouldnt worry about 8 months time, she'll be so different and have changed so much herself, and I've learned that 6 month DS will do one thing for a couple of weeks, and I think he's 'learned' something, then ups and changes entirely! Also at 6 weeks life is just sleeping more than defined naps yet, he didn't have defined 'nap' times until about 4-5 months, before that he still just needed to sleep randomly on and off throughout the day. I also worried about talks of cot naps and nap times when he was very small but it was all so far away at 6 weeks old. Embrace the sofa!