Baby won’t sleep in pram during the day

[glasgowgal6]

My baby just turned 9 weeks and I’m struggling with her sleeping. During the daytime she will sleep on me but as soon as I put her down she wakes. I know she’s capable of sleeping on her own, as overnight she’s quite happy in her cot in our bedroom and generally sleeps well.

During the daytime I try to put her in her pram to sleep. Could it be that she doesn’t like the pram for some reason and should I try to buy something different, like a Sleepyhead? I don’t want to bring the cot downstairs during the day as it’s heavy, and I don’t want to buy loads of different sleep solutions only for her not to like any of them. Can anyone advise?

Do you take her for a walk in it, or just put her down in it and expect her to go to sleep? A bit of motion might help her to nod off and start associating the pram as somewhere to sleep? Then you could tone down the motion over time if you wanted.

Day sleep is quite different to night sleep, so just because she settles well at night doesn't mean she's able to for naps just now. As pp suggests, some motion might be good if you really want her to sleep in the pram, or let her sleep on you/in a sling (if that's something you don't mind). She's still very young and anything you do now will not be what you're doing forever - things change very quickly.

She seems to like to spread her arms out when sleeping (hated the swaddle!) and the pram is quite contained. Perhaps it’s that she doesn’t like. Taking her for a walk in the pram doesn’t work - she just wakes up as soon as we stop.

DD was like this, she only wanted to sleep on us during the day. My DF would always try to take her off me once she fell asleep, and put her down, and she'd wake and scream the house down. Wouldn't sleep in the pram past about 8 weeks. Loved the baby carrier, but always slept perfectly on us. We just went with it. She grew out of it around 6m.

My girl would sleep in her bouncy chair or just lying on the floor on her playmat.
12 years on she is sometimes quite happy to just sleep on the floor !

Can you not put her in her cot to sleep? My baby sleeps in her cot for her nap x

My DD is exactly like that. No advice to give as I'm still waiting for her to grow out of it at nearly 10 months old. I do love our naptime cuddles, but I still hope she stops before nursery.

DS2 liked to spread his arms out to sleep as well and got fed up of the carrycot for a similar reason. If you don't have pets or toddlers, could you try spreading a blanket out for her on the floor? Or perhaps you have a suitably wide sofa you could use? That is what we did for a while and then we got a playpen which can have the base raised up like a cot. That was his "chill out" place for a while and also provided a safe place to leave him if we needed to step out of the room. Once he was down to one nap a day I found it easier to put him in his cot.

If she's sleeping at night then I'd be going with whatever the heck she wanted through day
Is there a reason she cannot take her naps in the cot during the day?
Sleepyheads are great but my experience is they grow out of the small size fairly quickly & the grand is huge & cumbersome. There is also conflicting advice as to their safety for sleeping, to bear in mind.
You could ...
get a snoozeshade for the Pram.
try a comforter/bringing something from the cot into the Pram.
try radio/white noise, I've used euan the dream sheep for my second & he really seems to like it. (But he doesn't sleep past 4am :-o)

I just put mine in her cot for naps during the day.

I’d like her to nap downstairs if possible - I could put her in the cot, but I’d then be confined to the bedroom while she naps, which isn’t ideal because I won’t be able to get any housework done while she sleeps.

I might look into the playpen option so she can spread out.

What about a travel cot for downstairs? It'll double up as a playpen later on/somewhere safe to pop a crawling baby while you nip for a wee!! As well as an actual travel cot for holidays.

Not to mention they're great for chucking all the toys in at the end of the day once said baby is older!!

www.johnlewis.com/rockit-baby-rocker/p3463225?sku=237364318&s_ppc=2dx92700051926079512&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=Cj0KCQjwudb3BRC9ARIsAEa-vUsKYRa_uFnkOMrTeETjomPRG3_KM6Ke0TExiws7URJYQDCr7HIHb_UaAmqeEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Maybe try one of these if she wakes up once the pram stops moving? It keeps it rocking without you having to physically stand and rock it. Honestly though, I would just enjoy the nap time cuddles whilst you can! My youngest refuses to sleep on me anymore and I miss it so much and can’t believe I was ever trying to get her to stop napping on me

A bit of a pain, but could you try taking the mattress downstairs? Obviously you would need to keep an eye on her for potential rolling as she gets bigger.

Have you got a pet? If not or you can shut the pet out of the room try a blanket on the floor. Ds loved sleeping like that and you'll already have a blanket so it's free to try out. Dd slept until the rocker/swing thing because she loved movement.

She’s tiny. All three of mine would only sleep on me or if we were on a walk for the first six months of their lives. It passes... just be glad she sleeps at night!

@Boringnamechanging I could but I’ve not got carpets - only hard floors with rugs. Would a blanket on a rug on the floor be cushioned enough for such a young baby?

my DS was a crap sleeper during the day he wouldn’t sleep in his moses basket, pram or cot for more than 30 minutes. He was fine at night. He really only napped on me or my DH. When he got to 6 months old it was like he flipped a switch and now he naps up in his cot no bother.
You might just need to go with it for a while. 9 weeks is really little.

Why would you be confined to the bedroom ?! Can you not get a cheap baby monitor and carry that around with you as you do housework.

That's what babies do in my experience! Never known a baby to happily sleep in a stationary pram. You could try rocking the pram backwards and forwards until she drops off but she may wake up when you stop.

Options are:

Go for a walk and don't stop

Get a sling for her to nap in

If she will nap in the cot get a baby monitor

My DD used to nap in her swing during the day, maybe try something like that or a rocker if she likes motion?

Why would you be confined to the bedroom ?!

@wishfull888 baby is only 9wk, that's too young to be sleeping by herself. NHS guidance is all sleep should be with someone in the room til 6m, to reduce SIDS risk. I didn't go all the way to 6m and i think lots of people start unsupervised naps at least before then, but 9wk is too young IMO, especially because SIDS risk is highest 2-4m.

@glasgowgal6 if your username means you’re in Scotland, I popped the baby box mattress on the floor. DD mainly uses it for kicking about but has napped occasionally!

I'd put her in her cot and use the baby monitor.